SOLVED

Accept & Do Not Send a Response

Microsoft

Hi Calendar Community,

We'd like your feedback & reactions to a change we're considering:

 

Current experience:

When attendees receive a meeting invite, they are provided with 3 response options:Responses requested.png

The first two options (Edit the response before sending & Send the response now) both send an email to the organizer, and the attendee's response is recorded in the organizer's tracking list.

 

The third option (Do not send a response) does not notify organizer, so the attendee's response remains as "None" in the organizer's tracking list.

 

 

What we'd like to change:

Many users report that they expect Do not send a response to be recorded in the organizer's tracking list, but just not to send an email. We are considering updating the behavior so that all 3 response options are recorded in the organizer's tracking list. Attendees can still use the Do not send a response option to avoid sending email to the organizer, but their response would now be recorded & shared with organizer.

 

 

Questions to the Community:

  1. Do you like this change? Does this match what you & others are expecting?
  2. What about when an organizer does not request responses (so there is just a simple Accept button without additional options)? Do you think the intention is to avoid email responses? In other words, would you expect this same behavior (responses are always recorded) to apply even when organizer does not request responses? 
299 Replies
Hi everybody - thanks for all the responses & participation in this thread! We are going to start work on this feature soon :-).

Yes - this change is absolutely necessary. Our institution is highly dependent on this function. Many community members are not aware of this issue which has most likely been causing frustrations for many years. This change matches what everyone is expecting.

 

The intention is to no flood the organizers inbox with 100 emails when sending out to a broad group. So yes, to avoid email responses.

 

Responses should always be recorded except in the instance where the organizer does not request a response. If that option is selected, attendance obviously does not matter to the organizer.

 

Thanks.

Yes absolutely! In fact, I was certain that it already worked this way and it has caused a lot of confusion within our organization. My expectation is that the response would be recorded (and properly tracked) but the organizer would not receive an email notification. I see almost no legitimate use cases where the attendee would have a need to have their response not tracked (if that's the case then... just don't respond). If such a case does exist, it would be the rare exception rather than the rule.

I would be concerned if the actual action is not what it says the action is.  If the action is do not send a response and it sends a response then it is misleading and wrong.  If there is a problem with the option then remove it.  I use the option as it is described.

I totally agree! Simplify please!

Yes to both please.

 

This would be very welcome feature across our user base.

Have there been any updates on this? I see the original post is from February. I know my company would much appreciate a function that would update the tracking list without sending so many emails. Please let me know if there is a beta test or more information on rolling this out!!

Hello Julia, Please can we have an update? L
Hi -- we started work on this a few weeks ago, and are still investigating how to make it work for all Outlook clients. Each of them send meeting responses in different ways, so it's a larger effort than changing a couple values unfortunately.

I don't have any updates yet on timelines, but as soon as I do, I'll update this forum!

I would love to see the Accept but do not send Response option update the Tracking info.  I would not expect the same outcome when the organizer does not request a response. 

Yes and Yes.  This is an ongoing issue for our organization.

Yes I support this entirely, I always accepted without this thinking that I would prevent clutter in other peoples inboxes, never thinking it would not tell that I had responded as this is completely illogical, I was surprised that it worked as it did currently to be honest. A must update in my opinion

1. I like the option. I am one of those who expected my scheduling would show in the assistant, regardless of sending an email. I figure the organizer would know my response when they look at the scheduling assistant. No need to generate an email that will probably be dismissed.
I would note that some people do want their privacy, and maybe a fourth option along the lines of "Do not track my time" would be useful. This would allow the responder to completely disregard the invitation.
Thanks for taking our feedback!

I agree with the rest of the community, the logical option for the organizer is to know who has accepted or not in the tracking status. When will we have this option available?

Thank you for considering our opinions!!

1. Yes!!!  Most people believe when they choose do not send response that it eliminates the email but still is visible in tracking.

 

2.  Yes!!!  I don't wan't to be flooded with emails, but I still want to track who is coming.

Don't click the link in that post from r.othhenry7 !!! It is a phishing attempt.

Don't click the link in that post from r.othhenry7 !!! It is a phishing attempt.

Yes, that is a great idea. That is the most intuitive approach. I always thought that was the purpose of "Do Not Send a Response." Since you are clicking on "Accept" the organizer should be notified that you accepted the invite by going into the tracking feature. I just learned this morning that it doesn't show you've accepted the meeting on the organizer's end.

Yes, PLEASE PLEASE make this change. We have terrible miscommunications because people think they responded by picking "Yes - Do not send response". They're trying to keep an email from cluttering my inbox, but instead it results in wasted time, reminders and back and forth's. I would REALLY REALLY like if people could say YES and it NOT send me an email letting me know. I schedule hundreds of events and it's so annoying and overwhelming to get all of their email responses when all I have to do is open the event to see if they're coming or not.

I am so happy to finally see this topic come up. It has been a pain point for me, who sends out invitations frequently, to chase after the "Do not send a response" people only for them to yell back "I did see I accepted" and shove their laptops at me - no man I CAN'T see. Seems like common sense to have it automatically update the organizer's tracking list. I hope to see this implemented very soon.