Finding it tricky keeping track of a colleague’s appointments? When you use an Exchange account (as a lucky Small Business Server user will do), you can open another person’s default Outlook Calendar – all you need to do to get started is get them to grant you permission to view the calendar.

If the other person whose Calendar you want to open has not granted you permission to view it, Outlook prompts you to ask the person for the permission you need. If you click Yes, a sharing request e-mail message opens automatically. The message requests the person to share his or her Calendar with you and also provides the option to share your default Calendar with him or her. After you access a shared Calendar for the first time, the Calendar is added to the Navigation Pane (side bar) in Outlook. The next time you want to view the shared Calendar, you can just click it in the Navigation Pane.

To begin the process of sharing calendars in Outlook 2007, open your Calendar in Outlook and click on the Open a Shared Calendar link in your Navigation Pane. Type a name in the Name box, or click Name to select a name from the Address Book. Then click OK.

In Outlook 2003, you’ll need to ask the person whose calendar you would like to share to open his/her Calendar in Outlook, and in the Navigation Pane, click on Share My Calendar. They will have the option to allow anyone access to the calendar or just grant access to specific users.