Outlook calendar search for available meeting rooms

In Outlook, we can schedule meetings in rooms that we create as a special object (Resource). We can also use Room Finder to search for available rooms. We can prepare Room Lists on the Exchange server.

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In the MS Outlook calendar, we can create events (Appointment) and meetings (Meeting). A meeting differs in that other people - attendees (Attendees) or resources (Resources) are invited. The person who creates it is the organizer.

When planning an event in a conference room, it is always a meeting (Meeting).

Creating a Meeting

in the calendar, select the time
click the New Meeting button

Alternatively, we can create an event and then change it to a meeting

double-click on the time in the calendar
or select the time and click the New Appointment button
in the created event, click the Invite Attendees button
this will change the event to a meeting

When planning, we can use the Scheduling Assistant tool and the Room Finder for meetings. The Room Finder helps us find an available conference room at the given time or an alternative time slot.

Creating a Room List on the Exchange Server

Documentation Create a room list.

To better utilize the Room Finder, we can prepare various lists of rooms or other resources on the Exchange server, which are referred to as Room List. We create the lists as Room List Distribution Groups, which is a special type of distribution group, into which we place the individual objects (conference rooms).

The Room List Distribution Group can only be created using the Exchange Management Shell (it cannot be done in the Exchange Admin Center, where we don't even see these groups).

New-DistributionGroup -Name Zasedacky -DisplayName "Zasedačky" -OrganizationalUnit "firma.local/Rooms" -RoomList

We can list all existing Room Lists with the command:

Get-DistributionGroup -RecipientTypeDetails roomlist

Individual resources (conference rooms) can be added to the group using the EMS or simply in the Active Directory Users and Computers (ADUC)

Finding an Available Conference Room in the List

when creating a new meeting, we should see the Room Finder on the right, or there is a button to turn it on/off (this is not available for events)
in the Show a room list dropdown, we can select the prepared lists from the Exchange server

below the list, we will see which rooms are available for the given time, and additional possible times are offered below

in the list, we select the conference room and it is added as a meeting attendee

Finding an Available Conference Room from Manually Selected Ones

Alternatively, we can select only certain conference rooms (or other resources) and available time slots will be offered from those.

when creating a new meeting, next to Location there is a Rooms button (if we are in the Scheduling Assistant, there is an Add Rooms button at the bottom)

this will offer us a list that contains only room-type objects
we select the required conference rooms (they must be added to the Rooms line at the bottom) and confirm OK
now in the Room Finder on the right, only the selected conference rooms (and the Custom list) are offered

we click on the desired one (or change the time) and the others are removed from the meeting attendees

Related articles:

Articles related to the mail client from Microsoft. Starting with Outlook 2003, through Outlook 2007, the current Outlook 2010 and certainly beyond in the future.

Almost since the beginning of my practice, I have been involved in the administration of the Microsoft mail server, i.e. Exchange Server. I started with the 2003 version and worked my way up to Exchange Online. The articles cover many areas of management. Most since the migration to Exchange Server 2016 and its complete configuration. But also Exchange Hybrid and e-mail security.