How to Automatically Accept or Decline Meetings in Outlook?

Take full control of your Outlook appointments

8 min. read

Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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If you often have to accept or decline meeting invites but don’t like doing it manually, you can set them to be accepted or rejected automatically.

This will help you set a clash-free meeting schedule and minimize distractions so that you can focus on what’s important.

In this guide, we will explore detailed steps to auto accept or decline incoming meeting requests on Outlook so that a timely response is sent to the meeting organizer.

How do I automatically accept a meeting without sending response in Outlook?

If you use Outlook 2010 or an older version, look for theResource Schedulingoption instead ofAutomatic accept or decline. Click theResource Schedulingbutton to get theAutomatic Accept or Decline window, and change the meeting request settings on Outlook.

How do I automatically accept meetings with a response in Outlook?

1. By setting a rule

You can also selectCreate this rule on all accountsto auto accept the meeting invite on all your email addresses on Outlook.

2. By running a VBA script

First, you need to save the script in VBA; for that, follow these steps:

Once you have the script in VBA, you need to run it; follow these steps to do that:

Before using VBA scripts on Outlook, create a backup of your data and configuration settings, and always test the script on a small scale before running it for the entire mailbox.

Auto-responding to meeting invitations in Outlook saves you time. It is a hassle-free way to inform the meeting organizer about your attendance. However, alwayscheck the meeting request to know your fellow attendeesto ensure you are aligned with the participants on the meeting agenda.

How do I automatically decline meetings in Outlook?

First, you have to create a response and save the template to reject the meeting; for that, follow these steps:

Now that you have a customized template let us create a rule to decline the meeting.

SelectCreate this rule on all accountsif you want to respond automatically to meeting requests on the other emailaccounts.

First, you need to add and save the script to VBA, here’s how you can do that:

Now that you have saved the script, close the VBA window. To run the script, follow these steps:

If you are unavailable at the same time slot, the script will automatically decline the meeting but will not delete the email message from Outlook, so you canforward the meeting inviteto someone to attend it on your behalf.

Also, to avoid back-and-forth emails about the meeting logistics, you canuse Bcc to add the person to the meeting.

Automating the response for a meeting invite can increase your scheduling efficiency by letting you know which time slots are free, streamlining your workflow.

Tell us how auto-responding to the meeting request has helped you in the comments section below.

How to Automatically Accept or Decline Meetings in Outlook?#

How do I automatically accept a meeting without sending response in Outlook?#

How do I automatically accept meetings with a response in Outlook?#

1. By setting a rule#

2. By running a VBA script#

How do I automatically decline meetings in Outlook?#