Book time in Outlook from a task or ticket

Book time puts a task or a ticket on an Outlook calendar, so the work has a place in the week before it is due. Open the record and press Book time, or right-click it in a list and choose Book time….

The dialog opens at once and fills in the next free slots on the calendar. A slot is as long as the work left on a task (its estimate minus the time already logged, rounded up to 15 minutes, between 30 minutes and 8 hours) and one hour on a ticket. Change the length with 30 m, 1 h, 2 h, 4 h or Custom and the slots follow.

• ＋Slots fall inside work hours, on a 15-minute grid, never in the past.
• ＋On a record with a due date, slots end before it; otherwise Current looks ten working days ahead.
• ＋The first slot is already selected, so one press books it. Arrow keys move the selection and Enter books.
• ＋Pick a time… lets you type a date and a start time instead, on the quarter hour and up to 90 days ahead.
• ＋If no slot fits, the dialog offers a shorter length or Pick a time….

The strip beside the slots shows the chosen day, so you can see where the time lands. If the time overlaps something already on the calendar, Current asks before booking it anyway.

The line under the title says whose calendar the time goes on. Project managers can book on an assignee's calendar. The assignee needs their own Outlook connected, because Current books on a calendar with its owner's own sign-in.

Under Invite you can add teammates (a ticket's team, or a task's other assignees) and the record's contact. Invited teammates' busy time is counted when the slots are worked out, where Outlook lets Current read it.

When a ticket has a contact, the contact appears under Invite, unticked. Ticking it shows the subject they will receive and a preview of the invite. The subject starts as the ticket's title and you can change it. The invite carries a short neutral line and the ticket number, never internal notes or a link into Current. Add a Teams meeting from the same preview.

After booking, the record shows a Booked line with the day, the time and whose calendar it is on, with Open in Outlook and Cancel booking. Cancel booking shows for the person who booked it, the calendar's owner and the people who can book for others. An internal note says who booked what, for whom and when. It is added in Current and sent to your PSA as an internal note, never visible to the customer.

Move or delete the event in Outlook and Current follows within about five minutes: the Booked line updates and a follow-up internal note says it moved or was cancelled. Cancel booking in Current removes the Outlook event and adds the same note.