The deskbird Outlook Add-In makes it easy for teams to find and book the right meeting room directly inside Outlook, without switching apps. It provides real-time room availability, filters, and seamless syncing with deskbird, helping you plan meetings faster and more reliably.
The add-in works in Outlook for Web, Windows, and Mac, delivering a consistent, powerful booking experience across all your devices.
For the best booking experience
Involve your IT team if possible. Start by syncing all meeting rooms from Microsoft to deskbird using this guide. If you use meeting rooms in deskbird that don’t exist in Microsoft, create them in Microsoft and run the sync so both systems match. Non-synced rooms have avoidable limitations; properly linked rooms ensure the smoothest experience.
1. Overview
The deskbird Outlook Add-In allows you to search, filter, and book meeting rooms directly from the Outlook calendar. Whether you are planning a one-time or recurring meeting, all available rooms from your selected office are displayed in real time, including capacity, services, and availability status.
The add-in appears on the event creation screen and works in both Outlook Web and the desktop version. Booked rooms are automatically synced with the deskbird web app to ensure a consistent booking experience across all platforms.
2. Using the Outlook Add-In
To use the add-in, open your Outlook calendar and click on New event or More options. In the event window, you will see the deskbird icon in the toolbar.
After opening the add-in panel, you can:
- Select your office from the dropdown (by default, the main office will be selected)
- Select a floor (or choose All floors)
- Search by room name using the search field
- Apply filters such as:
- Capacity (e.g. ≥ 5, ≥ 10, ≥ 20)
- Services (e.g. with catering, without catering)
- Include unavailable rooms
- Add the selected room to your event with one click
Once added, the room appears in your Outlook event and is automatically registered in deskbird.
3. Deployment and installation
IT administrators can deploy the add-in to specific users or the entire organization using Microsoft’s deployment guide: Manage deployment of add-ins (Microsoft documentation)
The easiest and recommended way to deploy the add-in is for a Global Microsoft 365 Administrator to install it directly from the Microsoft AppSource Marketplace while signed in.
Recommended steps
Start by syncing all meeting rooms from Microsoft to deskbird using this guide: Calendar Sync for Schedule Status and Meeting Rooms. If you use meeting rooms in deskbird that don’t exist in Microsoft, create them in Microsoft and run the sync so both systems match. Non-synced rooms have avoidable limitations; properly linked rooms ensure the smoothest experience.
Sign in as a Global Administrator in Microsoft.
Open the deskbird add-in in Microsoft AppSource:
👉 https://marketplace.microsoft.com/en-us/product/office/WA200009722Click Get it now and follow the deployment flow.
During setup, accept the requested permissions when prompted.
It can take up to 72 hours for the add-in to appear for all users. Users might need to relaunch Microsoft 365.
4. How syncing with deskbird works
For synced rooms
Synced rooms are meeting rooms created in your Microsoft tenant and configured in deskbird. All bookings performed via the Outlook Add-In automatically sync with deskbird in real time. This ensures:
- No duplicate bookings
- Shared visibility across Outlook and deskbird
- Accurate utilisation data for workplace analytics
Any updates or cancellations made in Outlook will also be reflected in the respective booking in deskbird.
For non-synced rooms
Non-synced rooms are meeting rooms that have been created in deskbird, and are not available in your Microsoft environment. We highly recommend using only synced meeting rooms whenever possible. Non-synced rooms have avoidable limitations.
Non-synced meeting rooms are meeting rooms that exist only in deskbird and are not connected to Microsoft Outlook / Exchange. Because these rooms are not synchronized with Microsoft, certain limitations apply. These limitations are imposed by Microsoft and are outlined below:
- If an event is created for a non-synced room and later deleted directly in Outlook, the event will remain in deskbird. As a result, the room may appear unavailable in deskbird even though the Outlook event was removed.
- When an event is deleted in deskbird, it is not automatically removed from the Outlook calendar. Instead, the organizer receives an email with the option to remove the event from their calendar.
- In some cases, two confirmation emails may be sent, which can lead to two calendar entries being created.
- The confirmation email sent by deskbird cannot currently be disabled.
- Created events in Outlook will appear in deskbird, but updates made in deskbird will not be reflected in Outlook.
- These limitations can be avoided by only using synced meeting rooms.
5. FAQ
Yes. You can first deploy the add-in to a limited number of users or to a pilot group via the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. Once validated, the deployment can be extended to additional groups or the entire organisation. For detailed guidance, refer to Microsoft’s official documentation on managing add-in deployments.
Note: Since the add-in is available via the Outlook Marketplace, users may be able to install it on their own before you deploy it centrally.The deskbird Outlook Add-In is compatible with:
- Outlook Web App (OWA) within a supported Microsoft 365 subscription
- Outlook desktop applications (Microsoft 365) on Windows and macOS that support modern Office add-ins
A supported Microsoft 365 tenant and up-to-date Outlook version are required. Older or unsupported Outlook versions, including standalone perpetual licenses, may not function correctly. If you are unsure whether your environment is supported, please consult your IT team or contact deskbird Support.
The deskbird Outlook Add-In requires only the permissions necessary to support room booking functionality:
Microsoft account access
- Basic profile information (name and email) to identify your user in deskbird
- Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication using your existing Microsoft login
Current meeting information
- Read: meeting time, subject, attendees, location, recurrence
- Modify: add or remove meeting room locations and save booking details for the meeting you are editing
Important: The add-in only interacts with the meeting you are currently viewing or editing. It does not access any other emails, calendar entries, contacts, or mailbox data.
The add-in uses Microsoft Single Sign-On for authentication and encrypts all communication via HTTPS. It only accesses information for the specific meeting you are editing and stores minimal metadata required to maintain the booking in deskbird. No sensitive meeting content is stored locally or transmitted to deskbird unless you actively perform an action such as selecting a room and saving the event.
The add-in automatically attempts to authenticate you using your Microsoft account via Single Sign-On.
- If your Microsoft email address matches an existing deskbird user, login is seamless and immediate.
- If no corresponding user exists in deskbird, the add-in will prompt you to contact your internal deskbird administrator to set up or update your user account.
No. The add-in is restricted to licensed users within your organisation’s Microsoft 365 tenant. External users (such as guests or users from other tenants) cannot access or use the add-in, even if they are invited to meetings.
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Sign users in
Allows users to sign in to the app with their work or school accounts, and lets the app access basic user profile information. -
View users' basic profile
Allows the app to see basic profile details such as name, picture, username, and email address. -
Sign in and read user profile
Allows users to sign in, and allows the app to read their profile as well as basic company information of signed-in users.
For non-synced rooms, Outlook imposes certain technical constraints that prevent the add-in from detecting meeting changes reliably. To address this, the add-in adds addin@deskbird.com as an optional attendee when a non-synced room is selected.
This serves two key purposes:
- It triggers the Outlook “send” callback, allowing the add-in to detect updates or cancellations.
- It enables deskbird to keep the corresponding booking accurately updated.
The addin@deskbird.com mailbox is a dedicated technical helper account. It is not monitored, does not represent a real user, and has no impact on your normal workflow. Seeing this address appear as an optional attendee when booking non-synced rooms is expected behaviour.
The deskbird Outlook Add-In uses the following application details:
- Application ID: dc1266d0-7ef3-43f6-ac93-32350e8ebfb8
- Application name (Microsoft Marketplace): deskbird – Book and manage rooms
These details can be used by administrators to identify the add-in in Microsoft Entra ID, the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, or during internal security and compliance reviews.