By default, the Events list in SharePoint has many features for managing calendar events. You can connect an event list to Outlook and synchronize items; even make them available offline. If you have Outlook installed, give it a try:
- Go to a sandbox area in your current SharePoint install and create a new Events list; or locate an existing Events list to use.
- Navigate to the list view of the Events list.
- Click on the Actions menu and choose the Connect to Outlook option.
- On the next dialog, click the OK button.
It's that simple! You now have the SharePoint Events list connected to Outlook. From Outlook, you can overlay multiple calendars, add items and so on.
Before you go off and customize an Events list at the list level itself, I would like to first recommend creating a new Content Type. If you customize an Events list, or any list, at the list level, you will never be able to reuse your customizations or manage them from a central location. The beauty of Content Types is ability of centrally managing and reusing them. Even if you don't think there is ever a chance of reuse, I still recommend implementing Content Types; just for the centralized management abilities alone.
If you go to your Portal's Site Content Types management page, you can easily create new Content Types by clicking the Create link. You can create a new Content Type based on the Event Content Type then apply your customizations at that level. BUT WAIT... In the New Site Content Type page, the Event Content Type is not available as an option? Why did Microsoft hide the Event Content Type from us?
Okay, here is a little insight. The Event Content Type is hidden, and I will show you how to unhide it in a moment; however, there are a few things you should be aware of first. The reason Microsoft made the Event Content Type hidden is due to the complexities associated with it. This Content Type has many features that expect metadata columns to be present; otherwise, it wouldn't be a valid Event Content Type. Once I have shown you how to unhide the Event Content type, you will see there are 3 metadata columns that cannot be edited at all; i.e. All Day Event, Recurrence and Workspace. These are special metadata columns that have special meaning within the context of the Event Content Type only. As with any built-in Content Type, never modify it in any way, shape or form. If there are metadata columns you do not wish to use, hide them instead.
Unhiding the Event Content Type
If you go to the Site Content Type Gallery, you may also notice the Event Content Type isn't even listed for you to unhide. So how do you unhide it? The easiest approach I have found is to access and unhide the Event Content Type from an Events list itself. Making the Content Type visible is something you will need to do only once. To unhide the Event Content Type, follow these steps:
- Locate an existing Events list on your portal. If you don't have an existing Events list, create one (temporarily) so you can perform the subsequent steps.
- Click on the Settings - List Settings menu option of the Events list itself.
- From the List Settings page, click the link titled Advanced Settings.
- In the first section, Content Types, click the Yes radio button to allow for the management of Content Types.
- You now have access to the Events Content Type!
- In the Content Types section of this page, click on Event.
- You should now be on the Event Content Type associated with the current Event list.
- In the top section of the List Content Type page, click on the Parent Content Type link labeled Event.
This takes you to the parent Event Content Type. As I indicated above, it is highly recommended you make no other changes to this Content Type at this level. The only thing we intend on doing at this time is to unhide it; nothing more!
- Click on the link titled Name, Description and Group.
- On the Content Type Settings page, change the group this Content Type belongs to. To be consistent with other list type groupings, change it to List Content Types.
- Click on the OK button.
- The Event Content Type is now available for you to use as a basis for your own custom Content Types!