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Sharing Calendars

Do you know where your client is? Keeping track of busy entrepreneurs can sometimes be a job in itself.

Warmly,
Mary-Lou Ashton
Master Virtual Assistant

Questions In This Edition
(Click on the links to go to that question.)

• What options are available?
• How do you share calendars with Outlook?
• What about ACT! or Maximizer?
• What Internet services are available?
• Which one should I use?
  

There are several ways to share calendar information with your clients and one of them is to use software programs specifically designed for this that have synchronization features, most of them automatic. Anytime either user makes changes to the calendar this information is sent to the other user and updates the information on their end. Updates are generally sent via email.

Two popular programs are ACT! and Maximizer which both interface with Microsoft Outlook. Microsoft Outlook 2000 also allows you to share calendar information using similar techniques as the software programs above however it is not as powerful.

There are also services available on the Internet which allow you to share information with other users. These sites are password protected and can be accessed by several people. To get the most updated information you must access the web site. It is not automatically loaded onto your computer.

When all else fails you can manually fax calendar sheets back and forth with your client.

To the best of my knowledge only the 2000 version has this option. Whoever is sharing their calendar information has to initiate the process. So it your client is sharing her calendar with you then the client will need to do the following.

When you are in Outlook go under "File" then "Share". You will then have an option to share "Calendar", "Tasks", "Contacts", "This Folder". Select "Calendar" and it ask you who you will be sharing the folder with (the person needs to be in the address book) and what permissions the individual will be given. You may have to install the add-in to get this working (it's on your Office CD and they are called netfolders).

Once this has been completed it will send an invitation to the other user who then has to accept or decline. Once accepted the client's computer will begin sending email packets to your computer with all the current calendar information. Depending on how much is there this may take some time and both the sending and receiving computer should continue to send and receive emails so they do not interrupt the process or it will need to be started again.

Once the entire process is complete a new calendar will appear in Outlook with all the client's information. As long as you were given permission to make changes you will be able to schedule or change appointments and the updates will automatically be sent to your clients calendar via email.

This works well if the client is only sharing the information with one person. Sometimes the process will be interrupted and need to be started again. There are bugs in this feature and it is not well supported by Microsoft.

These are both very robust programs and in addition to having calendar sharing also provide contact management, report generation, mail merge features, synchronization features, integration with Outlook, Palm pilot synchronization, and many other features and benefits. Maximizer runs about $200 US and ACT! at about $220 US.

I have never used Maximizer and used ACT! years ago. I believe the synchronization of the information is scheduled during the day and does not happen just when you send and receive email. Technical support is available through a knowledge base or purchased packages. Upgrades are available as well.

There are some free services available for sharing calendars online. Yahoo and MSN both have free calendar features and www.calendars.net. Most charge a fee and some to check out are www.intranets.com, www.hotoffice.com, www.scheduleonline.com, www.myevents.com, or www.myappointments.net.

These services are not stored on your computer but on a secure web site so you need to be online to access the latest and greatest. No synchronization or specialty software is needed and the technical support is usually better than what comes with a software package.

This depends entirely on what your client is looking for, or what they want to use, how many people need to share the information, what other features are wanted i.e. contact databases etc., what software you may already have and if a financial investment is even a possibility. All of them will work it just depends on what the whole picture looks like as to what is the best solution for you and that particular client.