How to never miss a weekend party

Eileen recently posted about the ALT+1, ALT+2 etc shortcuts you can use to change the number of days that your Outlook calendar shows. That's a neat shortcut. One of my favourite related tips is to head into Tools > Options and click Calendar Options where you can change the default days that show in your '5 work week' calendar view. I like my weekly calendar to show all 7 days because (1) I use my calendar for both business and social activities and (2) Saturday and Sunday are invariably the most fun days of the week! Of course, I always use the 'Private' tick box in personal appointments so people who can access my calendar don't know I'm at a swingers party! ;-)

With all the day boxes ticked in this dialog box you'll now see 7 days when you press the '5 Work Week' button above your calendar. (Yeah, I know that doesn't make any sense, but go with it; it's a lot better than missing out on a great party just because you forgot to look at your weekend appointments!)

If you like working this way you may also wish to customise your calendar toolbar to now get rid of that utterly useless '7 Week' button. That view was always ugly and confusing. I'll bet you're glad to see the back of it.

Right, is it the weekend yet?

PS Don't forget to also customise your normal working hours so people can see when you're typically available for meetings if you share your calendar.