Using the Follow RSVP option in Outlook on the web

In today’s world of too many meetings, you likely find yourself double- and triple-booked all day long. You feel like you have to accept all the meetings as they are important and you want to keep track of things, but it turns your calendar into a nightmare, and the organizer doesn’t know whether you truly will or will not be there. Now, you can use Outlook on the web (or the New Outlook for Windows client if you’re using that) to RSVP with a Follow option. Here’s what that looks like and how it works…

If you get an invite for two or more participants (and the organizer has requested responses), you will see the following option for RSVP’ing if you right-click on the calendar entry:

You’ll see something similar to this if you go directly into the calendar invite:

So what does this do for the organizer and the participant?

The organizer receives the Follow response, which lets them know the participant won’t attend, but wants to stay informed. They’ll also receive a reminder to record the meeting so that the participant can view it at a more convenient time to get caught up.

The participant will be able to access the meeting recording, transcript (if generated), and chat. Their calendar will also show that time slot as Free instead as Busy.

This is a great way to make your calendar entries a bit more realistic, as well as giving organizers a more realistic idea of who will be there. For more information, check out Follow a meeting in Outlook.