Outlook has so many features, many of which people are not even aware. Take for example the “smart-date logic” feature. Using the smart date logic feature, instead of entering a specific calendar date when scheduling a meeting, appointment, etc., you can enter in a specific numbers of days and Outlook will figure out the date for you. For example, if you want to schedule a meeting 14 days after Christmas to kick off a new project but don’t know what the exact date is, you can use smart date logic and Outlook will figure out the meeting date for you.

The tricky part about the smart date logic feature is that you need to enter in a text command.

So let’s take a look at how to this works.

1. Within Outlook, open your Calendar.
2. Click the File menu, point to New and click Meeting Request.
3. Clear the date within the End Time field.
4. Within the Start Time field, enter in a smart date function, such as ‘two weeks after Christmas’.



5. Now, press Enter. Outlook automatically populates the dates based on the smart date function you entered. For example, two weeks after Christmas is Sunday, January 8, 2012.

Experiment with different smart date phrases by typing them in either the “Start time” or “End time” areas. Try using some of the following smart date functions:

• 4th Wednesday in May
• 12 days after Thanksgiving
• 5 weeks from 4/4
• in 30 days
• 30 days before Christmas
• 3rd Monday in June