Introduction

Below you will learn about adding and managing appointments and meetings in the Outlook 365 Calendar. You will also learn about useful SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader hotkeys that can help you perform these tasks.

Reading time: 10 minutes approx.

Video

The following video introduces this topic. The video content and more are discussed in detail below.

Viewing the Calendar

Before studying the ways you can manage events in your Calendar, it is important to spend time reviewing the different types of Views available and decide on what layout best suits your needs.

You can setup your Calendar to view a day, work week, full week, month, or view your events as a list. SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader supports all Views, although, working in some Views may be more demanding than others.

To setup your Calendar View:

1. Go to the Calendar folder (CONTROL + 2).
2. From the "View" tab of the Ribbon, select "Current View" (ALT + V, C, V).
3. Select a View.

Views include List, Active, and Calendar. The List View shows all current and past events from your Calendar in a simple list style, which you can navigate using UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW, similar to navigating the messages in your Inbox folder.

The Active View is similar to the List View with the exception that only active events are listed. Past events do not appear in the list.

The Calendar View shows your events in a more traditional Calendar style. You can choose to view the Calendar using Day View, Work Week View, Full Week View, or Month View. You may want to switch between these Views, depending on whether you want an overview of upcoming events or are seeking to view event times on specific days.

You can change View from the "Home" tab of the Ribbon or by using the following keyboard commands:

• Press CONTROL + ALT + 1 for Day View.
• Press CONTROL + ALT + 2 for Work Week View.
• Press CONTROL + ALT + 3 for Week View.
• Press CONTROL + ALT + 4 for Month View.
• Press CONTROL + ALT + 5 for Schedule View.

You may find the following popular keyboard commands helpful when using Calendar Views:

• Press CONTROL + T to go to today.
• Press CONTROL + G to open the "Go to date" dialog box. Here you can stipulate a date or use natural phrases such as tomorrow, New Years Eve, six weeks from now, etc.
• Press LEFT ARROW to navigate to the previous day and RIGHT ARROW to navigate to the next day. When using Day View and Week Views, navigating moves across days at the same time slot. When navigating, you may find placing the focus at the start of the day helpful as it ensures events for the current day are always ahead of you.
• When in Day View and Week Views, press control + home to go to the start of the day and CONTROL + END to go to the end of the day.
• When in Day view and Week Views, press HOME to go to the start of the working day and END to go to the end of the working day.
• When in Day view and Week Views, press UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW to navigate through time slots. When you use Month View, the UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW move by week.
• When in Day View and Week Views, press ALT + UP ARROW to navigate to the previous week and ALT + DOWN ARROW to navigate to the next week.
• When in Day View and Week Views, press ALT + HOME to go to the start of the week and ALT + END to navigate to the end of the week.
• Press ALT + PAGE UP to navigate to the previous month and ALT + PAGE DOWN to navigate to the next month.
• Use TAB and SHIFT + TAB to navigate to the next and previous Calendar events. When you navigate, speech will state the title, time and date, and the number of the event within the current view.
• Press ENTER or CONTROL + O to open a selected Calendar event.

Adding an appointment to the Calendar

Appointments are individual events you add to the Calendar. For example, you may want to add an event to remind you of a birthday, dentist appointment or to indicate times when you will be out of the office.

To add an appointment:

1. Press CONTROL + SHIFT + A An "Untitled Appointment" window opens. The cursor is in the "Subject" field.
2. Type in a subject for the appointment.
3. TAB through and complete the fields you require.
4. If you wish to change the notification value, go to the "Reminder" item in the "Appointment" tab of the Ribbon, and select an alternative value (ALT + H, R, E).
5. If you wish to set your status to something other than "busy", go to the "Show As" item in the "Appointment" tab of the Ribbon, and select an alternative value (ALT + H, B).
6. When done, press ALT + S. Outlook adds the appointment to the Calendar and closes the dialog box.

Adding a meeting to the Calendar

A meeting is a scheduled event with two or more people that you add to the Calendar. For example, you may have a regular book group meeting you attend with friends, a catchup with family, or an office meting.

To add a meeting:

1. Press CONTROL + SHIFT + Q An "Untitled Meeting" window opens. The cursor is in the "Title" field.
2. Type a subject for the meeting.
3. TAB to the "Required" field and type the email addresses of the recipients required to attend the meeting. Separate each email address with a semi colon. As you begin to type, Outlook will present a list of possible contacts, which you can navigate using the UP and DOWN ARROW keys and select by pressing ENTER.
   If required, you can use the Speak focus hotkey to speak, spell, etc. the selected contact. Press NUMPAD 0 or, if you are using the Laptop Universal Hotkey Set, press CAPS LOCK + UP ARROW.
   Alternatively, press ALT + U to select a person from your contact list.
4. TAB to and repeat the same steps for the "Optional" field. You can press ALT + P to add people from your contact list.
5. TAB through and complete the fields you require.
6. Press ALT + S. Outlook adds the meeting to the Calendar, sends the meeting request to the contacts and closes the dialog box.

The meeting is added to your Calendar and its properties are updated as people respond to your invitation.

Reply to a meeting request

Meeting requests you receive appear as an email in your Inbox.

You can quickly respond to the request in your Inbox by opening the context menu (SHIFT + F10) and choose a response. You can choose to accept, tentatively accept, or decline the invite.

If you want to view the details of the meeting before responding, do the following:

1. Open the meeting request. The meeting request window opens with the focus in the message body.
2. Use the Arrow Keys to read the message body.
3. Use SHIFT + TAB and TAB to review the message header, which includes the details about the meeting time and location.
4. From the "Meeting" tab of the Ribbon (ALT + H), select a response, for example, Accept, tentative, or Decline, and then choose what action you want to perform, for example, to not send a reply. Outlook updates your Calendar and closes the meeting request.

Review and edit events in your Calendar

You can review and edit appointments in your Calendar. You can review, but cannot edit, meetings you have accepted. Only the meeting organiser can modify the meeting event details.

To review and edit events:

1. Go to your Calendar (CONTROL + 2).
2. To review events during a specific day: switch to Day View and navigate to the day. When the day has focus, speech will announce the number of events occurring on that day. If events are present, you can press TAB to select an event. Once selected, you can press CONTROL + O to open the event details or press DELETE to remove the event from your Calendar.
3. To review events during a specific week: switch to Week view and navigate to the week. When the week has focus, speech will announce the number of events occurring on that week. If events are present, you can press TAB to select an event. Once selected, you can press CONTROL + O to open the event details or press DELETE to remove the event from your Calendar.
4. To review events during a specific month: switch to Month View and navigate to the month. When the month has focus, speech will announce the number of events occurring during that month. If events are present, you can press TAB to select an event. Once selected, you can press CONTROL + O to open the event details or press DELETE to remove the event from your Calendar.

Tip: If you find working in the Calendar Views difficult due to the complexity of the layouts and the amount of information you need to digest, switch to Active View to present your upcoming appointments and meetings in a simple list form (ALT + V, C, V).

Useful SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader hotkeys to use with the Calendar

When working with the Calendar, you may find the following SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader Speak keys helpful.

Summary

Here, you discovered how to add and manage events in your Calendar. You also learnt about the different View settings and useful SuperNova and Dolphin ScreenReader hotkeys to help you navigate the Calendar.

Quiz

1. You can create an appointment by pressing CONTROL + SHIFT + A. Is this statement true?
2. You can create a meeting by pressing CONTROL + SHIFT + Q. Is this statement true?
3. You can review the status bar to check the number of events in view. Is this statement true?

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