Invite Optional Attendees In Outlook

When Outlook receives a meeting acceptance, the sender of the acceptance is compared to the recipients in the meeting attendee list. If that recipient is not listed, it is assumed to be 'optional' and added to the list of attendees. In each case for which the recipient was 'automatically' being added as optional to the invite, they were able to change the following setting. They navigate to the 'Conversations' section of the Team's associated Sharepoint site. This brought them to an Outlook for Office 365 URL.

To CC someone to a meeting, you can use one of three methods to place the address in the Optional attendee field. (To BCC, use the Resources field and see the Notes, below.) 1. Select the Attendee Availability tab (Outlook 98/2000), Scheduling tab (Outlook 2002/2003), or Scheduling Assistant (Outlook 2007/2010) Click in the Attendance column. Fill in all the fields you want to predefine such as title, required and/or optional attendees, and location. As an example, I've created this informal one-on-one meeting invite sample: Save the newly created meeting as template. For this, click File Save as, type some descriptive name, and choose to save as Outlook Template (.oft) type. I figured I could just change the descriptions for Required Attendees to be Attendees (invite in Outlook), and Optional to be Attendees (track only), and then not sync the Optional Attendees field. Sadly, that sync apparently cannot be altered. If I make a custom activity for these, we lose the ability to track/send invites in Outlook.

When sending a meeting invitation you cannot add someone as a CC or a BCC to the meeting invite. Use the following instructions that detail how to define optional attendees in the meeting invitation.

How to modify groups using Outlook Web Access (OWA)

How To Invite Optional Attendees In Outlook

  1. Go to your Outlook calendar by clicking on the squares icon in the top-left corner and select Calendar.
  2. In the Outlook calendar click New then select Calendar Event.
  3. In the new meeting window that opens, select Scheduling Assistant.
  4. In the Add Attendees field type in the name of an optional person you wish to add to the meeting.
  5. Right click on the name of the attendee and select Attendance optional.

How to modify groups using the Outlook application

  1. In your Outlook calendar, click on the New Meeting icon in the ribbon.
  2. In the new meeting windows that opens, Click on Scheduling Assistant.
  3. Click on the Add Attendees button at the bottom left of the Attendees list.
  4. In the Select Attendees and Resources window, you can add people as required or optional. Select the person you wish to add click on either the Required or the Optional button to add them to the invite.
Invite Optional Attendees In Outlook

As a meeting organizer, you can find out which attendees have accepted and declined your meeting requests.

Before You Begin

When you create a meeting and invite people, you are a meeting organizer. As a meeting organizer, you can find out which attendees have accepted or declined your meeting request. You can also see who has not yet responded.

Track Attendee Meeting Responses

To track the responses of your meeting’s attendees in Outlook 2010, 2013, 2016 or online at Office365.IllinoisState.edu, do the following:

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. Click Calendar on the left side of the window.
  3. Locate a meeting you created and open it.
  4. Click Tracking.

4a. The Tracking button is located at the top of the window on the Meeting tab next to Appointment and Scheduling Assistant. Note that the Tracking button will not be visible unless you are the meeting organizer. If you are an invitee or if you are looking at an appointment rather than a meeting, you will not see the Tracking button.

  1. Your attendees and their responses are shown here.

More Information

When an attendee receives a meeting invitation, there are three options for accepting, tentatively accepting, or declining the invite. The three options are as follows:

  • Edit the Response Before Sending
  • Send the Response Now
  • Do Not Send a Response

How To Show Optional Attendees In Outlook Invite

If the user accepts or declines a meeting invitation using the option, “Do Not Send a Response”, then the Tracking section of the meeting will not reflect the user’s response. In other words, it will appear as though the attendee has not responded even though the meeting has been accepted or declined.