Instyler’s Travel add-in for Outlook lets you block the travel time around an appointment in Outlook calendar.
One long-standing problem with Outlook is the lack of a ‘travel time’ option. You can make an appointment but there’s no direct way to include the time it takes to get to and from the location.
Instyler’s Travel add-in for Outlook lets you block the travel time around an appointment in Outlook calendar. The travel add-in that supports Outlook 2003, 2007 and 2010. Using this add-in you can not only keep tab on travel time for out-of-office appointments but also prepare expense reports for these travels.
Install Travel Add-in
Download the trial version visit the Instyler website http://www.instyler.de/ and download the zip file containing necessary exe file to install the trial version. Choose download based on the Outlook version you have.
“Travel Add-in for Outlook” installation will install any necessary components as well.
After the installation, open Outlook. You will see the installed Travel add-in loading. You’ll be prompted to confirm the installed add-in.
Click on “Install” button in “Microsoft Office Customization Installer” window.
You will get a message about successful installation of the add-in. Start using the add-in by entering the address of the start location or you can simply click on “Start using the Travel Add-in” button and later enter the address. You can click on “More options” button to customize the add-in options. We will discuss more about this later.
Using Travel Add-in
The Travel add-in will be integrated in the Outlook calendar. You can open a new appointment or existing appointment to find the Travel add-in menu.
In the Travel menu you can enter the travel time to reach the destination.. The range of minutes is defined in the “Options”. You can also choose the mode of transportation like Car, Train, Bicycle or Walking. Likewise you can choose the time that would take to return back and also the mode of transportation. If you are aware of the distance between the two locations you can enter that in miles/kilometers (choose in the Options dialog).
You can make use of “Use estimated” feature which automatically calculates the estimated travel time between the start and end locations for different modes of transportation, provided you enter the location from where you start and the destination address.
Once you create a new appointment with the travel details added, the Travel add-in will enter this information in the calendar to represent the travel and return times you chose in the appointment. The selected modes of transportation for the travel and travelling location are also entered. Travel and return information is always placed before and after the appointment automatically.
Expense Report
Using the Travel add-in you can easily create expense reports to keep track of the official travel details and its corresponding costs. To create expense report you can either click on the “Expense report” link under Calendar | Home | Travel Add-in | Expense report or click on “Create expense report” link in an existing appointment.
When you click this link, “Create expense report” window pops open where appointments list based on the date range selected is displayed.
You can select required appointments for which you want the expense report to be created and click on “Create report” button.
A excel file containing all the information pertaining to the appointment will be generated. This excel file is editable and can be customized to accommodate more fields and additional data. It can also be used as a template for future use.
Options
Travel add-in has a commendable range of configuration options.
To customize some of the options in Travel menu, open a new or existing appointment and click on Appointment | Travel | Options.
In the Travel Add-in options window that pops open you can edit the add-in values like start address, add durations for travel and return time, add items to the list of available transportation types, mention subject text and template file used for expense reports, etc.
Travel Add-in
The free trial is fully functional for 30 days, download from here. After that the price is on a per user basis. Single user $24.95 , 2-4 users it costs $21.95 each, 5-9 users $19.95 each, 10-49 users $18.95 each and 50+ users $17.95 each.
Travel add-in works for Outlook 2010 (32 and 64 bit), Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003 though some, unspecified, features are not available in the Outlook 2003 version. The add-in is available in English, German and Dutch languages for the user interface. Support is available through the web site.
See Also
- Outlook 2010 – calendar preview of appointments
- Easy invitations in Outlook
- Adding a time zone to Outlook
- Sharing Outlook appointments – the right way
- Adding an appointment from a web site
- Outlook Calendar tips
- Outlook and your warranties
- An Outlook on Categories
- Sharing an Outlook Appointment
- Google Calendar works with Outlook appointments
