Microsoft recently created an easily accessible version of Microsoft Bookings. Bookings is a program that is used to allow others to book appointments on your calendar. It is very beneficial because it takes your Outlook calendar into account and allows you to share your up-to-date availability. Those who might want to book with you can sign up for a slot of time and that goes directly onto your calendar and sends you both reminders. While the full Bookings program is mostly used by organizations, the new one is tailored toward individual use. Most importantly, it is a tool you already can access using your Marian email account. 


To get started, you must go to the web-based version of Outlook (see the instructions below). Changing the settings for your Booking Calendar does not work within the Outlook program and so must be done in the web version.


  1. Submit a request through the IT Help Desk (helpdesk@marian.edu) to request Bookings be turned on for your account. Once they have confirmed that it has...
  2. Go to the Marian email portal (https://outlook.com/owa/marian.edu) and log in if needed.
  3. Click on the calendar icon:
  4. To create a bookable time, click on the down arrow next to New Event and select Bookable Time:


Bookable Times can be organized in any number of ways. They can be as wide or as narrow as you would like them to be. I would probably classify most Bookable Time slots into two categories. 

1. Short-term slots shared primarily with individuals. 

  • An example of this might be if a vendor wants to meet with me but I want to limit them to just meeting between 3-4. I would create a Bookable Time to last for a couple of weeks (to give them time to book) and then set the availability of it to only go from 3-4 pm. When I get my link, I would put it in an email to them and they can use it to book time on my calendar.

2. Long-term slots shared with a lot of people or through links across platforms.

  • An example of this is how I use my Bookings. I set up my start and stop times and do not have it restricted to a certain date range. The important difference is that the link always stays the same. This means that I can make adjustments to my availability if needed but I can use that link at the bottom of my email so people always have the ability to book time that I have available.


Let's look at the Bookable Time Settings options:



  1. Add a Title: Use this so you can know which Bookable Time this is. If you use multiple ones, make sure it is descriptive. For example, you might create one Bookable Time for "Virtual Meetings" and one for "In-Person Meetings".
  2. Slot Duration: This is the default duration of a meeting booked through this form. If you want different options (some meetings lasting 30 minutes and others lasting an hour), you will need to create them using separate Bookable Times.
  3. Availability: Use this to outline when others are allowed to book into your calendar. What time in the day are you starting your availability? What time are you ending your availability? Are there days that you are always unavailable? This is also the place to decide how long this Bookable Time is in effect. There is a box in these settings to say that this Bookable Time is "Only during the following date range." Remember, this can always be changed. For example, if you are an instructor that has a certain availability in the Fall but it changes in the Spring, you can either create these as separate Bookable Times (and so use different links) or you can edit these settings when the Spring schedule starts. Also, make sure to see the note in this section: People can only book time with you that does not show as a conflict with another meeting. This is true of anything on your calendar that gets the "Busy" indicator on your calendar (for example, holidays).
  4. Privacy: Unless you are creating a Booking Page (which you might do if you had different options of meetings that you want people to choose from (half-hour vs one-hour meetings or virtual vs in-person meetings, for example), I would leave this set to Private
  5. Email Signature: This puts a Microsoft-created link in your email signature for all emails that you send out. If your signature is the same for everyone, you can select this but keep in mind that it might mean sending out your Bookable Time to someone you don't want to book on your calendar. In general, I'd recommend not checking this box.
  6. Room or Location: You can use this to identify where the meeting with you will take place. If you do not select this, make sure to note in #8 where the meetings take place by default. 
  7. Teams meeting toggle: Use this to create a Teams appointment for the meeting. In general, we use Webex instead of Teams and so I would leave this off and make sure my Webex room is listed in #8.
  8. Description: Fill out as much or as little as you would like explaining what you are offering in this meeting. Make sure you include a location (either physical location or online) and any other details you want them to have to prepare for the meeting.
  9. Create button: Use this to move to the next steps when ready.


Successful Setup Screen:

The next screen should be one that shows that your Bookable Time has been successfully set up and look something like this:


As you can see you can go back and Edit the bookable time (1) and get your link (2). One important note, the links used by your Bookable Times are almost unreadable, so it would be in your best interest to hyperlink the link to text wherever possible. For example, in my email signature, it says "Schedule a Meeting" rather than something like:


https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/19d42f7eed7740c9861ebd7622f55422@marian.edu/meetingtype/nT_n8XAfL06IXRc30wMQ2?anonymous&ep=owaSlotsCopyCard


Hyperlinking text generally works the same in most programs. First, copy the link. Second, highlight the text that you want to make into the link ("Schedule a Meeting" in my example above). Third, use the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+K (or Command + K on a Mac) to open the hyperlink editor. Finally, paste in the link as the URL and click Save.