How a shared calendar can save you hours each week

What is a shared calendar?

A shared calendar is a digital calendar that multiple people can access, view, and update. It’s perfect for:

• Families juggling school events, sports schedules, and family outings
• Roommates managing chores, bills, and shared responsibilities
• Friend groups planning trips, parties, or weekly hangouts
• Couples syncing work schedules, date nights, and errands

Instead of relying on memory or scattered group chats, a shared calendar lets you put everything in one place and is accessible from your phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop computer.

Everyday uses for a shared calendar

Busy people and busy households all face the same challenge: keeping track of who’s doing what, and when. A shared calendar helps eliminate confusion.

For example, if you have school-age kids, use a shared calendar to track things like parent-teacher meetings and weekend plans. Everyone knows the schedule without your reminder nudges or last-minute text messages.

When your kids go off to college, they can use a shared calendar with their roommates to manage chores, bill due dates, or who’s hosting dinner that week. A shared calendar can help make it clear whose turn it is to take the trash out.

When planning a trip with your friends, use a shared calendar to block travel dates, share booking deadlines, or coordinate carpool plans. The whole itinerary is saved in one place everyone can access.

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Share a calendar

If you already use Microsoft Outlook for email, you have access to shared calendar features. Outlook helps you manage your schedule and share it easily with others. Built-in AI-powered features¹ take it further by analyzing everyone’s shared calendars to suggest the best meeting times, highlight scheduling conflicts, and send smart reminders. Coordinate busy lives and prevent double-booking with less effort.

Here’s how to share a calendar in Outlook:

1. Go to the Calendar view in Outlook.
2. Right-click the calendar you want to share and choose Sharing and permissions.
3. Type in the email address of the person you want to share your calendar with—like a partner, your kids, or a close friend.
4. Choose the permission level: just your availability, full event details, or give them editing access.
5. Select Share. Outlook sends an email invitation. To see your calendar, the person you shared with must accept the invitation.

Create a shared calendar for a group

If you need a dedicated calendar for a group—like a household, project, or volunteer team—you can create one. Here’s how:

1. Go to the Calendar view in Outlook.
2. Select Add Calendar > Create New Blank Calendar.
3. Enter a name your calendar—something meaningful, like “Family Schedule” or “Household Chores.”
4. Right-click the new calendar and choose Sharing and permissions to invite others and set their access level.

Once shared, you can add events like “Dad picks up groceries,” “Kayla’s dance recital,” or “Trash night – Jake’s turn.” Everyone in the group sees the same thing, so there’s no confusion.

Keep it private, or not

Outlook lets you coordinate schedules or plan events with control over who can see your calendar and what they can see. No worries about oversharing.

When you share your calendar, you’ll be asked to choose a permission level. For example, you can select:

• Show only when you’re busy: Hides all event details, just blocks off time.
• Show titles and locations: Lets others see what your events are called, but not full descriptions.
• Show all details: Makes your calendar fully visible, including notes and meeting information.
• Allow editing or delegate access: Lets you grant access to someone to update or manage your calendar for you.

Your calendar: Shared and simplified to save you time

When life gets busy, it’s easy for schedules to get messy—and that’s when a shared calendar really shines. Shared calendars help keep everyone in the loop without endless back-and-forth messages or forgotten plans.

Whether you’re coordinating family activities or planning events with friends, sharing a calendar helps things run smoother and can save you time each week. Set up a shared calendar in Outlook today.

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