How to share Outlook calendar

Outlook calendar sharing

Since Microsoft Outlook provides a few different calendar sharing options, it's very important to understand exactly what each option does in order to choose the one best suited for your needs.

How to share Outlook calendar

For Office 365 or Exchange-based accounts, Microsoft provides the option to share a calendar that is updated automatically. For this, you simply send a sharing invitation to your coworkers or people outside your company.

To share your Outlook calendar, carry out these steps:

1. Open your calendar in Outlook.
2. On the Home tab, in the Manage Calendars group, click Share Calendar and pick the desired one from the drop-down menu.
   
3. The Calendar Properties dialog box shows up with the Permissions tab opened. Here you can see a list of users who currently has access to your calendar. By default, the "Can view when I'm busy" permission is given to every internal user, though this setting may be modified by your IT admin in many different ways.
   To send a sharing invitation to individuals within or outside your organization, click the Add button.
   
4. In the Add Users window, search for users from your address book, select the name in the list, and click Add. Or type email addresses directly in the Add box. When done, click OK.
   

   Note. The prohibition sign (circle-backslash) next to someone's name indicates that the calendar cannot be shared with that user.

5. Back in the Calendar Properties window, select the user and choose the level of access you want to provide (view all details is the default). When finished, click OK.
   

A sharing invitation will be sent to each recipient that you've added. Once the user in your organization clicks Accept, your calendar will appear in their Outlook under Shared Calendars. For external users, the process is a bit different, for full detail please see How to add a shared calendar into Outlook.

Stop sharing Outlook calendar

To stop sharing your calendar with a particular user, this is what you need to do:

1. Open the Calendar Permissions dialog window (Home tab > Share Calendar).
2. On the Permissions tab, select the user whose access you want to revoke and click Remove.
3. Click OK.
   

Outlook shared calendar permissions

In a shared Outlook calendar, permissions mean the level of access you wish to provide to other users. The options are different for users within and outside your organization.

The first three levels can be provided to both internal and external users:

• Can view when I'm busy – the recipient can only see the times when you are busy.
• Can view titles and locations – the recipient will see your availability as well as subject and meeting location.
• Can view all details - the recipient will see all information relating to your events, just like you see it.

Two additional options are available for people inside your company:

• Can edit – the recipient can edit your appointment details.
• Delegate – allows acting on your behalf, for example responding to meeting requests for you and creating new appointments.

One more option is available for your entire organization, not individual users:

• None – no access to your calendar.

How to share Outlook calendar without Exchange

The sharing feature described in the previous sections is only available with Office 365 and Exchange-based Outlook accounts. If you use Outlook as a standalone application with a personal POP3 or IMAP account, consider the following alternatives.

How to publish Outlook calendar

When you wish to share your calendar with multiple users without sending individual invitations, you can publish the calendar on the web and provide a direct link for people to view it live.

Here are the steps to publish a calendar from Outlook:

1. From the Calendar folder, go to the Home tab > Share group, and click Publish Online > Publish to WebDAV Server…
   
2. In the dialog window that pops up, specify the following details:
   • In the Publishing Location box, enter the location of your WebDAV server.
   • Choose the Time Span.
   • From the Detail drop-down list, select what kind of access you wish to provide: Availability only, Limited details (availability and subjects) or Full details.

   

3. Optionally, click the Advanced… button and choose whether the calendar should be updated automatically or not. The screenshot below shows the default settings which are recommended in most cases.
   
4. When you are ready to publish the calendar, click OK in the Publish Calendar to Custom Server window.
5. Enter the credentials for the WebDAV server when prompted.

Outlook will notify you whether publishing has completed successfully or not.

How to share Outlook calendar snapshot in an email

If you'd like to share a non-updatable copy of your calendar, simply email it as attachment. This option may come in handy, for example, when you have made the final version of some event calendar, which is subject to no further change, and wish all the participants to have a copy.

To email a snapshot of your Outlook calendar, perform these steps:

1. From the Calendar folder, go to the Home tab > Share group, and click E-mail Calendar. (Alternatively, right-click the calendar on the Navigation pane, and then click Share > E-mail Calendar…)
   
2. In the dialog window that opens, specify the information you want to include:
   • From the Calendar drop-down list, choose the calendar to be shared.
   • In the Date Range boxes, specify the time period.
   • From the Detail drop-down list, pick the amount of detail to share: Availability Only, Limited Details or Full Details.

   Optionally, click the Show button next to Advanced and configure additional options:

   • Choose whether to include private items and attachments.
   • Select the email layout: daily schedule or list of events.

   When finished, click OK.
   

3. A new email message will be automatically created with the calendar attached. You just need to enter the recipients in the To box and click Send.

Your recipients will get an email and can view the calendar details directly in the message body. Or they can click the Open this Calendar button at the top or double-click the attached .ics file to have the calendar added to their Outlook.