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winkingtiger

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Outlook Public Calendar

Hello,
I am looking for help with adding a public calendar to my office.  We are a very small office (2-3 users) but have about forty employees to manage for a service-based company.  We would like to setup a calender/schedule system in outlook that all users can view and be able to make changes and print.  We have some repetitive tasks that we would like to have color-coded if possible.  We have one computer in our workgroup that acts as a file server.  I am looking to put the calendar files on that pc and be able to share them with more than one user at a time...if that is possible too :)

It would be nice if I could have my own personal calendar of dates on my pc, but then also be able to check on the company schedule for new work orders and things like that on a daily basis.  It seems I am asking for a lot, but might as well go for it all and ask if all of this can sync with my PDA running wm5.0  

Right now I have my current personal schedule synced with my pc, then I have to check on other computers to see a list of employee/company tasks.   Links and information are greatly appreciated.  If you have any questions on some information that I might have left out, please let me know.

Thanks
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MontyV

Hello winkingtiger

I'm assuming you are not on a domain and thus not using Exchange, correct?  Not familiar with Exchange go here (http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/default.mspx).  Some may say its overkill for 2-3 users for your office but for your other forty employees also this may be a perfect solution for you.  Looking for the whole package then I would consider SBS 2003 (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/sbs/default.mspx).

Now putting that all aside and knowing that you are on a workgroup you must be using POP3 or one of the other options to pull your email correct.  There are many third party software companies that help you share you Outlook Calendar with other users.  Here a good site that helps with Outlook and I've provide the link with a list of your available options.

http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/share.htm

Please let me know if there is any other questions that I can help you with.

- Monty
Avatar of bbao
google recently announced its new Calendar service which works well with its Gmail service as well as keeps good compatibility with MS Outlook: http://www.google.com/calendar

it seems it can do all what you need, even without Outlook and allow your employees access the shared calendar over the internet.
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ASKER

I've done a google search before I came here and saw the slipstick site.  I am well aware of both exchange and SBS2003.  Even SBS2003 seems like overkill for this office.  We do use pop3.  I would like some kind of add-on that we can use one central calendar, that an employee can plug work orders, upcoming events and schedule for the company.  I would then like to be able to see this public calendar from another computer in the office.  I am not looking for anything that is internet based.  Thanks for your help.
Oh and about the slipstick site.  Do you have any working experience with any of their products or may know someone who has used it?
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bbao
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I've never used one personally but I know many clients that do.  I just spoke with one of them and they are using the "Office Calendar" as their option.  That is also listed on slipstick.  It works out well.  The beauty of this and most other programs that you are not only sharing your calendar but you can share your tasks and contacts as well.  I would just choose one then try it.  Most of them have trials also.

http://www.officecalendar.com/

If you need more question about it I can ask my client on some of the options.

bbao - I use the google calendar also but wouldn't that be considered "internet based" still?  I mean if the internet was down or working offline then their calendar would not be accessible.  Unless they came up with some downloadable desktop version that I'm not aware of.

- Monty
I went with Public Sharefolder.  We will see how it works out.