Recurring appointments
Condeco Outlook add-in for Microsoft 365
About smart recurrences
When searching for a meeting space for a recurring appointment, the Condeco Outlook add-in finds meeting spaces available on the first date of the series (or the next date in the future if the first date of the recurring meeting is in the past). When a meeting space is chosen, it is booked for all subsequent dates in the series, up to a maximum of 365 days from the start date of the booking (or from the next date in the future if the first date of the booking is in the past).
If a meeting space for an existing recurrence that includes dates occurring in the past, Condeco searches for suitable meeting spaces available on the next future date in the series.
If the chosen meeting space is not available for some of the recurrences, Condeco searches for an alternative meeting space that has the same attributes as the original search, and is located on the same floor and in the same group*. If an alternative space meeting the criteria is available, it is automatically booked for those dates and the corresponding instances in the series are updated with the alternative meeting space. If no suitable alternative is found for a particular date, no meeting space is booked for that instance of the series.
*If the chosen meeting space belongs to a managed group, a self-managed group is searched instead, allowing the alternative space to be booked immediately and without further approval.
The smart recurrences search only searches for meeting spaces that can be booked immediately (self-managed). Meeting spaces in managed groups that require approval are not searched.
If alternate meeting spaces are automatically selected, an email with the details of the alternative spaces is sent. If any alternatives are unsuitable, open the specific instance in the series and use the Condeco Outlook add-in to search for a different meeting space.
If an instance of a recurrence is moved to a different time slot from the Outlook calendar, the instance will self-heal and automatically select an alternative meeting space matching the requirement. Learn more: Self-healing when moving appointments.
'Smart recurrences' is only available with the Condeco Outlook add-in for Microsoft 365.
Recurrence patterns and Outlook
Condeco supports daily, weekly, and monthly recurrences, and you can set a specific recurrence to repeat a booking on particular dates in an irregular pattern. Learn more: Recurring bookings
For the most part, Condeco and Microsoft Outlook support the same set of repeat booking options, however, there are some differences. Condeco manages these differences by converting the booking to a specific (irregular) recurrence pattern or advising the user to amend the recurrence pattern before continuing.
Good to know
- The Condeco Outlook add-in does not support unlimited recurrences.
- The maximum number of instances supported in a recurring booking series is 1,500. (The total number of instances is the number of spaces multiplied by the number of occurrences in the series).
- The Condeco Outlook add-in can create recurring bookings for up to a maximum of 365 days from the first date of the series that occurs in the future. This period may be further restricted if an advanced booking period is set for the group.
Recurrence comparison table
Repeat booking options for Microsoft Outlook and Condeco are compared in the table below.
Pattern |
Repeat options |
Microsoft Outlook |
Condeco |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily | Repeat every # days (i.e. every 2 days) | Yes | Yes |
| Set weekdays only (exclude weekends) | Yes | Yes | |
| Weekly | Repeat every # weeks (i.e. every 2 weeks) | Yes | Yes |
| Select the days of the week (i.e. every Monday and Friday) | Yes | Yes | |
| Monthly | Set the date of the month (i.e. on the 15th of the month) | Yes | Yes |
| Repeat every # months (i.e. every 3 months) | Yes | No* | |
| Set the week of the month (i.e. every first week of the month) | First/Second/Third/Fourth/Last week | First/Last week | |
| Set the day of the month (i.e. every Monday on the first week of the month) | Yes | Yes | |
| Yearly | Yes | No* | |
| Specific** | Select specific days in an irregular pattern | No | Yes |
*If a recurrence pattern is selected in Outlook that is not supported by Condeco, Condeco creates a ‘Specific’ recurrence pattern for the series.
**Specific recurrence patterns enable bookings to be set to repeat on specific dates that do not form a regular daily, weekly or monthly pattern.
See Condeco in action
Smart recurrences