Forum Discussion
Inviting a group calendar without sending invites to the distribution group
VasilMichev Thank you so much for good ideas!
Just to be clear...
- For your first proposed solution
- Do you mean that each member has to "unsubscribe"? Is there no way to run a Cmdlet or similar to just do it for everyone?
- If there isn't - where exactly do the members change this setting? There are many places with settings, e.g. the settings in Teams seem to be only for following a channel, but then I find a setting to "Follow" the group when I go through Files -> Open in SharePoint (from Teams).
- Also, you mention to "toggle the corresponding flags". Which flags do you mean? My original question has partly come from the fact that I don't understand the setting "ReplyOnly" on one of the flags.
- For your second proposed solution,
- This sounds like an interesting way to go! Is there really no way for IT to add it to everyone? In the article Create a shared mailbox they mention "automapping" - could that be a way to go to minimize the admin work for each team member?
- With a shared mailbox - could we then just invite that mailbox to the meetings? What will the experience be for the members? Can we set the e-mail to accept the meeting invites automatically (just as a "room" does)? Will it be possible for them to add the calendar without adding the mailbox? The whole idea here is that we don't want every team member to be bothered by tons of invitations.
- I'm reading at About shared mailboxes and it says that there can be issues if there are "too many users". However, "too many" is not defined. Any idea if 150 will be too many?
- The point here is really to have a shared calendar, not a shared mailbox. Is there anyway to disable the e-mail part?
The thoughts in 2.b. makes me wonder if it's better to hack this through creating a "room". That's pretty much the functionality I want - Let the users add this calendar as a participant, and let others see the meeting. However, I'd like there to be a possibility to have overlapping events, since the "room" isn't actually a room...Anyone that can build on this idea to figure out if it would work?
Best,
Jonatan
1) Yes, as "calendar" subscriptions can only be managed client-side, via OWA - select the Group, … menu, settings, adjust the selection under "manage group email". Outlook only has a single "follow" setting that applies for all messages, not just calendar items.
Via PowerShell, you can only manage this "global" subscribe flag, you cannot select just the "calendar events" one. The cmdlet is Get/Remove-UnifiedGroupLinks
2) Automapping will do, however it will expose not just the Calendar folder, but the entire mailbox, which is probably not something you want for your scenario. And will also contribute to that "many users" issue. "Manually", they can add the calendar only, so they don't clutter their nav pane, and should be fine performance-wise as Microsoft recently adjusted some limits there.
If you want automatic meeting processing, use a room mailbox instead. The setup is the same as with shared mailbox, you just have some additional calendar processing settings to play with. Including handling of "conflicts"/duplicate meetings.
And no, you cannot have calendar without the mailbox.
P.S. You ask too many questions 😛
- SaraBaetenMar 01, 2022Brass ContributorThis is still a relevant discussion, and it still seems like there is no easy answer to achieve this.
Have there been any advances in Teams or Outlook groups to make this easier accomplish?- dicktjJun 02, 2022Copper Contributor
SaraBaeten I'm having the same problem! I can't even edit a note on a shared calendar event within Teams without it sending an email to everyone on the Team! SO annoying. Have you found a solution?
- jdrury-communityJun 15, 2022Copper ContributorWe are struggling with this same use case. has anyone figured out a good end to end solution to allow easy publication of events to a central calendar without notifying anyone that a event is there?
Thanks!