Overview
Microsoft Scheduling Poll (formerly known as FindTime) is an Outlook feature that allows you to easily poll and schedule meeting times with anyone. You will need Outlook to create a scheduling poll, but your recipients do not need to have an Outlook account or a USC account to view your poll and respond.
How a Scheduling Poll appears to recipients
Once you email a Scheduling Poll, recipients receive a link in their email to a page where they can vote on their preferred meeting times.
Creating a Scheduling Poll in Outlook for Windows
You will need New Outlook for Windows to follow these steps. If your Outlook version does not look like the screenshots in the steps below, you might be using classic Outlook for Windows. In this case, you can either update your Outlook version or follow our instructions for using Outlook online instead:
Quick guide
- Open Outlook.
- Click New to create a new message.
- In the To field, add recipients by email address. Fill in the Subject field.
- In the ribbon, click Scheduling Poll.
- If you do not see this option, click the
icon to scroll right on the ribbon.
- Adjust the Time zone and Duration if needed. If Meeting hours is selected, Outlook will automatically retrieve everyone's availability between 9am–5pm.
- To select a date, use the Date field. Once you select a date, select one or multiple time slots under "Sort by." You can select additional dates and time slots. Once you finish selecting dates and time slots, click Next.
- Review the dates and time slots you selected, and click Create poll.
- You can optionally fill in a Location. To optionally add a Microsoft Teams link, click the Teams meeting toggle.
- Once you're done editing your email message, click Send.
- Recipients will receive an email containing a link to view and respond to your poll. To track their responses or edit the poll, go to https://outlook.office.com/findtime/dashboard.
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
- Open Outlook.
- Click New to create a new message.
- In the To field, add recipients by email address. Fill in the Subject field.
- In the ribbon, click Scheduling Poll.
- If you do not see this option, click the icon to scroll right on the ribbon.
- Adjust the Time zone and Duration if needed. If Meeting hours is selected, Outlook will automatically retrieve everyone's availability between 9am–5pm.
- To select a date, use the Date field. Once you select a date, select one or multiple time slots under "Sort by." You can select additional dates and time slots. Once you finish selecting dates and time slots, click Next.
- Review the dates and time slots you selected, and click Create poll.
- You can optionally fill in a Location. To optionally add a Microsoft Teams link, click the Teams meeting toggle.
- Once you're done editing your email message, click Send.
- Recipients will receive an email containing a link to view and respond to your poll. To track their responses or edit the poll, go to https://outlook.office.com/findtime/dashboard.
Creating a Scheduling Poll in Outlook for Mac
You will need New Outlook for Mac to follow these steps. If your Outlook version does not look like the screenshots in the steps below, you might be using Legacy Outlook for Mac and will need to update Outlook. In this case, you can either update your Outlook version or follow our instructions for using Outlook online instead:
Quick guide
- Open Outlook and click New Mail.
- In the To field, add recipients by email address. Fill in the Subject field.
- In the top toolbar, click the … button and select Scheduling Poll.
- Adjust the Time zone and Duration if needed. If Meeting hours is selected, Outlook will automatically retrieve everyone's availability between 9am–5pm.
- To select a date, use the Date field. Once you select a date, select one or multiple time slots under "Sort by." You can select additional dates and time slots. Once you finish selecting dates and time slots, click Next.
- Review the dates and time slots you selected, and click Create poll.
- You can optionally fill in a Location. To optionally add a Microsoft Teams link, click the Teams meeting toggle.
- Once you're done editing your email message, click Send.
- Recipients will receive an email containing a link to view and respond to your poll. To track their responses or edit the poll, go to https://outlook.office.com/findtime/dashboard.
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
- Open Outlook and click New Mail.
- In the To field, add recipients by email address. Fill in the Subject field.
- In the top toolbar, click the … button and select Scheduling Poll.
- Adjust the Time zone and Duration if needed. If Meeting hours is selected, Outlook will automatically retrieve everyone's availability between 9am–5pm.
- To select a date, use the Date field. Once you select a date, select one or multiple time slots under "Sort by." You can select additional dates and time slots. Once you finish selecting dates and time slots, click Next.
- Review the dates and time slots you selected, and click Create poll.
- You can optionally fill in a Location. To optionally add a Microsoft Teams link, click the Teams meeting toggle.
- Once you're done editing your email message, click Send.
- Recipients will receive an email containing a link to view and respond to your poll. To track their responses or edit the poll, go to https://outlook.office.com/findtime/dashboard.
Creating a Scheduling Poll in Outlook 365 (online)
Quick guide
- Go to https://usc.edu/office365.
- If you are prompted for your credentials:
- The Shibboleth page appears. Sign in using your USC NetID and passphrase.
- The Duo page appears. Authenticate using your preferred method.
- Click New to create a new message.
- In the To field, add recipients by email address. Fill in the Subject field.
- In the ribbon, click Scheduling Poll.
- If you do not see this option, click the icon to scroll right on the ribbon.
- Adjust the Time zone and Duration if needed. If Meeting hours is selected, Outlook will automatically retrieve everyone's availability between 9am–5pm.
- To select a date, use the Date field. Once you select a date, select one or multiple time slots under "Sort by." You can select additional dates and time slots. Once you finish selecting dates and time slots, click Next.
- Review the dates and time slots you selected, and click Create poll.
- You can optionally fill in a Location. To optionally add a Microsoft Teams link, click the Teams meeting toggle.
- Once you're done editing your email message, click Send.
- Recipients will receive an email containing a link to view and respond to your poll. To track their responses or edit the poll, go to https://outlook.office.com/findtime/dashboard.
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
- Go to https://usc.edu/office365.
- If you are prompted for your credentials:
- The Shibboleth page appears. Sign in using your USC NetID and passphrase.
- The Duo page appears. Authenticate using your preferred method.
- Click New to create a new message.
- In the To field, add recipients by email address. Fill in the Subject field.
- In the ribbon, click Scheduling Poll.
- If you do not see this option, click the icon to scroll right on the ribbon.
- Adjust the Time zone and Duration if needed. If Meeting hours is selected, Outlook will automatically retrieve everyone's availability between 9am–5pm.
- To select a date, use the Date field. Once you select a date, select one or multiple time slots under "Sort by." You can select additional dates and time slots. Once you finish selecting dates and time slots, click Next.
- Review the dates and time slots you selected, and click Create poll.
- You can optionally fill in a Location. To optionally add a Microsoft Teams link, click the Teams meeting toggle.
- Once you're done editing your email message, click Send.
- Recipients will receive an email containing a link to view and respond to your poll. To track their responses or edit the poll, go to https://outlook.office.com/findtime/dashboard.
Viewing poll status or editing poll options
You can view your Scheduling Polls at https://outlook.office.com/findtime/dashboard.
To view an individual poll's details, click its Meeting title. You can see who has responded and how they voted, and make edits to the poll.
Scheduling a meeting and adding a Zoom link
Once your recipients have all responded, you can create the Outlook calendar event. If the meeting will occur on Zoom, you can add the Zoom link in the Location field.
If you selected the checkbox Schedule when attendees reach consensus when you were setting up the poll (under Manage poll settings), the Outlook calendar event is automatically created once everyone has responded to the poll:
Troubleshooting
If you are unable to add a Scheduling Poll to your Outlook message, you might be using an older version of Outlook. In this case, you can either update your Outlook version or follow our instructions for using Outlook online instead. To update Outlook:
- Outlook for Windows: In the upper right, click the Try the new Outlook toggle. If you do not see this toggle, you can update Outlook through the Microsoft app store.
- Outlook for Mac: Click the Microsoft Outlook menu and click Legacy Outlook to deselect it. Click Switch to Outlook. Outlook will restart.
Contributors: Chris Huntley, Trish Kelly.