Microsoft 365 Calendar Sharing with Others Done Right
People want to know how to create a shared calendar in Office 365 because it is a great productivity booster. By sharing calendars and making them accessible to other members of an organization, you can stay aware of each other’s schedules in real time.
The problem is that many people don’t know where to start. Microsoft does not make it easy, as the way you share a calendar can vary significantly depending on the type of account you have, the permissions you possess, and the device you are using.
So, to clear up all the confusion and present a path for permanent sharing in the event of an employee quitting or any other reason, I have this tutorial for you. Here you will find exactly how M365 calendar sharing is done, along with all the secondary but important information that other guides fail to provide.
Before anything else, understand this: it doesn’t matter if you use O365 individually or inside an organization; you must be aware of scenarios that trigger a calendar exchange. Let’s start there.
Why People Want to Share Microsoft 365 Calendar with Each Other?
Internal Visibility: Allowing others a peek into your daily schedule makes it easy to set up meetings. You become free of sending emails back and forth just to bring everyone on the same page.
Team Coordination: In modern workplaces, people don’t work in silos; the best companies all thrive in a collaborative environment. A shared calendar makes it possible by centralizing project deadlines, PTO, and holidays.
External Collaboration: If your organization hires outside expertise, a consulting firm, or even clients, sharing calendars is a great way to show them the free/busy times and, at the same time, protect confidential internal meeting info.
Delegation: One of the most useful outcomes of sharing a calendar is making someone else in charge of your schedule. C-suite executives are primary benefactors of this, as they can allow the assistants to take care of all meeting management while they focus on more strategic work.
This list is not the end-all, be-all of M365 Shared Calendars; there are many other use cases for them. Depending on the use case, you might only want to permit a certain set of actions on your shared calendar. Let me explain what the M365 calendar sharing permission levels are, so you only share what you have to and nothing more.
Microsoft 365 Calendar Sharing Permission Levels Explained
Knowing what each sharing level does can help you protect your sensitive data from getting into the wrong hands:
Can view when I’m busy: One of the safest options, second only to not sharing the calendar at all. Here, the person viewing your calendar has just the read-only permission. That too, when you are out of the office or not logged in to the M365 account. Moreover, they can only see if you are free/busy; no meeting titles, attendees, or locations are shown.
Can view titles and locations: This permission level allows the viewer to see all of the meeting names in your schedule and also view where they are being held. The meeting descriptions and any files shared as part of the meeting are still invisible.
Can view all details: Grants the recipient full visibility of all meeting details, including other participants. However, events marked as private by the owner will remain hidden from view.
Can edit: Here, the person can freely modify all events; they still can’t accept/deny meeting invitations meant for you or send meeting invites to others “On your behalf.”
Delegate: This is the maximum permission level, second only to the original owner. Here, the delegate can edit every meeting detail as well as accept/deny new meeting requests. They can also invoke new meeting requests. The participants would see the invite as “on behalf of [owner]”.
In the Outlook Classic edition, you have a lot more permission variation. Now that we know about the permission level chart, let’s use it to share calendars.
How to Share Office 365 Calendar (Outlook Web, Desktop, & Mobile)
The steps you need to take in Outlook Web and the new Outlook Desktop app are almost identical. Follow these.
- Step 1. Open Outlook / Sign in > Click on Settings cog at top right.
- Step 2. In the Settings menu, choose Calendar > Shared Calendars
- Step 3. Now you can share a calendar. Choose the option that works best for your use case.
The Outlook Classic client does things a bit differently:
- Step 1. Open the client.
- Step 2. Choose the Calendar menu.
- Step 3. Pick a calendar.
- Step 4. Hit the Share Calendar and mail it to the person.
- Step 5. You can also add custom calendar permissions for accounts.
Sharing a calendar is a two-way process; the account/person you have shared it with needs to accept the sharing request.
Before you share, save an Outlook calendar as an ICS file for local safekeeping.
Unfortunately, the mobile app has no options to share calendars; you must use the web app or desktop client. However, if you have added a shared calendar to your account, it will still sync to your mobile app as well.
Microsoft 365 Calendar Sharing Organization-Wide
- In Outlook on the web, go to the Calendar pane and click Add calendar.
- Select Create blank calendar.
- Name your calendar (e.g., “Q3 Marketing Projects” or “Company Wide Calendar”) and select a color/charm.
- Once created, right-click the new calendar in your list and select Sharing and permissions.
- Add your team members or specific Microsoft 365 Groups and assign them “Can edit” access.
Share O365 Calendar to Others Outside Your Organization
You can do this by publishing your calendar publicly. Outlook provides an option in the settings.
Follow the same Settings > Calendar > Shared Calendars path you chose earlier.
This time, use the publish a calendar option, then share the link that you get with the respective party.
What to do When Sharing Does Not Suffice
Sometimes, IT admins don’t want a temporary share but a more permanent one, a transfer of calendar data between two accounts.
In such scenarios, it’s best to choose the one and only Recovery-Tools Office 365 Migrator. With built-in calendar workload support, you can shift all of the historical calendar events between two O365 users within or outside of an O365 tenant.
Use advanced date filtering and user priority options to make a super-precise transfer of calendar data. This one-way share does not sync back any details, so if you change anything in the destination emails, your original email will remain unaffected.
Bonus Tip: Utilizing Office 365 Drive Shipping or Network Upload is often the necessary route to get raw data to Microsoft’s datacenters before mapping.
Conclusion
Now you know exactly how to create a shared calendar in Office 365. Whenever you share a calendar, the single most important thing is what permission you assign. It will determine what the recipient can and cannot do with the calendar details. So be crystal clear in your use case. Moreover, if your real goal isn’t just sharing but closer to a permanent transfer, it’s better to use a tool and migrate.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is there an upper limit for Microsoft 365 calendar sharing?
You can only share one calendar at a time. To share another calendar, repeat the entire process. Although there is no set limit on the number of people you can share your calendar with, try to keep it at a healthy number so there are no sync issues.
Q: How long can I keep sharing a calendar in Office 365?
Office 365 calendar sharing does not provide any expiry date. The calendar remains shared unless you decide to end it.
Q: How to check if an M365 calendar is shared or not?
You can view the sharing status by visiting the settings.