ARCHIVED: What is Microsoft Schedule+?

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Note: The software discussed here is no longer in common use at IU, and UITS may no longer be able to verify this text's accuracy; additionally, the UITS Support Center may no longer have the materials needed to adequately support this software.

Microsoft Schedule+, no longer under development by Microsoft, is a time-management tool that allows you to manage your schedule, tasks, and list of contacts, and coordinate your schedule with others. It requires a Microsoft Exchange Server mailbox to store the data for sharing with other users, although you may also use Schedule+ as a stand-alone time management tool if a Microsoft Exchange Server mailbox is not available. Schedule+ was originally intended as a companion client to the Microsoft Exchange client, which manages email messages stored on an Exchange server.

Starting with the release of Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0a, the Schedule+ and Exchange clients were available for both the Windows and Mac OS platforms.

With the release of Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0, Microsoft released a new client, Outlook, which incorporates messaging with contact, task, and time management. The first release of this new personal information manager (PIM), Outlook 97, was shipped with Microsoft Office 97. It utilizes an entirely new engine and data format for the time management functions. Subsequent releases for the Windows platform are Outlook 98, 2000, and 2002. The Outlook for Macintosh client used the Schedule+ engine and file format in version 8.x, but switched to the new format in Outlook 2001. (In Outlook 8.x, the calendar was called "Outlook Calendar", but it was running the Schedule+ application.)

If you use Outlook in Windows, you can choose to specify Schedule+ as your default calendar format. However, Outlook 2001 for Mac OS offers no Schedule+ support.

Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 continues to support Schedule+ files that are stored and shared among user mailboxes. Since Schedule+ is no longer under development and Microsoft supports it to maintain backwards compatibility, it has some limitations. One major drawback is that items deleted from a Schedule+ file are not recoverable through any Outlook client. Therefore, UITS strongly recommends that you maintain local backups of your Schedule+ file.