Group calendars make it easy for everyone to keep track of what’s going on. But creating a group calendar in Outlook is a bit different because there’s a different process than Outlook’s regular calendar.
But don’t worry, it’s easy! Follow these straightforward steps and you’ll be on your way to shared calendars in no time.
Most of the users also pronounce it shared calendar, a group calendar that can be viewed by you and your business colleagues or employees at the same time.
Every Member can see the combined dates along with everyone’s schedule, work progress, and achievement.
Microsoft Outlook exchange is a mechanism designed to centralize your emails into one database.
It is very productive during the Outlook group calendar.
What is Group Calendar in Outlook?
A group calendar is a terrific way to coordinate between colleagues without having to email or SMS.
Outlook group calendars allow you to create recurring meetings based on the date ranges you choose.
This feature allows you to easily plan events such as team meetings or sales calls.
Outlook groups calendar helps in scheduling multiple appointments at once. The calendar also lets everyone reply to the meeting or message through their preferred medium.
“There are two types of calendars- personal and shared,” says Rajeev Gowda from Microsoft India. In Outlook personal calendars, you can invite other people to join the meeting and send them messages.
Shared calendars are public and visible to anybody who has access to the account.
How To Set Up A Group Calendar In Outlook?
Outlook group calendar’s biggest feature, you can send a single email message to your contacts list members regarding a meeting or task, and the date and time will be saved in the received calendar.
Here is the step-by-step tutorial:
- Open Outlook >> Go to the navigation pane option (use keyboard shortcut: CTRL+2) >> Click Calendar
- Click on the Home tab >> Find Manage Calendars Group >> Choose Calendar Groups >> Create a New Calendar Group.
- To begin Setting up a team calendar name your group calendar, in the “Create New Calendar Group” dialog box.
- The Next Step is to assign the members for this group, the list of contacts appears, and select the members you want to add to the group. Double-click or use the group members key at the left-hand button of the dialog box.
- Click OK
You can check your calendar appears on the left-hand side of the pane along with all the members and their calendars on the right side.
- You can select/clear the calendar, by selecting the person’s name check box on the left pane below your calendar.
- The overlay view allows you to see all the calendars in the group.
- You can simply hide all group members’ calendars by deselecting the group name, instead of individual
- To add a new calendar to the group, right-click the calendar group name (ref: snapshot) in the list of calendars, choose Add Calendar >> From Address Book, select the name of the new person, and choose OK.
- Another option, you can easily remove the group, Rename Group.
- Other options, you can easily remove a calendar from the group, right-click their name under the group calendar name and choose Delete Calendar.
- Similarly, to rename your calendar, and color category is also available to right-click their name under the group calendar.
How Does Group Calendar Work in Outlook?
Once you have created a group calendar, what would be the next step, how does a group calendar work? and what would be the results for the creator as well as other members of the group?
It’s time to create a group meeting for all members.
- Open Outlook >> Click to Home Tab >> Go to New items >> Meeting with all
- You are redirected to the email creation page; the email address of the group member is already available in the “TO” section by default.
- Enter the Subject, Location, and Date/time.
- There are many other options available in the tab sections, which can be used according to the need of the user.
- Click Send
Every member individually received an email regarding the meeting, and the time and date of the meeting automatically grab the date and time portion of the member’s calendar.
How to Create a Group Calendar in Outlook that Everyone Can Edit?
Everyone Can Edit the shared calendar is only possible when you (being a creator) give permission to other shared people to edit.
It is not OK permission, it’s an adjustment you have to make with your server system.
Open the Calendar tab in the Outlook desktop version, go to the shared calendar list, and select the calendar you like to give permission to edit.
Click the Right mouse button, and select the properties option from the button of the list.
That will open the Calendar properties dialog box, select the permission tab, and you will observe the email address, the calendar currently sharing with:
At the bottom of the dialog box, two options “Can view” and “Can Edit” permissions are given, by default ‘Can view‘ is selected, but you have to change it to Can Edit.
Click Apply and Ok, and an email will be sent to the person informing them that the sharing permission is changed and he’ll now be able to view, edit, and delete events on this calendar.
What is the difference between a group and a shared calendar in Outlook?
A group calendar allows you to simultaneously edit, add, and delete appointments shared among members of an Outlook group.
A shared calendar is shared by all the users who are authorized to view it. Users of a calendar can open it, add appointments, edit appointments, and move appointments to other locations.
How to Create a shared calendar in Microsoft 365 Web/PWA?
Microsoft’s 365 Web app lets you create a shared calendar with other users in your company. If your account has a Microsoft/Outlook.com account enabled, you can create shared calendars with other users in your organization. You can share your calendar with individual users, groups, appointments, events, or tasks.
To make a calendar available to others, complete the following steps:
- Sign into Microsoft 365 Web.
- Click the Calendars link in the ribbon or navigation bar. Click Add Calendar.
- Choose the calendar you like to share or create a new one to share, and from the toolbar at the top right corner of the page, select Share.
- Type the name and email address of the people with whom you want to share the calendar in the Shared with box.
- You can choose “how you want the person to use your calendar”. There are two options available:
- Can view all details – lets them see all the details of your events.
- Can Edit – lets them allow edit your calendar.
The second option is available for the group calendar in outlook that everyone can edit.
Important point: If you share your calendar with someone who is not using Outlook on the web (for example, someone using Gmail), they will only be able to accept the invitation using a Microsoft 365 or an Outlook.com account.
Final Words
In summary, setting up a group calendar in Outlook helps people to find and sync with all available calendars. It helps people in the Office application to find, share, and update shared calendars, and schedule meetings.
Also Read:
