This article guides staff booking a standard meeting room or a shared desk (also called "hotdesk") using Microsoft Outlook or Teams.

Students can find guidance in the article “How to book a room or a study space” within the Student Hub knowledge base.

If you want to know where your colleagues are sitting, please read the Knowledge Base article "Shared desks - How to see where your team and colleagues are sitting".

 

Video tutorial

Shared desk and room booking

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Booking a standard meeting room

Using the browser version of Outlook through an Internet browser

1. Go to the website https://outlook.office.com/mail/inbox

2. Select the Calendar icon

 
3. Select New event. It will appear a new box:

4. Start creating a new meeting for the time you would like to book a space

5. Select the location field and then select ‘Browse with Room Finder’

 
6.  The field ‘Type’ should appear automatically set as ‘Conference room’ – if it appears as ‘Workspace’, please change it to ‘Conference room’.

7. In the building option, type the number of building you would like to see. This will allow you to see the whole list of meeting rooms and hotdesks available in the building.

8. Select the “Meeting Rooms” label (or one of the labels, if there is more than one room in that building) available:

9. Outlook will show the list of meeting rooms present in the building and their availability:

10. Now select the room you want to book. That room will appear within the location field:

 

11. Please note: if you need someone to connect to your meeting through Teams, enable the option ‘Teams meeting’ 

 

Now you can complete the rest of the booking as normal and send your request. After a while you will receive a mail confirming your booking for the room requested.  

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Using the full Outlook desktop application

The process is very similar to the web version.

1. Open Outlook

2. Select the calendar icon

3. Create a new meeting invite in the Outlook client by selecting the icon ‘New Meeting’

4. It will appear a new window containing the link for a Microsoft Teams meeting. 

If your meeting is in person, select the icon ‘Don’t host online’ to disable this function and delete the link.

5. Start creating a new meeting for the time you would like to book a space

6. Select the button ‘Room Finder’

7. The field ‘Type’ should appear automatically set as ‘Conference room’ – if it appears as ‘Workspace’, please change it to ‘Conference room’.

8. In the building option, type the number of building you would like to see. This will allow you to see the whole list of meeting rooms and hotdesks available in the building.

9. Select the 'Meeting Rooms' label (or one of the labels, if there is more than one room in that building) available:

10. Outlook will show the list of meeting rooms present in the building and their availability

11. Now select the room you want to book. The room will appear within the location field and in the ‘Required’ field

If you have previously chosen not to host your meeting online, the location will appear without ‘Microsoft Teams Meeting’ in the location field:

Now you can complete the rest of the booking as normal and send your request. Please remember to title your shared desk booking with your name. 

After a while you will receive a mail confirming your booking for the room requested.  

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Using Teams

1. Open Teams and select ‘Calendar’

 
2. Select ‘New meeting’

3. It will appear a new window

 
4. Start creating a new meeting for the time you would like to book a space

5. Select the location field. Outlook will show a drop-down menu with a list of options

6. Select the arrow near the one that fits better for you: it will appear the full list of rooms in that building and their availability

7. Select the room you need – it will appear within the location field

 

Now you can complete the rest of the booking as normal and send your request. After a while you will receive a mail confirming your booking for the room requested.  

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Cancelling your booking

If you change your mind, you can cancel your booking using Outlook or Teams:

1. Open your booking on Outlook or Teams
2. Select ‘Cancel meeting’
3.  Confirm your choice by selecting "Send cancellation" (if you are using Outlook) or "Cancel meeting" (if you are using Teams)

As a result:

• Your booking will disappear from your calendar
• The room booked before will appear as available for everyone  

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Booking a shared desk

You can book a shared desk from the browser version of Outlook, the desktop client, and Teams. The process is pretty like booking a room, but there are a few differences.

Please note:

• Due to Microsoft settings, shared desks sit under the ‘Conference room’ type
• You should title your shared desk booking with your name
• Unallocated and shared desks in Guildhall Square (1GS) do not need to be booked - they all have labels to show you which ones are available. You will find a variety of desks available, with different sized monitors and laptop docks/ cables. There is also a new collaborative working space on floor 4, with desks and whiteboards. You don't need to book to use this space, but please bring your own stationery with you.
  

Using the browser version of Outlook through an Internet browser

1. Go to the website https://outlook.office.com/mail/inbox

2. Select the Calendar icon

3. Select 'New event'. It will appear a new box:

4. Start creating a new meeting for the time you would like to book a space

5. Select the location field and then select ‘Browse with Room Finder’

6. The field ‘Type’ should appear automatically set as ‘Conference room’ – if it appears as ‘Workspace’, please change it to ‘Conference room’.

7. In the building option, type the number of building you would like to see. This will allow you to see the whole list of meeting rooms and hotdesks available in the building.

8. If there are more than one, select the shared desk room you want to work in:

9. Outlook will show you the list of shared desks present in the building and their availability

10. Now select the shared desk you want to book: it will appear within the location field

  
Now you can complete the rest of the booking as normal and send your request. Please remember to title your shared desk booking with your name. 

After a while you will receive a mail confirming your booking for the shared desk requested.  

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Using the full Outlook desktop application

1. Open Outlook

2. Select the calendar icon

3. Create a new meeting invite in the Outlook client by selecting the icons “New appointment” or ‘New Meeting’

It will appear a new window containing the link for a Microsoft Teams meeting. 

4. Select the start and end time

5. Select the button ‘Room Finder’

6. Enter the number of the building into the ‘Building” field

 

7. Set the type to ‘Conference room’. Outlook will show you the list of shared desks present in the room and their availability

9. Now select the shared desk you want to book: it will appear within the location field and in the ‘Required’ field

Now you can complete the rest of the booking as normal and send your request. Please remember to title your shared desk booking with your name. 

After a while you will receive a mail confirming your booking for the shared desk requested.  

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Using Teams

1. Open Teams and select ‘Calendar’

 

2. Select ‘New meeting’

3. It will appear a new window

4. Set the start and end time of your booking

5. Select the location field. Outlook will show a drop-down menu with a list of options

6. Select the arrow near the one that fits better for you: it will appear the full list of shared desks in that building and their availability

7. Select the shared desk you need – it will appear within the location field

Now you can complete the rest of the booking as normal and send your request. Please remember to title your shared desk booking with your name. 

After a while you will receive a mail confirming your booking for the shared desk requested.  

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Note about your status

If you are booking a hotdesk for a specific time, your status will automatically appear as “Busy” for the whole duration of your booking.

How it appears in Outlook:

 
How it appears in Teams:

You can change your status by selecting the status button and selecting the status you want to show.
By booking the desk and selecting “All day”, your status defaults to “Free”.

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How to delete the Teams’ link present in the booking

Even if you are booking a shared desk for yourself, Outlook creates a Teams’ link within your booking:

 
You can ignore this link or delete this option by:

• selecting the icon ‘Don’t host online’ within the "Meeting" menu to disable this function and delete the link - if you are creating your booking in the desktop client of Outlook
  
  
• leaving the option ‘Teams meeting’ disabled - if you are using the browser version of Outlook
  

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Cancelling your shared desk booking

If you change your mind, you can cancel your booking using Outlook or Teams:

1. Open your booking on Outlook or Teams
2. Select ‘Cancel meeting’
3. Confirm your choice by selecting "Send cancellation" (if you are using Outlook) or "Cancel meeting" (if you are using Teams)

As a result:

• Your booking will disappear from your calendar
• The shared desk booked before will appear as available for everyone  

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How to view your bookings on your calendar and on the Desk (Resource) calendar

As soon as you book a meeting room or a shared desk, the event will appear in your calendar on:

• Outlook
• Teams
• Your desk (resource) calendar, if you previously set it up to be synchronized with your university account  

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Declined meeting appearing in the organiser and attendees’ calendars

When booking a meeting room or a shared desk without checking in advance its availability on Room Finder, it might happen that:

• The room (or the shared desk) declines your booking because it’s already booked
• The meeting invite stays on your calendar and in your attendees’ calendars as well
• If you look at the tracking option in the meeting, you will see the room/desk rejected the meeting

This is due to Microsoft settings we cannot change. You can avoid declined bookings appearing on calendars by following these suggestions:

• Use the Room Finder option when selecting a meeting / booking a shared desk. This will not show up any room or desk that is not free at the time requested
• Look out for the auto-declined email
• Create an Outlook inbox rule based on having “Declined bookings” as the subject. Find more information on email rules in the Microsoft Support article “Use inbox rules in Outlook.com”.

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Best practices and tips

• If you need to set up a room before or after a meeting, please book the room in advance by adding:
  
  • the room, using Room finder
  • yourself, as required attendee
• If the meeting is in person, it could be helpful adding “In person meeting” to the start of the invitation subject
• Booking a shared desk for a specific time, your status will automatically appear as “Busy” for the whole duration of your booking. You can change it whenever you want. By booking the desk and selecting “All day”, your status defaults to “Free”.
• Title your shared desk booking with your name  

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Related content

How to book a Common Learning Space (CLS) room

How to book a Hybrid Meeting room

Shared desks - How to see where your team and colleagues are sitting

Shared desks etiquette