Sending digital calendar invites can be a good way to organize events and share information about them with potential attendees. One way to send calendar invites is to use Microsoft Outlook, a free program that users can access online. If you typically host meetings or other types of work-related events, it might be helpful to learn how to send calendar invites using Outlook to help keep your peers informed about the events you lead.
Scheduled a calendar event in Outlook
There are many reasons someone might send a calendar invite through Outlook. Many use it to send invites when they want to contact several people at once and maintain an organized record of their event preparations. Using this program saves each invitation as an email that you can access later.
Another reason is to inform coworkers about an important meeting, such as an interview or information session, as this can be an easy way to share an invitation with people quickly. You might also send an Outlook calendar invite for special events, such as birthday parties or awards ceremonies.
How to send a Calendar Invite in Outlook
Here are some steps for how to send a calendar invite through Outlook
Create a new event in the Outlook Calendar
The first step in sending a calendar invite through Outlook is to create an entry in the calendar for your event. To do so, you can navigate to the “New items” option in the upper-left corner of the Outlook menu. When you open this list of tasks, you can choose “Meeting” to view another menu and click on “Calendar” to start creating a new event. Once you have the “Calendar” menu open, you can choose “New meeting” or “New appointment” to create the entry.
Open the Calendar Invitation in your Email Inbox
Once the event you create appears in your calendar, you can use your email account to create the invitation. You can do this by opening your account and creating a new email message. When you create the new email, you can click the button that says “Reply with meeting” to attach an invitation to the message. This ensures that anyone who receives the email also receives the invite.
Choose who you want to invite
The next step in sending an Outlook calendar invite is to determine who you want to invite to your event. You might have a list of attendees prepared, but you can also browse through the address book for your Outlook email account to ensure you remember to invite everyone you want to attend. When you know who you want to invite, you can add each of their email addresses to the “To” line of your email.
If you’re already viewing your address book, you can add recipients by clicking on them, but you can also type in each recipient’s email address manually.
Add additional details
After adding the people you want to invite to your email message, you can input any other details that apply to the event. For example, it can be important to create a subject line for these emails so recipients know that they’re receiving an invitation as soon as it appears in their inboxes.
You can also include details that are specific to the event, such as the location where you’re hosting it, the times that it starts and ends and any items people might need to bring. To add this information, you can use the drop-down boxes that appear on the invitation.
Include an Explanatory Message
In the main body of your email, it can be helpful to add a message that explains your invitation. This can provide recipients with details about why you’re sending the invitation, such as the reason for the event and the people who are invited. For example, if a team leader wants to schedule a meeting with their sales team to set new sales goals, they might explain this in their invitation email. Including this type of paragraph can also reduce the number of questions recipients might have to ask about the event, which can help you save time.
Review and Send your Invite
The final step in this process can be to review your email and send out your invitation. Reviewing the information you add to your invite before you send it can be important, as this can ensure that you catch any potential spelling errors or incorrect details. One effective method for reviewing your writing is to read it out loud because this can help you read carefully and slowly to make sure you pay attention to all aspects of the email. After reviewing the sections you write, you can hit the “Send” button to send your calendar invite.