Share a Calendar in Outlook Web: Step-by-Step Guide

To share a calendar in Outlook on the web, open Calendar, find the calendar under My calendars, choose its sharing or permissions option, add the recipient, set what they can see or do, and send the invitation. You need to be signed in to the account that owns the calendar; the available permission levels can vary between personal Outlook.com and work or school accounts.

What You’ll Need

An Outlook.com, Microsoft 365 work, or school account with access to the calendar you want to share.
The recipient’s correct email address. For a work or school calendar, sharing with people outside your organization may be restricted by your administrator.
A decision about the access they need: for example, seeing only when you are busy, viewing event details, or making changes.

Step-by-Step

Open Outlook on the web and go to Calendar. Sign in at Outlook.com or your organization’s Microsoft 365 Outlook site. Select the Calendar icon, usually in the left-hand app rail. If the rail is collapsed, select the app launcher or expand the navigation to find Calendar. Sharing from a browser works similarly on Windows and Mac.
Locate the calendar you want to share. In the calendar pane, look under My calendars. If the pane is hidden, use the navigation control to show it. Identify the calendar by name before continuing. You might have a primary calendar and additional calendars for projects, family, or appointments; sharing one does not automatically share the others.
Open the sharing controls. Point to the calendar name and select the three-dot More options button. Choose Sharing and permissions. Depending on the Outlook web layout and account type, you may instead see Share or a share-calendar button in the calendar toolbar. If you do not see a sharing option, check that you selected a calendar you own rather than one someone else shared with you.
Enter the recipient. In the sharing panel or dialog, type the person’s email address. Select the matching suggested contact if Outlook displays one, and check the address carefully before sending. Some versions let you add more than one person; if yours does, you can add each recipient and assign permissions individually. If the interface accepts only one person at a time, repeat the process for each person.
Choose a permission level. Open the permission menu next to the recipient’s name. Options vary, but can include seeing when you are busy, seeing event titles and locations, viewing all event details, or editing the calendar. Choose the least access that meets the need. For instance, a colleague arranging a meeting may only need your availability, while a household member coordinating plans might need to see event details. Do not choose editing access unless the person should be able to create, change, or delete calendar items.
Send the invitation. Select Share or Send in the dialog. Outlook sends a calendar-sharing invitation to the address you entered. Keep Outlook open until the action completes and look for a confirmation message or a change in the sharing panel. Sending an invitation grants the selected access; it is not the same as publishing a calendar for anyone with a link.
Ask the recipient to open the invitation. The recipient should check their inbox and, if it is missing, their junk or spam folder. They may need to select Accept or Add calendar in the invitation. After acceptance, the calendar usually appears in their Outlook calendar list, often under Shared calendars or People’s calendars. The exact label and whether it appears automatically can vary by account and Outlook version.
Confirm access and adjust it if needed. Return to the calendar’s Sharing and permissions panel to review who has access and what each person can do. If the recipient cannot see enough information, change their permission level and save or resend as prompted. If they should no longer have access, remove their entry. Ask them to refresh Outlook or reopen the calendar after a change.

Common Mistakes

Sharing the wrong calendar: The sharing dialog applies to the calendar you selected, not necessarily your default calendar. Check its name before adding an address. If you share a project calendar by mistake, remove the recipient from that calendar’s permissions and share the intended one instead.

Granting more access than necessary: A setting that lets someone view all details may reveal subjects, locations, and other event information. Edit access goes further and can let the person change calendar items. For simple scheduling, a busy-only permission may be enough. Explain the difference before granting broader access if the recipient is unfamiliar with Outlook.

Expecting an invitation to appear without action: Some recipients must accept the invitation before the calendar is added. Others may need to open the invitation or add the calendar themselves. Sending the share does not always put a visible calendar immediately into the recipient’s main view.

Using an outdated or incorrect address: A misspelled address, old work account, or similarly named contact can send the invitation to the wrong place or prevent delivery. Verify the complete email address, especially when Outlook shows several suggested contacts.

Confusing sharing with publishing: Sharing grants access to named people and can offer different permission levels. Publishing creates a link or public-facing calendar feed, where available, and may expose information to anyone who gets the link. Use publishing only when you specifically need that kind of access and understand its privacy implications.

Tips

Match the permission to the task. For finding a meeting time, availability-only access is usually sufficient. For coordinating appointments, event details may be useful. Reserve edit access for a trusted person who is expected to manage the calendar with you. You can review or change access later, so you do not have to grant the broadest setting just in case.

Share a separate calendar for a shared activity. If you want to coordinate a team rota or family events without exposing personal appointments, create a separate calendar if your account allows it, then add only the relevant items there. Share that calendar rather than your primary one. Remember that new calendars may have their own permissions and need to be shared separately.

Tell recipients what to expect. Let them know which calendar name to look for and whether they should accept an invitation. If they use multiple Microsoft accounts, specify which account received the invite. This can prevent confusion when a personal account and a work account are both signed in.

Review access occasionally. When a project ends or someone no longer needs the calendar, remove their access. For a person who still needs it but has changed responsibilities, adjust the permission instead. Review sharing whenever the calendar starts containing more sensitive information.

Allow for account and organization differences. Outlook.com, Microsoft 365 work accounts, and school accounts do not always show identical sharing choices. An organization can limit external sharing or disable particular permission levels. If a setting is missing, do not assume that a different menu will override the account policy.

Troubleshooting

The Share or Sharing and permissions option is missing: Confirm that you are in Calendar and have selected a calendar under My calendars. A calendar shared with you may not let you manage its sharing; ask its owner to grant access. Also check whether you have permission to manage the selected calendar. If it is a work or school account, contact your Microsoft 365 administrator if sharing appears disabled.

Outlook will not accept the recipient’s address: Check for a typo and try entering the full address rather than selecting an old autocomplete entry. External addresses may be blocked by your organization’s sharing policy. If the recipient is outside your organization, ask your administrator whether external calendar sharing is allowed; do not send the calendar through an unapproved public link as a workaround.

The recipient did not receive the invitation: Verify the address in Sharing and permissions, then ask them to search their inbox for the invitation and check junk mail. If the invitation was sent to the wrong address, remove that entry and share with the correct one. If Outlook offers a way to resend or share again, use it after confirming the address and permission.

The recipient accepted but cannot find the calendar: Ask them to refresh Outlook, reopen the invitation, and look under Shared calendars or People’s calendars. They should check that they are signed in to the same email account that received the invitation. If they use Outlook on the web and desktop, allow time for the change to sync; the calendar may not be visible until they add or select it in the calendar list.

The recipient sees only limited information: Check the permission shown beside their name in your sharing panel. Busy-only access intentionally hides event details. Change the permission to a more suitable level if you want to reveal additional information, then have the recipient refresh the calendar. If the higher level is unavailable, an account policy or calendar type may limit it.

A permission change or removal does not seem to take effect: Reopen Sharing and permissions and verify that the change was saved and that you edited the correct calendar entry. Ask the recipient to refresh or sign out and back in. If access still appears unchanged, remove and re-add the recipient only if appropriate, or contact your organization’s support team; cached views and administrative policies can affect what is displayed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I share an Outlook calendar with someone who does not use Outlook?
Often you can invite an email address that is not an Outlook address, but what the recipient can open depends on their account and the sharing settings. They may need to sign in or use a Microsoft account. Work or school organizations can block sharing with people outside the organization.

Can I share only one event instead of my whole calendar?
Yes. If the person only needs information about one appointment, open that event and invite them as an attendee rather than sharing the entire calendar. An event invitation is separate from calendar permissions and does not give general access to your other appointments.

Can the person I share with edit my calendar?
Only if you grant an edit-level permission and that option is available for your account and calendar. Choose it only for someone who should be able to manage calendar items. If you want them to view events but not change them, select a view-only permission.

How do I stop sharing my calendar?
Open Calendar, find the calendar under My calendars, open More options or Sharing and permissions, and remove the recipient or change their permission. The exact button label can vary. Removing a person prevents future access, though it cannot undo information they already viewed or copied.

Will sharing my calendar also share it in Outlook on my phone?
The permission applies to the calendar, not just the browser, but the recipient may need to add or select the shared calendar in their mobile app. If it does not appear, have them refresh the app, check the account they are signed into, and confirm they accepted the invitation.

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