Up to now, we have looked only at the customization of existing views, but you can also create completely new views and copy and modify views. If your current view is one you use often but nevertheless must change frequently to filter calendar items or modify fields, you might find it easier to create a new view.
To create a view or to see a list of already defined views, choose View, Current View, Define Views to open the Custom View Organizer dialog box, shown in Figure 20-26.
Figure 20-26. The Custom View Organizer dialog box allows you to see and work with the currently defined views as well as create new ones.
To create a view, follow these steps:
Click New in the Custom View Organizer dialog box to open the Create A New View dialog box, shown in Figure 20-27.
Name the new view, and then select a view type. In the Can Be Used On area, specify the folder to which the view applies and who is allowed to see the view. You can select one of the following options:
This Folder, Visible To Everyone. Limits the view to the current folder and makes it available to any user.
This Folder, Visible Only To Me. Limits the view to the current folder but makes it available only to the current user.
All Calendar Folders. Allows the view to be used in any Calendar folder by any user.
Click OK to create the new view. The Customize View dialog box appears, in which you can set the options for the new view.
Inside Out: Change the availability of an existing view
The Modify option in the Custom View Organizer dialog box does not let you change the availability of an existing view. To change the availability of an existing view or who is allowed to see a view, first copy the view and assign a name to the copy. (See the next section for more information about copying views.) Then select a new option in the Can Be Used On area. Last, delete the original view and rename the new view using the name of the deleted view.
For information about setting view options in the Customize View dialog box, see "Customizing the Current Calendar View" earlier in this chapter.
If you want to modify an existing view but also want to keep the original, you can make a copy of the view. To copy a view, select it in the Custom View Organizer dialog box, and then click Copy. In the Copy View dialog box, you can specify the name of the new view, the folder to which the view will apply, and who is allowed to see the view. Click OK to create the copy, which is added to the list in the Custom View Organizer dialog box and the list on the View, Current View menu.
There are times when you need to view and compare multiple schedules to identify related items, such as workflow dependencies within a project, as well as to find and alleviate scheduling conflicts. For example, you might want to view your personal calendar in contrast to your departmental calendar to compare scheduling and task overlaps. Outlook 2007 adds a new capability to view multiple calendars in overlay mode, as shown in Figure 20-28.