5 ways to create appointments and meetings in Outlook
If you generate an appointment using information from an email message you received, you probably toggle back to the email and then copy and paste the content. You also probably copy and paste people’s names in the To: line so you can invite them to the new meeting. That’s a lot of clicks! Try one of these methods, instead.
Reply with Meeting
On the Home tab, Respond group, you will notice a Meeting button when you select a message in a folder or when you’re in it. This creates a meeting that includes the content of the email message in the body and invites all of the message recipients. Simply edit the meeting notice accordingly, and you’re done. 
Drag and Drop
Drag and drop the email message to the Calendar navigation link on the left (2007/2010) or the bottom (2013) of the Outlook window. The resulting appointment will include the content of the email in the body. Dragging to the Calendar link will, by default, create a calendar item on today’s date. In Outlook 2010, you can drag the email message straight to the calendar on the To-Do bar, too. Locate the date first, and then drag the email message on top of it. The appointment/meeting/event will be created with that date. Turn it into a meeting by inviting people.
OneNote
Another way to collaborate on the content of an email, without even having a meeting, is to send it to OneNote. If you have OneNote installed, you should see a OneNote button on your Outlook Ribbon with an email selected. Once you create the notebook on OneDrive, share it with those you would like to collaborate with. Everyone accesses the same notebook. Another way to integrate OneNote into your meeting life is to click on the Meetings Notes button on an existing calendar item. Then invite the attendees to either read or contribute to the meeting notebook live, right there in the meeting!
Quick Step
If you frequently create the same type of meeting notice for the same folks, but not on any kind of defined recurring schedule, a Quick Step can be very handy. Here’s how:
- Choose the Create New button in the Quick Steps gallery (Home tab).
- Choose an action from the Appointment category, like Meeting.
- Click the Show Options link, and complete all the recurring information.
- Click Finish.
Now, whenever you want to set up these meetings, just click your Quick Steps and change the date and time.
Keyboard shortcuts
When you have to create a meeting or an appointment, you probably switch to your calendar view and click on the New Appointment button. But there are faster ways to do that with shortcuts. If you are already on your calendar, click Ctrl+N for a new Appointment. Simply invite someone to change it to a meeting. Check All day event, and the form changes to an Event. From any Outlook view click Ctrl+Shift+A for a new Appointment form without having to leave whatever view you were in.
