Outlook Scheduling Poll: who can use it, and what to do if you can't
Outlook's Scheduling Poll is a good tool if you have the right kind of Microsoft account, and simply missing if you do not. That is why so many people search for it and cannot find the button. Here is who can use it, and what to do instead.
FindTime is gone
Microsoft's FindTime add-in stopped creating new polls on 11 December 2023. Existing polls could still be viewed, but you cannot make a new one, and plenty of pages online still describe it as if you could.
Its replacement is Scheduling Poll, built into Outlook on the web, Outlook for Windows and Outlook for Mac. Since late 2025 there is also a poll option inside the new event form in the new Outlook and Outlook on the web, which Microsoft rolled out between the end of October and early December 2025.
Who can create a scheduling poll
The organiser needs a Microsoft 365 work or school account, on a business or enterprise plan, with an Exchange Online mailbox. That is the whole condition, and it rules out more people than you might expect.
It does not work from a personal Outlook.com or Hotmail account, from Gmail, Yahoo or other IMAP accounts added to Outlook, from a shared mailbox or group calendar, or with Exchange run on a company's own servers. If you are in any of those situations, the button is not hidden, it is not there.
Settle the time without the thread
Propose a few slots, share one link, and let the group vote. Guests never sign up.
Who can vote
Anyone with an email address. People inside your organisation see their availability next to each option; people outside it vote on a web page, and their availability shows as unknown.
There is an optional setting that makes attendees verify who they are, by signing in or entering a code sent by email. It is useful for formal meetings, and it is also where outside guests most often get stuck, so leave it off unless you need it.
Limits worth knowing before you start
Microsoft currently allows up to 15 time options per poll and recommends three to five. Distribution lists cannot be added as attendees, so a team has to be invited person by person. And a time option cannot be edited once the poll exists: to change one, delete it and add a new one, which resets the votes for that slot.
The help pages describe creating polls in Outlook on the web, for Windows and for Mac, so if you organise mostly from the phone app, expect to switch to a computer.
When Scheduling Poll is the wrong tool
It is the right tool for a meeting inside one company that runs Microsoft 365, where everyone's free time is visible and the invitation should land in Outlook. It is the wrong tool when the organiser has a personal account, when the group spans several companies or none, or when half the invitees will answer from a phone and do not use Outlook at all.
For those, use a poll that does not care which email anyone has. On Decider you propose the times, share one link in any email or chat, and everyone votes Yes, Maybe or No without an account, each seeing the times in their own time zone. When you lock the time, everyone can add it to Outlook, Google or Apple Calendar.
Subject: Finding a time for [meeting]
Hi all, I'd like to find an hour for [purpose]. I've put a few options in a poll; please mark every one that works for you: [poll link] It takes a minute, works on any phone, and you don't need an account. I'll confirm the time on [day]. Thanks, [Your name]