How to Send a Meeting Invitation in Outlook (and Track Who's Coming)
A meeting invitation beats an email saying "Are you free Tuesday?" every time. Everyone gets the meeting in their own calendar, Outlook tracks who has accepted, and if you move it, everyone's calendar moves too.
Quick reference
| What you want | How |
|---|---|
| New meeting | Calendar → New event → Invite attendees |
| Make someone optional | Click their name → Optional |
| See responses | Open the meeting → attendee list / Tracking |
| Online meeting | Turn on the Teams meeting toggle |
1. Create a meeting invitation
New Outlook and Outlook on the web:
1. Open the Calendar and click New event.
2. Type a title.
3. In the Invite attendees box, start typing names or email addresses and pick them from the list.
4. Set the date, start and end time.
5. If it's online, switch on the Teams meeting toggle.
6. Add a location, agenda or notes, then click Send.
2. Type a title.
3. In the Invite attendees box, start typing names or email addresses and pick them from the list.
4. Set the date, start and end time.
5. If it's online, switch on the Teams meeting toggle.
6. Add a location, agenda or notes, then click Send.
Classic Outlook:
1. In the Calendar, click New Meeting.
2. Add people in the Required box.
3. Set the subject, location and times.
4. Click Send.
2. Add people in the Required box.
3. Set the subject, location and times.
4. Click Send.
Each person receives an email with Accept, Tentative and Decline buttons. The meeting appears in their calendar straight away, marked tentative until they respond.
2. Required or optional?
Not everyone needs to be there. In new Outlook, click a name in the attendee list and choose Optional. In classic Outlook, click Optional next to the attendee box and add them there. Optional attendees still receive the invitation, but they know they can skip it.
3. Check who has accepted
Open the meeting from your calendar. In new Outlook, the attendee list shows a tick, question mark or cross next to each name. In classic Outlook, click the Tracking button on the Meeting tab to see every response, including who hasn't replied.
Anyone who hasn't responded a day before? Forward the invitation to them with a short note, or just ask.
4. Change the time
Open the meeting, change the date or time and click Send update. Everyone receives the new time and their calendar updates automatically. Add a line in the body saying why — people are more forgiving when they know.
5. Add someone later
Open the meeting, add the new attendee and click Send. Outlook offers to send the update only to the added or deleted attendees — choose that so everyone else isn't bothered.
6. Cancel a meeting
Open the meeting and click Cancel meeting (new) or Cancel Meeting (classic), add a message if you like, and click Send cancellation. The meeting disappears from everyone's calendar. Don't just delete it from yours — nobody else will know.
7. Response options
Before you send, click Response options (new Outlook) or Response Options (classic) to:
• Request responses — turn off for large all-staff events so you don't get 200 acceptance emails.
• Allow forwarding — turn off to stop the invitation spreading to people you didn't invite.
• Allow new time proposals — lets people suggest a different time instead of declining.
• Allow forwarding — turn off to stop the invitation spreading to people you didn't invite.
• Allow new time proposals — lets people suggest a different time instead of declining.
Troubleshooting
I'm getting flooded with acceptance emails. Turn off Request responses, or set up a rule to move "Accepted:" emails to a folder. You can still see who's coming from the tracking list.
Someone says they never received it. Check the address — an external contact may have a typo. Also check Sent Items: if the invitation isn't there, it never left.
The meeting shows the wrong time for someone abroad. It's probably fine — Outlook shows each person the meeting in their own time zone. Put the time zone in the title if it matters, for example Project call (3pm UK).
Wrapping up
Always invite people from the calendar, never by email. Mark the nice-to-haves as optional, check tracking the day before, and if plans change, Send update so everyone's calendar follows.
