Managing Calendar Invites with Sedna and MS Teams

Ensuring Calendar Invites Show in Microsoft Teams Without Accepting in Outlook

By default, Microsoft Teams displays your calendar based on your Exchange calendar.

How to Manage Inbound Calendar Invites received in Stream

Stream has defined a workflow that reads your inbound email and applies the Category Tag - “Calendar Invite” to it.

You'll be notified of new invites via a saved search with notification, and can action them directly in your Microsoft Teams calendar.

When you receive a new invitation you should go to your MS Teams calendar and accept/decline the invitation.

Ideal workflow for inbound mail to Stream:

1. You receive a calendar invite
2. Stream notifies you that you have received a calendar invite via a saved search with notification
3. You can then navigate to your Teams calendar and accept the invite
4. This saved search will also capture updates to calendar invites so you can be sure you haven’t missed any.

How to get notified of new calendar invites in Microsoft Teams

The MS Teams calendar can notify you of an upcoming calendar invite in your “Activity Bar”, “a desktop notification” and/or a Banner in Teams.

To do this, ensure you have the following settings enabled in your MS Teams Calendar:

1. Enable MS teams to send desktop notifications
2. “New invites, updates and cancellations sent to me” = “Show in Activity and Banner”
3. “When people forward meetings I’ve organised” = “Show in Activity and Banner”
4. Missed Activity Emails = “Daily”

These settings will ensure that you receive notifications when a calendar invite is sent to you/RSVP’d or changed.

Step 1: Setting Up a Stream Workflow for Calendar Invites

To organise calendar-related messages in Stream:

1. Access Workflow Configuration:

   • Log in to Stream as a user with access to the Workflows feature.
   • Navigate to Workflows, located in your Sidebar.

2. Create a New Workflow Rule:

   • Set the rule to apply to all inboxes.

   

   • Use the following criteria for identifying calendar-related emails:

     • Subject contains:
       • Invitation:
       • Accepted:
       • Declined:
       • Updated invitation:
       • Updated invitation with note:
       • Cancelled event:
       • New Time Proposed:
     • From contains: Specific email addresses such as notification@cron.com.
     • Attachment name contains: .ics (to capture calendar file attachments).

     

     Example image showing key rules needed to set up the Calendar Invite Saved Search. Please include all criteria shown to ensure proper functionality.

3. Apply an Action:

   • Add the Category Tag: Calendar Invite.

   

4. Save and Activate the Workflow:

   • Once saved, this Workflow will automatically tag relevant messages with "Calendar Invite."

Step 2: Setting Up a Saved Search in Stream

To quickly find calendar-related messages:

1. NEW: Go to Search bar at the top of your screen

2. Set the search criteria to look for the Category Tag: Calendar Invite.

1. NEW: Click the ellipsis ‘…’ next to the search bar

1. Save the search as "Calendar Invites" for easy access.

This saved search ensures you never miss new invites or updates.

1. After setting up the saved search, you can enable a live search to display a numerical counter. The live search includes both notifications and a count, making it easier to track updates. To activate this feature, toggle the search to "live search" and enable notifications.

Step 3: Managing Calendar Invites in Teams

Once calendar-related emails are tagged in Sedna:

1. Check the Invite in Sedna:

   • NEW: Navigate to your "Calendar Invites" saved search in Stream.
   • Open the tagged message to review the details of the invite.

   

2. Action the Invite in Microsoft Teams:

   • Open your Microsoft Teams Calendar.
   • Accept, decline, or modify the invite directly in Teams.

Step 4: Optimising Notifications in Microsoft Teams

To ensure you're notified about updates:

1. Enable Calendar Notifications:
   • In Teams, go to Settings > Notifications.
   • Under Meetings, enable:
     • New invites, updates, and cancellations: Show in Activity and Banner.
     • When people forward meetings I’ve organised: Show in Activity and Banner.
2. Set Missed Activity Emails:
   • Under Settings > Notifications, enable Missed Activity Emails to Daily.

Ideal Workflow for Calendar Management

1. Receive Invite in Stream:
   • Stream identifies and tags calendar-related emails.
   • NEW: Use the saved search to find these emails.
2. Review the Invite:
   • Review the email in Sedna to understand the meeting details.
3. Action in Teams:
   • Manage your invite directly in the Teams Calendar.
   • Rely on Teams notifications to stay updated on changes.

Trouble managing calendar invites with the current setup?

If your team is unable to effectively manage calendar invites using the saved search with notification workaround, please contact us at success@sedna.com.