Calendaring Best Practices

 

Avoiding Missing Meetings

  1. Do not clear the "Send Notification Mail" check box
    There is a new feature when creating or modifying a meeting where you can uncheck the Send Notification Mail checkbox, we strongly discourage using this feature because none of the invitees will receive the meeting requests or updates.
     
  2. Notification emails are not about the meeting, they are the meeting.
    Any calendar updates that are not received by email will not appear in  the calendar.  For example, if a meeting attendee does not receive the invitation email for any reason, the meeting will not appear in their calendar.  Likewise, if the meeting organizer does not receive an accept/decline response for any reason, the attendee's status will not be updated in the organizer's calendar.  Notification emails can be lost for a number of reasons:
    1. The recipient has not allowed you to invite them to meetings (in their calendar preferences).
    2. The recipient has forwarded their email and does not keep a copy in Gryph mail.
    3. The recipient is over quota.
    4. You cleared the "Send Notification Email" check box when scheduling the meeting. Avoid using this feature.
       
  3. Do not edit meetings you have been invited to
    It is strongly recommended that you not edit any meetings (such as adding notes, changing the reminder time, etc.) unless you are the organizer for two reasons:
    1. If you have made changes to a meeting you have been invited to, your changes will continue to remain in your calendar if the organizer cancels or reschedules the meeting. 
    2. If the organizer modifies the meeting (e.g. different location or time), all your changes will be lost.
       
  4. Cancel and re-create meeting instead of modifying
    Instances of a repeating meeting can be left in an attendee's calendar even though the organizer has canceled or rescheduled the series.  As a meeting organizer, if you need to modify an instance of a repeating meeting, it is recommended that you cancel that instance and create a new meeting.
     
  5. Do not delete any calendar invitations on your mobile device or Outlook
    When a meeting invitation or meeting update is deleted from a mobile device (BlackBerry) or Microsoft Outlook, the meeting is removed  from your calendar.  Even if you previously accepted the meeting, deleting subsequent update messages from your mobile device or Outlook will remove the meeting from your calendar. 
     
  6. Be careful about declining meetings on the iPhone
    A meeting, once declined on the iPhone, cannot be accepted.  Declining a meeting invitation removes the event permanently from the iPhone.  Accepting the meeting in Gryph mail does not restore the meeting to iPhone's calendar.  For example, if you decline a meeting because of the start time, and the organizer later reschedules the meeting (which you then accept),   the meeting will never appear on your iPhone.

 

Meeting Reminders

  1. Make sure your calendar(s) are selected
    If your calendar that has meeting reminders is not selected (a checkbox beside it), you may not get  meeting reminders.
     
  2. Avoid using tabs with Gryph Mail
    If you are using multiple tabs with Gryph Mail and do not have the tab with Gryph Mail selected/active, you may not get meeting reminders.
     
  3. Meeting Responses
    Meeting reminders will only appear for meetings that have been accepted. Meetings that have not been responded to may not generate a reminder.

 

Sharing Calendars

You may share your calendar(s) with both Gryph Mail and non-Gryph Mail users, more information can be found on the sharing folders page.  

PLEASE NOTE: There is an option to share your calendar(s) publically which is unauthenticated access by a URL.   IMPORTANT:  By selecting this option, all entries and meeting details including notes, attendees, attendee email addresses, location, etc., will become publicly available on the world wide web, posing the risk of loss of privacy and confidentiality for the account owner, meeting attendees and the University.   Please also be aware that these entries can be included in search engine results.  Use this option with caution particularly for personal/default calendars.

The University reserves the right to request that an individual disable this option from their calendar, if a loss of privacy or confidentiality may be perceived or exists.

Public vs. Private Meetings

Setting meetings to public or private only affects how your meetings appear to anyone you have shared your calendar with.  Your calendar is never public to the whole campus.

  1. Public Meetings
    • All attendees (including resources) will be able to see the details of the meeting
    • Anyone you have shared your calendar with will be able to see the details of the meeting
       
  2. Private Meetings
    • All attendees will be able to see the details of the meeting
    • If you have shared your calendar with anyone, you will have had to explicitely given the grantee permission to view private meetings. Such people will be able to open and see the details of the meeting
    • If you have shared your calendar, but have not given permission to view your private meetings, the grantee will be unable to open or view any details about the meeting.

It is recommended that your default calendar be used for all work-related activities, particularly if you have a delegate. For personal appointments, create a second calendar, in order to protect your privacy with regards to your personal meetings. 

 

Free/Busy time

Each calendar owner has the option to specify who can view their free/busy time as well as who can invite them to meetings.   If you decide to make use of this feature, please keep in mind that Gryph Mail does not notify users when there is a conflict therefore, we suggest you use this feature carefully.