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detox1978Flag for United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

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Exchange: Room booking

Hi All,

My company directory has server meeting rooms called Room A, Room B, Room C and Room D.  I've been told we have to book the room by adding it as a resource to a meeting invite.

I have a couple of questions

Question 1:  Is this the best way to do it?  As people have to check Schedule Assistance to see if there is a conflict.
Question 2:  The Icons appear different.  Any idea why the icon is different on Room B? and how I make it similar to Room C and D

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We are using Exchange 2010 and the clients are mix of Outlook 2010 and 2013


Many thanks
D
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Rob Leaver
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Hi Detox1978,

First out, it looks like room C+D in the picture are not setup as room mailboxes. Here is a quick guide on how to set this up: http://exchangeserverpro.com/exchange-server-2010-room-mailboxes-step-by-step-guide/ 

Once you have your rooms set up this will allow you to add your rooms to your meetings as required.

Going back to your first question....

Yes this is the best way to set this up. But you technically won't have to check the room to review conflicts. outlook will notify you if you're trying to book a meeting conflicts. You have to ensure you have this configured under the resource mailbox properties; this allows you to configure the following:

Whether meeting requests are automatically accepted by the Room Mailbox
How the Room Mailbox handles conflicting appointments
The maximum length of time a meeting can book out the room
How far into the future a room booking can be made

Hope this helps you out!
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ASKER

Is there a way to convert the mailboxes that have not been setup as Room Mailboxes, so I don't lose current bookings?
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Rob Leaver
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So running that command will keep all bookings etc...
It should - It literally converts it from a user mailbox to a room mailbox.... but if you're cautious - Create a test mailbox, set up some calendar appointments and convert it... ALWAYS test.
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb201680(v=exchg.150).aspx

Resource mailboxes   Resource mailboxes are special mailboxes designed to be used for scheduling resources. Like all mailbox types, a resource mailbox has an associated Active Directory user account, but it must be a disabled account. The following are the types of resource mailboxes:
Room mailboxes   These mailboxes are assigned to meeting locations, such as conference rooms, auditoriums, and training rooms.
Equipment mailboxes   These mailboxes are assigned to resources that aren’t location-specific, such as portable computers, projectors, microphones, or company cars.
You can include both types of resource mailboxes in meeting requests, providing a simple and efficient way for your users to use resources. You can configure resource mailboxes to automatically process incoming meeting requests based on the resource booking policies that are defined by the resource owners. For example, you can configure a conference room to automatically accept incoming meeting requests except recurring meetings, which can be subject to approval by the resource owner.
Perfect thanks