How to Share an Outlook Calendar

Someone keeps asking for free slots that are already visible in a calendar they cannot see. Sharing is not one switch: the level of detail is chosen per person, and what works inside the organization does not work for an outside address, which needs a published link instead.

Open the sharing panel

Switch to Calendar in the left rail and click Share on the toolbar, then pick the calendar to share. The same screen is reachable from Settings, then Calendar, then Shared calendars.

Enter the person

Type the name or email address of the person who should get access. Several people can be added at once if they all get the same permission.

Choose the permission level

Pick one from the dropdown beside the name: Can view when I'm busy shows free and busy blocks only, Can view titles and locations adds the subject line, Can view all details shows everything including notes and attendees, Can edit allows changes, and Delegate allows changes plus the ability to send and respond to meeting invitations on the owner's behalf.

Send the invitation

Click Share. An invitation email arrives for each person, and the calendar appears under their Other calendars list once they click Accept.

Publish a link if needed

For people who cannot be given direct access, go to Settings, then Calendar, then Shared calendars, and under Publish a calendar pick the calendar and a permission level, then click Publish. Copy the HTML link for a read-only web page or the ICS link for subscribing in another calendar app.

Outside the organization. A shared calendar sent to an address at another company usually resolves to free and busy times only, because the two mail systems have no shared permission model. A published ICS or HTML link is the reliable route there, and anyone holding that link can open it, so treat it as semi-public and use Remove on the same page to revoke it.

Delegate is different from edit. A delegate can send meeting invitations and reply to them as the calendar owner, which changes how those messages appear to recipients. Grant Can edit when someone only needs to add or move events.