Microsoft FindTime in Outlook

FindTime is a Microsoft Outlook add-in for scheduling meetings. The organizer can send multiple meeting time options through FindTime and minimize the back-and-forth emails in scheduling meetings.

• FindTime helps you to pinpoint times to meet by looking at available free/busy data for your attendees. This data is collected through the calendar part of Microsoft Outlook.
• Users may create a poll where attendees can vote on the times you suggest
• Requested attendees can suggest a new meeting time and vote on current proposed times
• FindTime automatically sends out the meeting invite, by email, on your behalf once requested attendees reach a consensus meeting time

Where can I access FindTime?

Users can access the Microsoft FindTime Meeting Poll feature on Microsoft Outlook 2013, Outlook 2016 for Windows 10 and Apple macOS, Outlook 2019, and Outlook on the web. In addition, requested attendees can receive and reply to FindTime invites from any email provider. Below is the FindTime add-on icon. Clicking on the icon will start a FindTime Meeting invite.

FindTime Meeting Poll Icon

1. Compose a new email or reply to an existing email
2. List people required for the meeting in To: and optional participants in Cc:
3. Click the “New Meeting Poll” icon in the Message tab of the ribbon bar

1. Compose a new email or reply to an existing email
2. List people required for the meeting in To: and optional participants in Cc:
3. Click the “New Meeting Poll” icon in the Message tab of the ribbon bar

1. Login to the FDU Office 365 Portal

2. Compose a new email or reply to an existing email
3. List people required for the meeting in To: and optional participants in Cc:
4. Click the “FindTime” Meeting Poll icon, found at the bottom of your compose or reply email

1. Create a new email or select an email to reply to
2. List people required for the meeting in To: and optional partners in Cc:
3. Click the “FindTime“ Meeting Poll icon within Outlook or Outlook on the web to begin a FindTime invite
4. Set the meeting settings:

• Duration: Select a duration from the list
  • Select 8 hours for a full-day meeting
  • Select Custom in the time dropdown menu to set your own time The maximum duration is 23 hours 59 minutes
• Work Hours: Check to limit suggested meeting times to work days and hours only
• Time Zone: Select the time zone dropdown menu to change the time zone for the meeting

5. FindTime looks through the attendees’ schedules (if available) and suggests suitable meeting times

Use the links to sort the meeting options.

• Availability: Lists the best options (times when all required meeting participants are free) first. Factors used to determine the best options include how many attendees are free, how many required vs. optional attendees are free, whether conflicted attendees have tentative or busy commitments on their calendar
• Time: Lists the options chronologically

• The people icons show whether meeting participants is required, and their availability

• Options:
  
  
  • Underlined: Required
  • Green: Available
  • Yellow: May be busy
  • Red: Busy
  • Gray: Unknown

• You can use the icons to access more information
  
  • Click the user icon, which can be seen with a small clock icon attached to it to open the attendee’s status tray
  • Hover over each person’s icon to view their availability information
  • Click the calendar icon under the user icon to view your calendar

6. Choose a few suitable meeting times
   
   • The time box changes to blue when selected
   • You can select a maximum of 20 times

7. Click “Next“
   
8. Enter the meeting location
   
   • Online meetings are enabled by default. Click the “Online Meeting” check box to disable it

When an Online Meeting is selected, FindTime will schedule a Skype for Business or Microsoft Teams meeting. FindTime will use whichever has been set by your organization as the default online meeting channel.

9. Set Poll settings and toggle the ON/OFF options
   
   • Notify me about poll updates: You’ll receive an email each time an attendee votes. The message includes the current poll status and an option to schedule.
   • Schedule when attendees reach consensus: A calendar event is automatically scheduled if all required attendees have voted in favor of a specific time option. If multiple options are available, the earliest option will be scheduled.
   • Hold selected times on my calendar: A tentative event is placed on your calendar for each time option you propose. All holds are removed when a poll is scheduled or canceled.

10. Click “Insert to Email“
11. FindTime inserts the suggested meeting times into your email. Click “Edit Options” to change the meeting settings, if necessary

12. Click “Send” to send the meeting invites and start the voting process
13. You will receive a direct link to the voting page for your meeting

Management of past and future FindTime (Meeting Polls) requests can be viewed at the following web portal; use your FDU NetID credentials to log in.

Refer to the Microsoft document “How to Create a FindTime Poll” from Microsoft Support for the most up-to-date steps and explanation of settings.

For further details, please view the links below:

• Scheduling Meetings with FindTime
• FindTime Voting Page
• FindTime Organizer Dashboard
• Privacy and Personal Data Protection in FindTime
• How FindTime Auto Scheduling Works
• How to Include an Online Meeting with FindTime
• Troubleshooting FindTime Errors

See also