Where shared calendars appear in Outlook
A shared calendar shows up in your Outlook sidebar under "Other Calendars" on the left side of the screen. If someone has shared their calendar with you, you will see their name listed there once you accept the sharing invitation. The calendar itself appears as a separate color-coded entry, so you can toggle it on and off without affecting your own calendar view.
On the web version of Outlook (outlook.office.com), shared calendars appear in the same left sidebar under "Other Calendars". The process for finding them is identical — look for the person's name in that section. If you do not see a shared calendar you expect to find, it may not have been sent to you yet, or the invitation may be sitting in your inbox waiting for acceptance.
Key Takeaways
- Shared calendars appear in the "Other Calendars" section of your Outlook sidebar, listed by the person's name who shared it with you.
- You must accept a sharing invitation before a calendar becomes visible — check your inbox if you are expecting a calendar that is not showing up.
- Right-clicking a shared calendar lets you rename it, change its color, or remove it from your view without deleting the original.
- A shared calendar's visibility depends on the permissions the owner gave you — you may only see free/busy time, or you may see full event details.
- If you cannot see a shared calendar even after accepting the invitation, signing out and back into Outlook often fixes the problem.
How to accept a calendar sharing invitation
When someone shares a calendar with you, Outlook sends an invitation to your inbox. Open that email and look for a button or link that says "Open the calendar" or "View calendar". Clicking it will add the calendar to your "Other Calendars" list. The email itself will come from the person sharing the calendar, and the subject line usually says something like "[Name] has shared a calendar with you".
If you delete the invitation email by mistake, you can still access the calendar if you already clicked the link. The calendar will remain in your sidebar. If you never clicked the link, ask the person who shared it to send the invitation again — there is no way to retrieve a deleted invitation on your own.
Viewing details of a shared calendar
Once a shared calendar is in your sidebar, click on it to view the events. The level of detail you see depends on what permissions the owner set. Some people share only their free/busy time (you see blocks of time marked "Busy" but no event names), while others share full details (you see event names, times, and descriptions). You cannot change these permissions yourself — only the calendar owner can decide what you are allowed to see.
If you want to see more detail than the owner has shared, you can ask them to change the sharing settings. They would need to open their calendar, right-click it, select "Sharing permissions", and adjust what you can view. This is a conversation between you and the calendar owner, not something Outlook can do automatically.
Organizing multiple shared calendars
If you have several shared calendars, you can rename them to make them easier to find. Right-click the calendar name in your sidebar and select "Rename". Type a new name — for example, "Team Schedule" or "Sarah's Calendar" — and press Enter. This changes only what you see on your screen; the original calendar name stays the same for everyone else.
You can also change the color of a shared calendar to distinguish it from others. Right-click the calendar and select "Change color", then pick from the available options. This is purely visual and helps you scan your calendar view quickly. If you no longer need to see a shared calendar, right-click it and select "Remove from list". This removes it from your sidebar but does not delete the calendar or affect the person who shared it.
Troubleshooting a missing shared calendar
If someone says they shared a calendar with you but you do not see it in your sidebar, first check your inbox for an invitation email. Search for the person's name or the word "shared" to find it. If the email is there, click the link to accept the sharing. If you cannot find an invitation email, the person may need to resend it — sometimes sharing invitations do not arrive.
If you accepted the invitation but the calendar still does not appear, try signing out of Outlook completely and signing back in. On the web version, close the browser tab and reopen outlook.office.com. On the desktop app, click your profile picture in the top right, select "Sign out", then sign back in with your credentials. This refreshes your calendar list and usually fixes the problem. If the calendar still does not show up after that, contact the person who shared it and ask them to check that the sharing was successful on their end.
Understanding shared calendar permissions
When someone shares a calendar with you, they choose one of three permission levels. Can view when I'm busy means you see only blocks of time marked as busy or free — no event names or details. Can view all details means you see the full event information, including titles, times, and descriptions. Can edit means you can add, change, or delete events on that calendar (though this is less common for shared calendars).
You cannot see which permission level you have been given — you only know by what information appears when you open the calendar. If you need a different level of access, ask the calendar owner to adjust the sharing settings. They can do this by opening their calendar, right-clicking it, selecting "Sharing permissions", finding your name, and changing the permission level.
Sharing your own calendar with others
If you want to share your calendar with someone else, right-click your own calendar in the sidebar and select "Sharing permissions". Click "Add people" and type the person's email address. Choose which permission level to give them — "Can view when I'm busy", "Can view all details", or "Can edit" — and click "Share". Outlook sends them an invitation, and once they accept it, your calendar appears in their sidebar.
You can change or remove permissions at any time. Go back to "Sharing permissions", find the person's name, and either adjust their access level or click the X to remove them entirely. Removing someone does not delete their copy of the invitation — it just stops them from seeing future updates to your calendar.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I see a shared calendar on my phone?
Yes, shared calendars appear in the Outlook mobile app the same way they do on desktop or web. Open the Outlook app on your phone, tap the calendar icon, and look for the shared calendar in the list. You may need to accept the sharing invitation on your phone if you have not already done so on another device.
What if I share my calendar but someone says they cannot see it?
Check that you actually sent the sharing invitation — sometimes the process does not complete if you close the window too quickly. Go back to "Sharing permissions" and verify their email address is listed. If it is, ask them to check their inbox for the invitation email, including their spam folder. If they still cannot find it, remove them from the list and try sharing again.
Can I see a shared calendar in a different time zone?
Yes, but the times will display in your own time zone, not the calendar owner's. If the owner is in a different time zone and you need to know their local time, you will need to do the math yourself or ask them directly. Outlook does not have a built-in way to view a shared calendar in someone else's time zone.
Does the calendar owner know when I view their shared calendar?
No, Outlook does not notify the calendar owner when you look at their calendar. They only know you have accepted the sharing invitation. They cannot see when you open it, how often you check it, or what events you click on.
What happens if someone stops sharing their calendar with me?
The calendar will disappear from your sidebar, usually within a few minutes. Any events you had written down from that calendar will not be deleted from your own calendar — only the shared calendar itself is removed from your view. If you had copied events from the shared calendar into your own, those copies stay in your calendar.