Forum Discussion
Unclear language regarding meeting frequency in Outlook
Problem:
The text shown to email recipients describing when a series of meetings that repeats on a particular day of a particular week each month is unclear as to how often there will actually be a meeting.
Explanation:
The language is unclear if a meeting organiser schedules a meeting that repeats on a particular day of a particular week each month (e.g. on the second Friday of each month, on the third Wednesday of each month)
rather than on a numbered day of the month (e.g. on the 8th day of each month)
Here is a screenshot to illustrate:
The content circled in blue at the bottom of the screenshot shows what the meeting organiser is actually scheduling.
The content circled in red at the top of the screenshot shows what is displayed in Outlook to the recipients and to the meeting organizer.
For this example; the timing information that will be displayed to event invitees says:
Occurs every second Friday from 7:00 PM to 7:30 PM effective Fri 09/01/26 until Sat 09/01/27
I argue that this could be reasonably interpreted to mean either:
- There will a meeting fortnightly (i.e. one week a meeting, and then the next no meeting)
- There will be one meeting each month - and it will take place on the second Friday of the month
I understand the desire to be concise in the descriptions shown to users however I argue it should not come at the expense of clarity of important information.
Suggested Fix:
Adjusting the date/time statement provided to recipients and shown on the new event screen to read in the following format:
Occurs on the second Friday of every month from 7:00 PM to 7:30 PM effective Fri 09/01/26 until Sat 09/01/27
is just slightly longer but removes the ambiguity about meeting frequency.
Thank you for your consideration!
2 Replies
The best place to put such suggestions is over at the Feedback portal, where the relevant PMs lurk: https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/forum/89a8afa3-2e1c-ec11-b6e7-0022481f8472
- GrayHamCopper Contributor
Thank you VasilMichev for your reply. I have created an item on the feedback portal as you suggest:
https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/idea/83c11857-dbef-f011-92b8-6045bd813264