The term “optional” in Outlook refers to the fact that the selected attendee chooses to attend but is not obligated to do so. In other words, it may be possible for attendees to decide not to attend. Some examples of this are when people enter their work or school or have a conflicting event.
Outlook has a feature that allows you to add optional attendees in your email sendings.
The business world is getting more and more digital. In order to stay competitive in the modern marketing world, it is essential to include relevant names in your email sendings. Sometimes it’s difficult to remember who is on your team and connect with them, but Outlook has added a helpful feature that allows you to add attendees as optional.
It is very convenient to add attendees from your address book when you are sending out an email.
Optional attendees are people who may or may not be present at a meeting or event. You can also use this feature to include people who aren’t on your contacts list but want to receive the email.
How to create a new guest list if not everyone has RSVP’d

RSVP stands for “response status validation protocol,” which is a standard email protocol. Websites use it to send out notifications about events that are happening or have happened.
You can use RSVP to check if someone has responded to your invitation or not. In this case, you will need a list of the invited contacts and their respective reply statuses. You can do this by sending an email to all of them with an RSVP button, asking them to confirm their participation in the event.
If someone doesn’t respond within 24 hours, you will want to send them an email asking them why they didn’t respond and what happened so you can find out what went wrong in your event promotion process.
Click the New Meeting icon in the ribbon in your Outlook calendar. Next, select Scheduling Assistant from the new meeting window that appears. Then, at the bottom left of the Attendees list, click the Add Attendees button. You can add persons as required or optional in the Select Attendees and Resources window.
Add Guests to Outlook in 5 Steps
The only approach I’ve found is to open the ‘contacts’ directory > search for attendee > then look at the bottom of the contacts dialogue box for three attendees’ selections. Is there any other option? Unfortunately, when manually adding emails, the same process of selecting meeting options does not function.
In this article, we will show you how to add guests to Outlook using the steps below:
- Open Outlook and click on File.
- Click on Add People button at the bottom of the window that appears.
- Type your name in the search box and then press Enter key on your keyboard to find yourself in the contacts list.
- Press the “Add” button next to your contact’s name or address bar if you want to add a new contact person instead of adding an email address in Outlook’s Contacts folder.
- In the text box that appears, type in your guest’s first name, last name, email address, and phone number and click on Add Person button at the bottom of that window or press Enter key on your keyboard.
Outlook 2016 Help for Managing Unknown or Optional Attendees

Outlook 2016 helps you manage unknown or optional attendees. For example, you can easily view the attendance status of your meetings and set a default response to email invitations to meet.
The new Outlook 2016 has many new features that will help you manage your meetings more effectively. One of these features is the ability to view the attendance status of your upcoming meetings. For example, one can use this to see if you have an unknown or optional attendee quickly. You can also choose a default response to email invitations and meet scheduling requests.
Outlook 2016 makes it easy for you to manage unknown or optional attendees by using the Meetings tab in Outlook’s Calendar. You can view the attendance status of your meetings by clicking on the meeting name and looking at the Attendees list. In addition, when someone responds to an invitation email, you can automatically send them a response with your preferred default message.
Managing unknown or optional attendees is a breeze with Outlook 2016’s Meetings tab.
How do I Delete Someone from my Guest List in Outlook?
In this Outlook article, I will talk about deleting someone from your guest list in Outlook.
“One way to delete someone from your guest list is to use the Manage my Guest List option in the Outlook Notifications Center.”
“If you click on that option, you can then choose the person you want to remove.”
“You can also use the Manage my Guest List button in a group conversation.”