Getting the Most Out of the Microsoft Outlook Client : Using Outlook 2007 (part 2) - Sharing Information with Users Outside the Company

Sharing Information with Users Outside the Company

In response to more advanced needs of users, Outlook 2007 has provided functions to help extend familiar collaboration tools into unfamiliar areas. Much of the functionality available among users of the same Exchange Server environment is now available across the Internet. This is a great enabler for users because it is now easier to collaborate with colleagues from other companies.

Configuring Free/Busy Time to Be Viewed via the Internet

In the past, it required specialized software and connectors to exchange free/busy information with another Exchange Server organization. Free/busy information is what tracks the availability of users in terms of having appointments, being in meetings, or having free time available. Exchange Server administrators and mailbox owners can publish this free/busy information outside of their Exchange Server environment to more easily set up meetings with other organizations. If this functionality is needed, this information can be published to a web server available to both organizations. In the past, you could use a service provided by Microsoft called the Microsoft Office Internet Free/Busy Service, but this service is no longer available. This service has been replaced by Office Online. By publishing free/busy information to a shared website, users outside of the Exchange Server organization can view published free/busy information over the Internet. They can also use the same website to schedule meetings with recipients from the participating organizations. This option is available for users accessing Exchange Server with the Outlook 2002 or later clients.

To configure free/busy time to be displayed on the Internet with a custom server, follow these steps:

1.	Right-click the calendar to be shared.
2.	Choose Publish to Internet and Publish to WebDAV Server.
3.	Enter the URL to which you will publish your information.
4.	Choose the time frame you want to publish as well as the options and upload method, similar to the information shown in Figure 3. Figure 3. Publishing Calendars.
5.	Click OK.

To stop sharing this information on the custom server, complete the following steps:

1.	Right-click the shared calendar.
2.	Choose Publish to Internet.
3.	Choose Remove from Server.
4.	Click Yes.

To publish a calendar to Office Online, follow these steps:

1.	Right-click the calendar to be shared.
2.	Choose Publish to Internet and then click Publish to Office Online.
3.	Register for Office Online if you do not already have a Windows Live ID.
4.	Choose the time frame you want to publish and the options and upload method, similar to that shown in Figure 27.10.
5.	Click OK and information will be published.
6.	Optional: Send invites to contacts to share your information.

To stop sharing this information on Office Online:

1.	Right-click the shared calendar.
2.	Choose Publish to Internet.
3.	Choose Remove from Server.
4.	Click Yes.

Viewing Free/Busy Time via the Internet

If granted necessary permissions, Outlook users from one organization can view free/busy information from another organization’s users via the shared website. The user can send meeting requests, add the user to a group schedule, and see free/busy time just as they could with users from their own organization. To do this, the end user must access the free/busy information website, click on View Free/Busy Times on the Web, and enter the email address of the user whose free/busy time is to be viewed.

The user also has the option to see a free/busy search path for their contacts. To do so, follow these steps:

1.	In the navigation pane, click Contacts, and then double-click an entry to open a contact.
2.	Click the Details tab.
3.	Under the text that reads Internet Free-Busy, type the fully qualified path of the location that you want to search for this contact’s free/busy information in the Address box. You can use any valid URL format, such as: http://..., file://\\..., or ftp://..., as shown in Figure 4. Figure 4. External Free/Busy Path.

To let other users know about your shared calendar information, you can do the following:

1.	Right-click the shared calendar.
2.	Click Publish to Internet.
3.	Click Share Published Calendar.
4.	Enter the email addresses of the people with whom you want to share your free/busy information.
5.	Click Send.

The person who will be accessing the shared calendar will also need a Windows Live logon.

They will receive a message similar to the following:

Mark has invited you to add the "Mark_Calendar" Internet Calendar subscription to
Microsoft Office Outlook.
You can open this calendar on any computer with an Internet calendar compatible
program installed, such as Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.

Sending Contact Information to Others

As the business world becomes more and more electronic, old customs such as the exchange of paper business cards are being replaced by more modern methods. Virtual Business Cards, or vCards, have greatly increased in popularity. These vCards enable an Outlook user to send anyone a small file containing their contact information. Because of the vCard format, this contact information can then be imported into the recipient’s contact list. The vCard can contain common information such as the following:

Name
Address
Phone numbers
Email address
Job title

Going beyond the concepts of a typical business card, a vCard can also include the following:

A picture of the contact
A public key for encryption or digital signing
A link to Internet published free/busy information

vCards can be emailed as attachments or they can be automatically attached to outgoing messages as part of a signature file.

To email a vCard, follow these steps:

1.	Open the contact that will become the vCard.
2.	Click Actions; then select Send as Business Card.
3.	Input information into the email and send the email.

When the user receives the card, he can open it and Save and Close into his own contacts area.

To include a vCard in an AutoSignature, follow these steps:

1.	Click Tools, Options.
2.	Click the Mail Format tab and click Signatures.
3.	Edit an existing AutoSignature or create a new one.
4.	In the toolbar above the text window, click the Business Card icon.
5.	Select the business card from your contacts, and click OK.
6.	Click OK.