The free/busy data in a public folder does not appear in the combined data row

When you use Group Schedules in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 or in Outlook 2002, the top row of the Group Schedules dialog box displays the combined free/busy data for all of the calendars that participate in the group. This top row may not combine the free/busy data for a Group Schedule that contains Public Folder calendars.
Note This problem applies to Outlook 2007 only when it is connecting to an Exchange 2003 server.

To workaround this problem, change the view percentage. To do this:

1. Click the drop-down arrow in the Zoom field, and then select a different percentage.
2. Click Save and Close.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

The Group Schedule that contains the Public Folder calendars allows you to see the combined schedules of a number of people or resources at a glance.

You can create and save multiple Group Schedules, each showing a group of people or resources. For example, one Group Schedule might contain all employees in a department, and another Group Schedule might contain all conference rooms in a building. A Group Schedule can include all of the contacts or resources from a public folder.

In addition to inviting people to attend meetings, you can also schedule resources, such as the conference room where you plan to hold the meeting, or the slide projector you plan to use for a presentation. To schedule a resource, it must first have been set up by an individual in the organization to have its own mailbox on your server, and you must have permission to schedule the resource.

When you view a Group Schedule, you can quickly schedule a meeting with or send messages to some or all of the group members. You can get the latest free/busy information for each group member before you schedule a meeting, and you can use AutoPick to find a time that's free for all of the group members.

By default, the group calendar contains details of all the items shown, unless the owner of an item has marked it as private.