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Microsoft Bookings at KAUST

Microsoft Bookings is KAUST’s scheduling solution within Microsoft 365. It allows you to share your availability, let others book time with you, and manage appointments without the usual back-and-forth of email coordination.

Bookings works with your Outlook calendar and supports both personal booking pages and team booking pages. It can also generate Microsoft Teams meeting links automatically, which makes it especially useful for virtual appointments, consultations, service-based meetings, and internal coordination.

For many common scheduling needs at KAUST, Bookings provides the same core value people often look for in paid third-party tools such as Calendly and similar platforms, while keeping scheduling connected to Outlook, Teams, and the broader Microsoft 365 environment.

Why use Microsoft Bookings

Works with your Outlook calendar and availability
Supports both personal and team-based booking pages
Can be shared by link, including in email signatures
Supports Microsoft Teams meetings
Reduces repetitive scheduling emails
Keeps scheduling within the KAUST-managed Microsoft 365 environment

Who can use Microsoft Bookings at KAUST

At KAUST, Microsoft Bookings can be hosted by people whose email is in the Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft 365 environment.

  • Staff and eligible faculty using Microsoft 365 email can create and manage Bookings pages
  • Students, post-docs, researchers, and some faculty whose KAUST email is in Gmail cannot host their own Bookings pages
  • Anyone can still use a Bookings link to schedule time with someone else
  • Booking links can be shared with both KAUST and external participants

A simple way to choose

Personal booking page

Use this when you are scheduling as an individual.

Team booking page

Use this when requests should go to a group, service, or department rather than one person.

Booking link in your signature

Use this when you regularly receive meeting requests and want to make scheduling easier for others.

How to access Microsoft Bookings

You can access Microsoft Bookings through the following page:

Open Microsoft Bookings

From there, you can work with either a personal booking page or a team booking page, depending on your scheduling needs.

Personal booking pages

A personal booking page allows others to book time directly with you based on your availability.

Use a personal booking page when you want to:

  • Let people schedule one-on-one meetings with you
  • Reduce email back-and-forth
  • Offer consultations, office hours, or intro meetings
  • Share a consistent scheduling link in your email signature

Team booking pages

A team booking page is designed for shared services, departments, or groups that need a single booking experience rather than an individual one.

Use a team booking page when:

  • Multiple people provide the same service
  • A department wants one shared scheduling page
  • Requests need to be distributed across several staff members
  • A team wants a more structured scheduling experience

Need a team setup first?

If your team does not already have the Microsoft 365 structure needed to support a team booking page, such as an existing Team or SharePoint-connected group, you may need to request that first.

Request a SharePoint Site  |  Contact IT

“Book time to meet with me” in your signature

Many colleagues at KAUST now use a booking link in their email signature so people can schedule time directly without exchanging multiple emails to find a suitable slot.

Saves time
Makes it easier for others to choose an available slot
Reflects your real calendar availability
Works well for recurring meeting requests and external contacts

If you regularly receive meeting requests, adding your Bookings link to your signature can make scheduling much simpler for both you and the other person.

Features and functionality

With a personal booking page, you can:

  • Share your availability with others
  • Offer different meeting types
  • Set meeting durations
  • Control when people can book with you
  • Add buffer time between meetings
  • Include online meeting details automatically

With a team booking page, you can:

  • Create a shared booking experience for a department or service
  • Define services offered by the team
  • Assign appointments to specific staff members
  • Manage business hours and staff availability
  • Distribute requests across multiple people
  • Support a more consistent scheduling process

What to do first

  1. Open Microsoft Bookings
  2. Decide whether you need a personal booking page or a team booking page
  3. Review your availability and Outlook calendar
  4. Create or edit your meeting types or services
  5. Test the booking experience yourself before sharing the link
  6. Share the link directly or add it to your email signature

Before you share your booking link

  • Confirm your availability is correct
  • Check your working hours and time zone
  • Review meeting duration and buffer time
  • Make sure Teams is enabled if the meeting should be online
  • Test the booking link yourself
  • Review the confirmation message people will receive

Best practices

  • Keep your availability accurate
  • Create clear meeting types or services
  • Use descriptive titles so people know what they are booking
  • Add buffer time where appropriate
  • Test the booking flow before sharing the link widely
  • Use personal pages for individual scheduling and team pages for group or service scheduling
  • Keep your booking link easy to find if you use it in your signature

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Sharing your link before testing it
  • Leaving availability too open or too limited
  • Forgetting to add buffer time between meetings
  • Creating too many similar meeting types
  • Using a personal page when a team page is needed
  • Forgetting that Bookings reflects your Outlook calendar availability

Microsoft Bookings can replace the need for other scheduling tools

In most KAUST scenarios, Microsoft Bookings provides the same core scheduling capabilities people often look for in tools like Calendly and similar third-party platforms, without requiring a separate subscription or additional accounts.

Schedule meetings based on Outlook calendar availability
Let people self-book time with you
Create a shared booking page for a team
Generate Teams meeting links automatically
Keep scheduling inside the Microsoft 365 environment

For most internal scheduling needs, Bookings provides the functionality people need without introducing another paid tool or separate scheduling platform.

Need help?

If you need help setting up Microsoft Bookings, creating a team-based booking page, or deciding whether a personal or team booking page is the better fit, contact KAUST IT through the following options: