Sharing with External Networks

Free/Busy

Free/Busy information is used by people sending meeting requests, to determine when you are available for meetings.

This feature uses the same sharing mode as set for Public Folders. If the Private attribute is set on when composing a new event, nobody is provided with the free/busy information of this event. This can be done via IceWarp Outlook Sync or the new IceWarp WebClient. So the user has a final word whether there is going to be any access to their data.

If more calendar folders are used, the final free/busy information merges all events (except for private ones) from all these folders, regardless of access rights set in permissions.

MS Outlook 2007 supports this feature.

Free/Busy Sharing

To share your Free/Busy information, do the following:

1. In the Outlook main menu, click the Tools – Options items.
2. On the Preferences tab, click the Calendar Options... button. The Calendar Options dialog appears.
3. Click the Free/Busy Options... button. The Free/Busy Options dialog appears:

   

4. Fill in the Publish ... and Update ... fields with adequate entries.
5. Tick the Publish at my location box and fill the field bellow.

   The proper URL syntax is: http://<my.server>/freebusy/?<my@address>.

   Example – see the figure above.

6. Click OK (three times) to set the option.

Free/Busy Subscription

The Search location: path (see above) tells Outlook where to look for other people's free/busy information.

Internet Calendars

Internet Calendars are calendars that are shared through Internet. These calendars are based upon a global Internet standard that allows calendar information to be exchanged between people regardless of the application that is used to create or view the information. Internet Calendars use the iCalendar format and the .ics file name extension.

Users can publish their Calendars using IceWarp GroupWare Server. This provides possibility to share own events with external users.

As Internet Calendars provide much more information than the Free/Busy feature, they are also more secure. Access rights for the default calendar folder are set via standard Permissions what gives users full control over their accounts.

It is possible to publish your calendar in two ways.

• Private authenticated – all events are displayed – including private ones. You will be presented with a browser authentication window and just supply your email and password to access your calendar. The appropriate address is webcal://<server>/calednar/.
• Public anonymous – only public events are displayed. The appropriate address is webcal://<server>/calendar/?<email_address>, where email_address is the address of the user whose calendar you want to see.

MS Outlook 2007 supports Internet Calendars.

Calendar Sharing

To share your Calendar information, do the following:

1. In the Outlook navigation pane, right-click the Calendar you want to share and select the Share – Publish to WebDAV Server... items. The Publish Calendar to Custom Server dialog appears.
2. Fill in the URL into the Location field.

   The proper URL syntax is: http://<my.server>/calendar/?<my@address>.

   Example – see the figure bellow:

   

3. Select the Time Span and Detail features (optional) and click OK.

Calendar Subscription

These calendars can be found on web sites where people host their calendars. Once having a link to such a web site, note that it begins with webcal://, instead of http://, and ends with a file name that has the .ics file extension.

To add shared Calendar, do the following:

1. Click the subscription link. The Add this Internet Calendar to Outlook and subscribe to updates? prompt appears:

   

2. Click Yes to add the Calendar.

   The Internet Calendar opens in side-by-side view in the Outlook Calendar and is added to the Navigation Pane in Calendar view under Other Calendars. The Calendar will check periodically for any updates made by the calendar publisher.