Sharing Folders with Other Outlook Users

Throughout this document, the rules and procedures that apply to sharing your calendar also apply to every other folder in Outlook 2000 (message folders such as the Inbox, contact folders such as Contacts, and all others, such as Notes). To share your calendar with another Outlook 2000 user (running off of an Exchange Server), each person must perform a set-up. That is, [1] the Owner of the calendar must give the Viewer permission to see her calendar, and [2] the Viewer must set-up his Outlook to go view the Owner’s calendar.

STEP 1: The OWNER
To make your Calendar (folder) available for another/others to see:

Set Permissions for your Mailbox/Outlook Today.
Set Permissions for the folder(s) you want to make available.

Why more than one folder? To help you conceptualize the way this works, read this Appendix before continuing. After, you will be able to return directly to this place.

If not already visible, make your Folder List visible by clicking on the Folder icon in the bottom left-hand toolbar

Highlight the folder named “Mailbox – Name” by left-clicking on it once
Right click on your mailbox which will be labeled “Mailbox – Name” in Folder List view

Select "Properties for Mailbox – Name”.
Select the Permissions Tab.

Click the Add button.
Type in the name or select the name from the list.
Select the Permission Level: Reviewer.
Click OK.
Do the same for the specific folder (or sub-folder) that you want to make available. In other words, you must now highlight and then right-click on the folder you wish to give the Viewer access to. If you want someone to see your Calendar, highlight and right-click on the calendar, Tasks, Notes, Inbox (or any sub-folder) etc
Select the PERMISSIONS TAB.
Select the Permission Role from the drop-down field. Common roles are “Reviewer,” “Editor,” and “Author.”
WARNING: at this time, we must advise you to steer clear of the "Contributor" role, as it seems to cause the entire server to crash.

ROLES DEFINED

Owner
Grants all permissions in the folder. Create, read, modify, and delete all items and files and create subfolders. The owner can also change permission levels that others have for the folder.

Publishing Editor
Grants permission to create, read, modify and delete all items and files, and create subfolders.

Editor (recommended)
Grants permission to create, read, modify, and delete all items and files.

Publishing Author
Grants permission to create and read items and files, modify and delete items and files you create, and create subfolders.

Author (recommended)
Grants permission to create and read items and files, and modify and delete items and files you create.

Nonediting Author
Grants permission to create and read items and files.

Reviewer (recommended)
Grants permission to read items and files only.

Contributor (not recommended)
Grants permission to create items and files only. The contents of the folder do not appear.

None
Grants no permission in the folder. Use this as the default permission when you want to limit the folder audience to only users you specifically add to the Name/Role box.

STEP 2: The VIEWER

The viewer has it easy, though they cannot do their part until The Owner has completed theirs.

Go to the Start menu and select Run
Type in "addmailbox [owner's username]" (without the quotes) and press OK
That should add The Owner's mailbox at the bottom of The Viewer's Folder List. The Viewer should then be able to expand The Owner's mailbox by clicking on the plus sign to the left of The Owner's name. The Viewer should see all of the folders there, but only be able to view the folders The Owner set permissions for.

Troubleshooting

Infrequently, a set-up will not perform correctly or at all. Should you experience any problems, please contact the HelpDesk at x2880.

Appendix

The Concept of "Gates"
When you give permission for an individual to access a folder of yours, in actuality, you will need to provide permissions on several folders! This may not be an obvious or easy concept to put into practice. So lets look at it with the help of a metaphor.

Essentially, your Outlook folders are functioning as a series of "gates" through which other individuals must pass to access specific folders.

A simple example: To access your Calendar folder, a user must come in through the front 'gate' or Mailbox (also known as Outlook Today) and into the gate called Calendar.

A complex example: Imagine that you need John Doe to be able to read emails in one of your folders called "Task Force"

In the above image, for John Doe to see the email items in the Task Force folder, he would need the following permissions:

Permission to pass through the "Test Personal Folder" gate,
Permission to pass through the "Inbox" gate,
and then Permission into the "Task Force" gate proper where he would be able to read the items. If done correctly, John Doe would not be able to see any data in any of the gates he passed through along the way.

STEP 1: The OWNER To make your Calendar (folder) available for another/others to see:

Owner Grants all permissions in the folder. Create, read, modify, and delete all items and files and create subfolders. The owner can also change permission levels that others have for the folder.

Publishing Editor Grants permission to create, read, modify and delete all items and files, and create subfolders.

Editor (recommended) Grants permission to create, read, modify, and delete all items and files.

Publishing Author Grants permission to create and read items and files, modify and delete items and files you create, and create subfolders.

Author (recommended) Grants permission to create and read items and files, and modify and delete items and files you create.

Nonediting Author Grants permission to create and read items and files.

Reviewer (recommended) Grants permission to read items and files only.

Contributor (not recommended) Grants permission to create items and files only. The contents of the folder do not appear.

None Grants no permission in the folder. Use this as the default permission when you want to limit the folder audience to only users you specifically add to the Name/Role box.