Sharing your calendar in Outlook lets colleagues see when you are available without having to ask. It is one of the simplest ways to make scheduling across a team less painful.
How to share your calendar in Outlook on the web
Open Outlook on the web at outlook.office.com and click the calendar icon in the left sidebar. On the toolbar, click Share and then select the calendar you want to share. Type the name or email address of the colleague you want to share with. Choose the level of access you want to give them. Can view when I am busy shows only free or busy status without any details. Can view titles and locations shows meeting titles and locations but not full details. Can view all details lets them see everything in your calendar. Can edit gives them permission to add and change events on your calendar. Click Share.
How to share your calendar in Outlook desktop app
Open the Outlook desktop app and go to the Calendar view. Right click on your calendar in the left panel and select Sharing Permissions. Click Add and type the name of the colleague. Select their name and choose the permission level from the dropdown. Click OK to save.
How to open a shared calendar
If someone has shared their calendar with you, you will receive an email notification. Click Accept and view calendar in the email. The shared calendar will appear in your calendar list on the left side. You can toggle it on or off to show or hide it alongside your own calendar.
Tips for sharing calendars in a team
For teams that need to coordinate regularly, consider creating a shared team calendar rather than sharing individual ones. This gives everyone a single view of team events like meetings, deadlines and leave days. Our guide on how to set up a shared team calendar walks through this in detail.
When to get help
If the sharing option is greyed out, if shared calendars are not appearing for colleagues, or if you need to set up organisation-wide calendar sharing policies, these require admin-level access to your Microsoft 365 tenant. Recloud manages calendar and collaboration settings for our clients.