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BlackBerry and Exchange Calendar

If you are a BlackBerry user on campus and would like to have your Exchange Calendar wirelessly synchronize with your BlackBerry calendar:

  1. ***Note*** If your BlackBerry is not on a UW corporate plan, this will cost you $90 initially. In addition, if your plan is not a BES plan, you will need to change it to a BES plan with your provider (e.g. Rogers, Bell, etc.) and this will likely result in an increased cost in your monthly plan. *Free options:
  2. Email request@uwaterloo.ca to request:
    • An Exchange (connect) account for calendar (if you don't have one already). NOTE: if you will not be using Exchange/connect for your mail, you will need to forward mail from your connect mail inbox to your current mail server (if you already have a connect account, this may have been done for you).
    • An account on the UWaterloo BES server (this is free if your BlackBerry is on a UW corporate plan; it is $90 if you are not on a UW corporate plan)
  3. When you receive your BES activation password:
  4. Review how to use your new BlackBerry calendar.
  5. Test to make sure your Blackberry calendar and contacts (and email if you are using Exchange/connect email) is wirelessly synchronizing.
  6. If you see duplicates in your blackberry calendar try:
    • Go into your calendar
    • Click on the menu key
    • Choose Select Calendar… Select Desktop to see only your Desktop/Exchange calendar
  7. If the above does not fix the problem, and you are sure that all of your appointments are on the server (you see them via http://connect.uwaterloo.ca), you can try the following with caution (or have a BlackBerry computing support person do this for you):
    • Open Calendar
    • Press the menu button
    • Select Options
    • Type RSET
    • Say No to wiping other calendars, but Select Yes to wipe the Desktop Calendar and load a fresh copy from the server.

Setting Up Wireless Synchronization

Once the above has been set up for you, you will have one thing to do on your BlackBerry :

  • Open your calendar on your BlackBerry.
  • Press the menu key image of blackberry menu key and choose Options.
  • Choose and open Desktop.
  • Beside Wireless Synchronization: choose Yes (Note: If you are unable to choose Yes here, it is because you have not been set up on the server side for wireless synchronization. Email request@uwaterloo.ca to request that wireless calendar synchronization be set up for your on the Exchange server.)
  • Press the menu key image of blackberry menu keyand choose Save.
  • Press the menu key image of blackberry menu keyand choose Close.

Using Your BlackBerry Calendar

There are a few things that are unique to Exchange Calendar that you should be aware of when using your BlackBerry Calendar.

Inviting Attendees To An Event/Meeting

  1. Create the event/meeting in your BlackBerry calendar as you normally would.
  2. Open the event/meeting and click on the menu key image of blackberry menu key and choose Invite Attendees.
  3. To find the person you want to invite, click on the menu key image of blackberry menu keyagain and choose Lookup.
  4. Type the last name or full name of the person you want to invite and press your track ball/pad. If multiple matches are found, choose the one you want by scrolling to it and selecting it with your track ball/pad.If only one match is found, also select it by pressing your track ball/pad.
  5. You can then select the View Availability button if you want to check their availability. You can also then find the next available time by choosing the Next Available Time button.
  6. To remove someone from a meeting, highlight them, press the menu key image of blackberry menu key and choose Remove Attendee (if you don't see this option, choose Full menu and then try again).
  7. Save the meeting by pressing your menu key image of blackberry menu keyand then choosing Save.

Responding to Meeting Invites

***IMPORTANT*** Do NOT delete calendar invitations in your email inbox. This will result in the meeting being removed from your calendar.

  1. If someone books you for a meeting in your exchange calendar, you will receive an email notification of this in your connect/exchange email inbox.
  2. DO NOT delete the email notification; instead, with the email notification open, press the menu key image of blackberry menu key and choose Accept or Tentative (or Decline if you want to remove all traces of the meeting in your calendar). The email notification will then be removed from your inbox.
    • If you Accept, the meeting will stay in your calendar.
    • If you Decline, the meeting will not appear in your calendar at all.
    • If you *may* attend but aren't sure, or you won't attend but you still want to be able to see that meeting in your calendar, choose Tentative so that it will still be viewable in your calendar.

Deleting a Meeting

  1. To delete a meeting on your BlackBerry:
    • When the meeting is selected/highlighted in your BlackBerry calendar, press the menu key image of blackberry menu keyand choose Delete and then choose Delete again.
    • If you created the meeting and others were invited, you may be prompted to notify attendees.

 

Want to be informed of campus BlackBerry-related news ? Contact Peggy Day.

This page was updated on May 13, 2011.