How to use Microsoft Outlook Calendar

How To use Microsoft Outlook Calendar

Outlook Calendar is one of the most capable scheduling tools available, and most people use only a fraction of what it can do. Whether you want to create events, schedule meetings, share your calendar with colleagues, or set up recurring appointments, this guide covers the essential features and how to use them efficiently.

Getting to Outlook Calendar

In Outlook desktop, click the Calendar icon in the navigation bar on the left side. In Outlook on the web (outlook.com or office.com), click the grid icon in the left sidebar and select Calendar. Both versions share the same core features, though the desktop app offers a few additional options for power users.

The main view shows your calendar in Day, Work Week, Week, or Month format. Switch between these using the buttons in the View tab (desktop) or the view selector at the top right (web).

How to Create a Calendar Event

Click New Event or double-click any time slot on the calendar. Fill in the title, date, start time, and end time. Add a location if relevant, and a description in the body area for any notes or agenda items.

Use the All Day toggle when the event does not have a specific time, such as a deadline, birthday, or holiday.

Practical tip: Adding a description to events is worth the extra ten seconds. When you are looking at a packed week and cannot remember what a meeting is about, the description is what saves you from opening the event to check.

How to Schedule a Meeting and Invite Attendees

Create a new event and add names or email addresses in the Invite attendees field. Outlook looks up contacts from your address book and your organisation’s directory as you type.

Once you have added attendees, click Scheduling Assistant (desktop) or View Schedules (web). This shows a grid of everyone’s availability side by side, with busy times blocked out. Use it to find a slot that works for the whole group before sending the invite.

Click Send. Attendees receive an email invitation and can accept, decline, or mark themselves as tentative. Their responses appear in the event and update the attendee list automatically.

Note: Scheduling Assistant only shows availability for people in the same Microsoft 365 organisation. For external attendees, you will not see their calendar data and will need to coordinate manually or use a tool like Microsoft Bookings.

How to Set a Reminder

When creating or editing an event, look for the Reminder dropdown. The default is usually 15 minutes before the event. Change it to whatever suits: 5 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day, or a custom interval. You can also set multiple reminders on the same event in the desktop app by adding additional reminder entries.

Reminders appear as pop-up notifications in Outlook and, depending on your settings, as system notifications on Windows or macOS.

How to Set Up a Recurring Event

Open a new or existing event and click Recurrence (desktop) or the Repeat dropdown (web). Choose from daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly patterns. Set the end date or the number of occurrences.

Weekly team meetings, monthly one-to-ones, and annual reviews are all good candidates for recurring events. Setting them once and letting Outlook maintain the series saves significant manual effort over time.

Practical tip: When editing a recurring event, Outlook asks whether to change just this occurrence or the entire series. Be deliberate about which you choose. Changing the series updates all future instances.

How to Share Your Calendar

In Outlook desktop, go to the Home tab and click Share Calendar. Select the calendar to share and enter the person’s email address. Choose the permission level: Can view when I’m busy (shows only free/busy status), Can view titles and locations, or Can view all details. Click Send.

The recipient gets an email and, once they accept, your calendar appears in their Outlook sidebar. In a Microsoft 365 organisation, you can also set calendar permissions through the calendar properties for more granular control.

How to Add Other Calendars

Outlook lets you overlay multiple calendars in a single view. To add a colleague’s calendar, go to Open Calendar (desktop) or Add Calendar (web) and search for their name. Their calendar overlays yours, colour-coded so you can distinguish them.

You can also subscribe to internet calendars (such as public holiday calendars or sports fixture feeds) by adding a calendar from the internet using the calendar’s ICS URL.

For help with other Outlook features, see our guide on how to customise your Outlook signature.

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