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To sync your Skype for Business and Outlook accounts. In the Skype for Business main window, click Options. In Skype for Business - Options, click Personal. Select the Update my presence based on my calendar information check box. Sync Calendar Availability to Status. The app shows my meetings in the Calendar section, since I use Outlook for my calendar. When I'm in a meeting and/or using Skype for Business as my phone (which my organization is.
Skype for Business makes conducting virtual meetings easier by integrating with Microsoft Outlook. You can schedule a Skype for Business meeting with a single click from within Outlook (2013 or later).
- To begin, select the Calendar option within Outlook.
- Next, select the New Skype Meeting option, located at the top of the screen. A new meeting invitation displays.
- The new meeting invitation that is displayed after selecting the New Skype Meeting option contains Skype meeting information. Outlook has created and inserted Skype for Business meeting information and the corresponding hyperlink to that meeting.
- Populate the blank meeting invitation with the information you would normally include, such as the location, the attendee(s), and a description of the meeting’s purpose.
- When you have finished populating all of the meeting information, select the Send button to send your meeting invitation.
- Additionally, you can access the Meeting Options menu from the top of a blank meeting invitation. This menu provides a few options for controlling Skype for Business options when conducting your meeting.
- You can also select Join Skype Meeting from the top of a blank meeting invitation. When selected, a Skype for Business meeting will immediately launch. You can then invite Skype for Business users from your organization from the meeting window. If you need to invite a non-Skype for Business user, you cannot use the Join Skype Meeting option. You will need to send an invitation to the non-Skype for Business users so that they can connect via an Internet browser plugin.
Repeat these steps for each additional Skype for Business meeting you want to schedule.
We’ve recently been investigating some issues surrounding Outlook 2013, and slow mailbox synchronisation. This has been experienced and described by clients in a few different ways, including the following:
- New emails arrive immediately to mobile devices, but not to the Outlook inbox for some time, occasionally up to 10 minutes later.
- The Outlook inbox continues to display old, deleted or moved messages for a few minutes after those messages have been moved using a mobile device.
- Sent or Deleted emails do not appear in the Sent Items or Deleted Items folders respectively for a new minutes.
- Outlook Calendar entries do not match between multiple attendees of the same meeting.
- Moving between screens in Outlook, such as between shared calendars or from Mail to Calendar could be very slow or even freeze Outlook with a Not Responding message.
Some key features of the impacted environments include:
- Exchange is hosted on Microsoft Office 365
- Microsoft Office 2013 Pro Plus is in use
- Lync or Skype for Business is installed
Disable integration between Outlook and Lync or Skype for Business
The single biggest improvement that we discovered was by disabling the default integration between Outlook and either Lync, or Skype for Business, depending on which one is installed (See here for more on Lync vs Skype for Business).
Skype for Business (Lync) will constantly monitor your Outlook, mainly so that it can update your status for the benefit of your contacts. Although a nice feature, the impact on Outlook seems to be substantial. Disabling this integration is quick and easy.
- In Skype for Business click on the small cog icon, and then select Tools > Options.
- In the options window that appears, navigate to Personal and locate the Personal Information Manager section. You will likely see this set to “Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft Outlook”. Change this drop-down menu to “None” and click OK.
- Exit both Outlook and Skype for Business (Lync) and restart both.