Most people don’t realize that you can set up separate rules just for meeting requests. The secret is to use the “uses the form name form†condition, along with any other conditions. Start with a blank rule to check messages when they arrive. For the first condition, select “from people or distribution list,†click the underlined text in the Rule Description box, and then select the person to whose meeting requests you want this rule to apply. Next, select the “uses the form name form†condition, and click the underlined text. The Choose Forms dialog will appear. Click the drop-down list (which will probably be displaying Organization Forms) and choose Application Forms. Select Meeting Request, click Add, then Close. Now, click Next to move on to the actions. Select “assign it to the category category,†click the underlined text, and select Business from the Categories list. Finally, select “stop processing more rules,†so that no other rules will operate on these meeting requests, and then click Next twice. Give the rule a name and then click Finish. Outlook will warn you that this is a client-only rule that will only process messages when you are running Outlook.
When a meeting request from the person designated in your rule arrives while you are running Outlook, Outlook will automatically create an appointment in your calendar with the Business category. Note that if you accept the meeting using Outlook Web Access, the category will not be applied because the client-side rule will not have an opportunity to operate on the meeting request.
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Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
