No matter how you're using SharePoint, chances are good that one or more of your sites features a calendar. Calendars are one of the oldest, most time-tested devices for helping people work together.
This site section is designed to deeply explore every aspect of using calendars in SharePoint. We'll share a long list of creative and clever uses of the SharePoint calendar, and review the growing list of third-party tools you can use that extend the power of calendaring in SharePoint.
Introduction to SharePoint Calendaring
If you've used a Web-based calendar in the past, odds are strong that you'll feel pretty comfortable in the SharePoint calendar environment. If you haven't used a Web-based calendar before, but have used the calendar in the Outlook client, you should also be comfortable - especially if you're using the 2007 version of SharePoint, which features full integration between SharePoint and Outlook 2007. If, however, you've never encountered an online calendar before, well, you still needn't worry much, because using online calendars isn't much more challenging than using printed calendars or organizers.
Given that SharePoint shines at its brightest as a tool for team-based collaboration, and given that schedules, deadlines, and meetings are crucially important in team-based collaboration, it should come as no surprise that the calendar functionality of SharePoint is a key feature. And given that it's SharePoint we're talking about, it should also come as no surprise that the ease-of-use for end users is a primary component of the SharePoint calendar experience.
SharePoint is largely list-based, and the SharePoint calendar is no exception. A SharePoint calendar view is simply list information presented visually within a calendar look and feel. The complete list of calendar contents, in standard list form, is always available to the SharePoint calendar user as well, and filtering of content in both views (calendar and list) is, of course, also available to you as an option.
Depending which version of SharePoint you're using, the calendar options available to you may vary. If you're running the 2007 version of both Outlook and SharePoint (WSS or MOSS), you'll be able to enjoy the benefits of built-in integration between these products. Naturally, this includes integration between the Outlook calendar and the SharePoint calendar, including the ability to view both calendars side by side, or even overlaying one atop the other. Unfortunately for users of earlier versions, integration with Outlook was only introduced in the 2007 releases, and does not exist in earlier releases.
Of course, the SharePoint calendar was a key component of the SharePoint experience in earlier versions (SPS and WSS) as well, but with each SharePoint release, additional features were added to the basic calendar options. That said, even with Outlook integration, the "out of the box" SharePoint calendar experience does present a number of limitations, and this is where the extensibility of SharePoint comes into play, since a number of third-party providers have calendar add-ons available to help you get the most out of your SharePoint calendar experience.
By way of demonstrating the differences between the different releases of SharePoint (SPS 2003, WSS 2.0, MOSS 2007, and WSS 3.0), here is a chart which shows available features in the different releases, as compared to Bamboo's own Calendar Plus Web Part:
Not only do we feel that the feature chart above speaks volumes, but since we also believe that our products offer the best SharePoint calendar experience on the market (we also offer a Team Calendar, and even a Mini-Calendar Web Part), we're not going to pretend that others don't offer alternatives. There are even some freeware SharePoint calendar Web Parts, and for your reference, we've compiled a handy list of SharePoint calendar resources available from third-party providers.
For your convenience, we've also compiled a list of the best SharePoint calendar use cases online, as well as a lists of recommended Screencasts and Webinars and additional Training Resources.
As with all of our Bamboo Nation content, we've created this feature area on SharePoint calendars as a resource for you, the SharePoint user. We'll be bringing you updates and more content offerings here in the future, but if there's something in particular that you'd like to see, please don't hesitate to drop an email to our Manager of Content & Syndication at: john.anderson@bamboosolutions.com.