Mar 14, 2026

How to Set Working Hours in Outlook Calendar (2026)

Outlook Outlook Calendar Working Hours Calendar Settings How-to Microsoft 365

Outlook’s working hours setting tells colleagues when you’re available and triggers a warning when they try to book a meeting outside your schedule. It takes a couple of minutes to configure and works across the web app, Windows desktop, and Mac — though the exact steps differ in each.

What Working Hours Actually Do in Outlook

When you set working hours in Outlook, two things happen:

The scheduling assistant shows your availability correctly. When someone uses the “Find a time” or “Scheduling Assistant” view to book a meeting, your non-working hours appear shaded in gray or marked as “Outside of working hours.”
Colleagues see a warning when they book outside your hours. If someone manually picks a time outside your window, Outlook surfaces a message like “This meeting is outside of [your name]‘s working hours.” It doesn’t block the invite — it flags it.

Working hours in Outlook don’t automatically decline meetings the way Google Calendar’s auto-decline feature does. For hard rejection of outside-hours invites, you’d need to use a rule or rely on Out of Office replies (covered below).

1. Set Working Hours in Outlook on the Web

Go to outlook.office.com and sign in.
Click the gear icon (Settings) in the top right corner.
Select View all Outlook settings at the bottom of the panel.
Go to Calendar → View.
Under Work hours and location, set your Start time and End time.
Check the boxes next to the days you work. Uncheck Saturday and Sunday if you work a standard week, or any other day you don’t work.
Click Save.

Your working hours are now set. Any Microsoft 365 colleague who uses Scheduling Assistant to find a time will see your off-hours blocked out.

2. Set Working Hours in Outlook Desktop App (Windows)

Open Outlook on Windows.
Click File → Options.
In the left sidebar, select Calendar.
Under Work time, set your Start time and End time.
Check the boxes for the days you work under Work week. By default Monday–Friday are selected.
Set your First day of week if needed (this affects how the calendar grid renders).
Click OK.

Note: The Windows desktop app sets a single start and end time that applies to all your working days — it doesn’t let you set different hours per day. For per-day customization, use Outlook on the web.

3. Set Working Hours in Outlook on Mac

Open Outlook on Mac.
Click Outlook in the menu bar → Settings (or press ⌘,).
Select Calendar.
Under Work week, check the days you work.
Set your Day starts and Day ends times.
Close the settings window — changes save automatically.

Like the Windows desktop app, the Mac version applies the same hours to all selected workdays. Use the web app if you need different hours per day.

4. Set Different Hours for Different Days

The Outlook desktop apps (Windows and Mac) apply one start/end time across all working days. If you want different hours per day — for example, working 9–5 Monday through Thursday but only until 1 PM on Fridays — use Outlook on the web:

Go to outlook.office.com → Settings → View all Outlook settings → Calendar → View.
Under Work hours and location, each day has its own time fields.
Set the start and end time independently for each day.
For days you don’t work at all, uncheck the checkbox next to that day.
Click Save.

This is the only place in Outlook where per-day working hours are configurable.

5. Set Up Out of Office / Automatic Replies

Working hours handles your recurring weekly schedule. For vacations, leave, or any stretch of time where you’re entirely unavailable, use automatic replies (Out of Office):

In Outlook on the Web

Go to Settings → View all Outlook settings → Mail → Automatic replies.
Toggle Automatic replies on.
Check Send replies only during a time period and set your start and end dates.
Write your reply message for Inside my organization and optionally for Outside my organization.
Click Save.

In Outlook Desktop (Windows)

Click File → Automatic Replies (Out of Office).
Select Send automatic replies.
Check Only send during this time range and set the dates.
Write your messages for internal and external senders.
Click OK.

In Outlook Desktop (Mac)

Click Tools in the menu bar → Automatic Replies.
Check Send automatic replies for account [your account].
Set the date range and write your message.
Click OK.

When automatic replies are active, anyone who emails you gets your message automatically. Combine this with working hours for full coverage: working hours handles your regular weekly schedule, Out of Office handles exceptions like vacation.

6. Troubleshooting

Issue	Cause	Fix
Colleagues not seeing outside-hours warning	They’re using a non-Microsoft calendar	The warning only appears in Outlook / Microsoft 365 Scheduling Assistant
Working hours look wrong in Scheduling Assistant	Desktop app hours don’t match web app hours	Set hours in Outlook on the web — it overrides desktop app settings for Exchange accounts
Different hours per day not available	Using desktop app	Switch to Outlook on the web for per-day configuration
Out of Office not sending	Requires Exchange or Microsoft 365 account	Automatic replies don’t work with IMAP/POP accounts in Outlook
Time zone is wrong	Outlook is using the wrong local time zone	Go to Settings → General → Language and time and update your time zone

Best Practices

Set hours you’ll actually keep. If colleagues see 9–5 but you regularly respond until 7, they’ll book 6:30 PM calls without hesitation. Set realistic boundaries.
Use the web app for nuanced schedules. If your hours vary by day, skip the desktop app settings entirely and configure everything at outlook.office.com.
Pair automatic replies with calendar blocks. Out of Office sends email replies but doesn’t block calendar time. Create a calendar event marked “Out of Office” to show the time as unavailable in Scheduling Assistant.
Check your time zone. Working hours are tied to your account time zone. If you travel or change time zones, update it in settings or colleagues will see offset availability windows.

If you use an AI scheduling assistant like Carly, your working hours are respected automatically — Carly won’t propose or accept meeting times outside the hours you’ve set.

More on Outlook: How to set up recurring meetings in Outlook · Best AI calendar assistants