Should you share a personal page or a team service?
Personal Bookings shares your own Outlook availability for one-to-one meetings. Shared Bookings offers services for a team. Choose whether the guest can select a staff member or the service assigns someone available. Decide whether the shared page is public or limited to people in your organization.
Which calendar keeps a busy employee out of the results?
Shared Bookings combines service hours, staff availability and scheduling rules. For an eligible staff Outlook calendar, check that events are set to affect availability and that the staff calendar shares free or busy status as required. When you add a staff member with an outside email, Microsoft says they can receive invites. Verify what actually blocks their time before offering their availability.
Can a customer change a booking your staff made for them?
The service has a setting that lets customers manage bookings made on their behalf. When enabled, Manage booking in the confirmation lets the customer move or cancel the appointment, subject to the service’s rules. Microsoft says customers who book from the self-service page still have Manage booking even if the staff-booked option is off. Check who receives the updated invite.
What does the organizer need, and what can you export?
An organizer needs an eligible Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription. Microsoft lists Business Basic among the eligible subscriptions and requires Outlook on the web to be enabled. An administrator may also restrict who can create booking pages. Shared Bookings does not collect payments. Shared Bookings stores records in Exchange. Its administrator appointment report is a tab-separated spreadsheet file for a four-month view. Keep the dates and fields you need, and record service hours and staff rules separately.
How would you check which staff member gets a new booking?
Use paper with two fictional staff schedules and a 20-minute demo. Connect no real calendars and send no invites.
- Mark a staff conflictMake one staff member busy at 10 a.m. and leave the other available. Write which person the service should offer.
- Move the demoChoose a new time. Mark which calendar should lose the old invite and who should see the new time. Rehearse both a staff-made booking and a customer-made booking.