Microsoft 365: FindTime

FindTime was deprecated by Microsoft in December 2022 and was replaced by Scheduling Poll

FindTime is a Microsoft scheduling assistant that integrates directly with Microsoft 365 and allows you to schedule meetings more efficiently, similar to a Doodle poll.

Outlook Web Access 

• Go to the Calendar Tab
• Start a New Meeting Invite (please note that you cannot use contact lists with FindTime but need to use individual email addresses)
• Click on the Find Time icon
  
• FindTime will open in the invite and you can pick days and times as options.  In the example below, I've highlighted three areas of interest, labeled by number.
  1. This is the meeting duration - it defaults to 30 minutes, but if you want to schedule a longer meeting, you need to adjust this.
  2. This shows a meeting time where all appear to be available.
  3. This shows other times where not everyone is available (in the example in the screenshot, one of the five people has those times blocked out with other calendar entries).

​​​​​​

• You will see the final options and when you click Add to email, FindTime will create a new email invitation for you which you can add info to (such as a message stating what the meeting invite is about) and then you would click "Send" to send the meeting poll.
• When the FindTime poll is sent to users it will automatically block out all of the times in the poll on your calendar until the meeting is finalized at which point it will release the time slots that were not selected.
• After you send out the invitation the recipients will get an email asking for them to choose a time and will schedule a meeting based on the results.  That email looks like the screenshot below:
  
• Your recipients, when they click "Select options" can choose which times/dates they prefer (by clicking "Prefer", "Yes", or "No" next to each proposed time slot).  They can even click "Propose another time" and suggest another time slot.
  
• When people respond, you'll get an email showing their availability, as in the screenshot below.  When you've gotten all (or sufficient) responses back, you as organizer can click "Schedule" next to their chosen time.
  

Other things to consider when using FindTime: 

• You won't be able to see free/busy availability for people outside of Office 365 at New Paltz (note: you may soon be able to see availability for faculty/staff at other SUNY institutions).
• You will only see times blocked out if people have created events on their calendar in those times.  If people use alternate methods of keeping calendars (an external calendar, a paper calendar, or just their memory) they will show up as 'free' on those times, even if they are not.  That's why the poll option is still important.
• You can view the FindTime dashboard at https://outlook.office.com/findtime/dashboard - to see any outstanding polls you have for meetings.
• FindTime cannot be used with contact lists, Office365 Groups, or Microsoft Teams
• Please Note: If you block cookies or 3rd party cookies FindTime will not run. You will need to add an exception for findtime.microsoft.com for it to function properly.

Outlook Desktop

Virtually the same as above although you can create a meeting invite from either the mail page or the calendar page

If you don't see it - click on the Get Add-Ins button and search for FindTime, select it, and click Add