Jun 25, 2026

Outlook Calendar Permissions Explained (How to Set Them)

Outlook calendar permissions control exactly how much of your calendar another person can see and do — from showing only that you’re “busy” all the way up to full Owner control. Picking the right level matters: assign too little and a colleague can’t book on your behalf; assign too much and they can delete your events or change who else has access. There’s also a separate, more powerful concept — delegate access — that lets someone receive and respond to meeting requests for you.

Here’s what every permission level actually means, and how to set and change them in new Outlook, classic Outlook for Windows, and the web in 2026.

Outlook Calendar Permission Levels Explained

Outlook ships a set of named permission levels. Each is really a bundle of individual rights (read, create, edit, delete) plus a few flags. From most to least access:

Permission level	Can read	Can create events	Can edit	Can delete	Notes
Owner	Full details	Yes	All items	All items	Full control, including changing other people’s permissions. Use sparingly.
Publishing Editor	Full details	Yes	All items	All items	Like Editor, plus can create subfolders.
Editor	Full details	Yes	All items	All items	The usual choice for an assistant who manages your calendar.
Publishing Author	Full details	Yes	Own items only	Own items only	Can add events and subfolders; can only change what they created.
Author	Full details	Yes	Own items only	Own items only	Can add events; edits/deletes limited to their own.
Nonediting Author	Full details	Yes	No	Own items only	Can create and read, but not edit existing items.
Reviewer	Full details	No	No	No	Read-only view of everything, including subjects and details.
Contributor	None	Yes	No	No	Can add items but can’t see existing ones. Rare for calendars.
Free/Busy time, subject, location	Limited	No	No	No	Shows busy blocks plus the title and location of each event.
Free/Busy time	Limited	No	No	No	Shows only that you’re busy/free — no titles, no details.
None	No access	No	No	No	The calendar is hidden from this person entirely.

A few practical takeaways:

For an executive assistant or coworker who books for you, Editor is the right level (or Delegate — see below).
For someone who just needs to see your schedule in detail, use Reviewer.
For general visibility across your team, the Free/Busy levels are enough and leak the least information.
Owner and Publishing Editor let the person change other people’s permissions — only give these to someone you fully trust with calendar administration.

Tip: The Default entry on your calendar is the level everyone in your organization gets unless you add them specifically. The Anonymous entry is what people outside your org get. Most orgs default internal users to Free/Busy time so coworkers can schedule around you without seeing details.

These two are easy to confuse, and choosing wrong is the most common reason “I gave them access but it doesn’t work.”

Sharing grants a permission level (above) so someone can view or edit your calendar. A person with Editor can add and change events, but meeting invites still come to you and you RSVP yourself.
Delegate access is a superset. A delegate gets a permission level plus the ability to receive copies of your meeting requests and respond to them on your behalf. Delegates can also be allowed to see items you’ve marked Private, and to send email “on behalf of” you.

In short: choose sharing when someone needs to look at or edit the calendar. Choose delegation when someone runs your calendar — accepting, declining, and proposing meetings as you. Delegate setup lives in a different place (Account Settings, not the sharing dialog) and is covered in how to delegate calendar access in Outlook.

How to Set Calendar Permissions in New Outlook & on the Web

New Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web (outlook.office.com) share the same interface.

Open the Calendar.
In the left pane, hover over the calendar you want to share, click the three dots (More options), and choose Sharing and permissions.
In the Share this calendar box, type the person’s name or email and press Enter.
Click the dropdown next to their name and pick a level:
- Can view when I’m busy (Free/Busy only)
- Can view titles and locations
- Can view all details (equivalent to Reviewer)
- Can edit (equivalent to Editor)
- Delegate (edit plus receive and respond to meeting requests)
Click Share. The person receives an email invitation to add your calendar.

To change the Default (everyone in your org) or My Organization level, open the same Sharing and permissions panel and adjust the My Organization dropdown — set it to Can view when I’m busy, a details level, or None.

Tip: New Outlook collapses the ten classic levels into a shorter friendly list. If you need a precise level like Nonediting Author or Contributor, use classic Outlook, which exposes the full set.

How to Set Calendar Permissions in Classic Outlook for Windows

Classic Outlook gives you every named permission level and the most granular control.

In the Calendar, find your calendar in the left folder pane.
Right-click it and choose Sharing Permissions (or Properties > Permissions tab).
Click Add, pick the person from the address book, and click OK.
With their name selected, choose a Permission Level from the dropdown — this fills in the individual read/write/delete checkboxes automatically. You can also fine-tune the checkboxes manually.
Click OK.

Option B — Calendar Properties > Permissions (full control)

Right-click the calendar > Properties.
Go to the Permissions tab.
Select Default to set what everyone in your org sees (commonly Free/Busy time), and Anonymous for external users (commonly None).
Click Add to grant a specific person a higher level like Reviewer or Editor.
Click Apply > OK.

To share the calendar and prompt the person to open it, use Home > Share Calendar on the ribbon, which sends a sharing invitation in addition to setting the permission.

How to Change or Revoke Permissions Later

Permissions aren’t set-and-forget — roles change.

New Outlook / web: Reopen Sharing and permissions, change the dropdown next to the person’s name, or click the trash/Remove icon to revoke access.
Classic Outlook: Right-click the calendar > Sharing Permissions (or Properties > Permissions), select the person, change the Permission Level, or click Remove.

Changes apply on the next sync. If you upgrade someone (say from Reviewer to Editor) and they don’t see the new rights, have them remove your calendar and re-open it — the client sometimes caches the old level. Opening a shared calendar is covered in how to open a shared calendar in Outlook.

Troubleshooting

A shared calendar only shows free/busy, not full details

The person was given a Free/Busy level (or your Default is set to Free/Busy and you never added them specifically). To show details, add them explicitly and set their level to Can view all details / Reviewer, or Can edit / Editor. Raising the Default affects everyone in the org, so prefer adding the individual.

I can’t edit a calendar that was shared with me

You were granted a read-only level such as Reviewer, or Free/Busy. Only the calendar’s owner can change that — ask them to reopen Sharing and permissions and set you to Can edit / Editor. If they already did and it’s still read-only, remove and re-open the calendar to clear the cached permission.

I set Editor but the assistant still can’t accept meeting invites

Editor lets someone change events, but meeting requests still come to you — accepting on your behalf requires delegate access, not just sharing. Set the person up as a Delegate (new Outlook: the Delegate sharing level; classic: File > Account Settings > Delegate Access) and choose to have meeting requests delivered to them.

A delegate can’t see my private appointments

Private items are hidden from delegates unless you explicitly allow it. In classic Outlook, open File > Account Settings > Delegate Access, edit the delegate, and check Delegate can see my private items. This option is per-delegate and off by default.

External people can’t see my calendar at all

The Anonymous entry controls external access and is usually None. Cross-org free/busy also depends on an organization relationship your admin configures. For one-off external scheduling, share a link or send availability rather than granting calendar permissions — see how to share your Outlook calendar.

Quick Reference

Goal	Permission to grant	Where to set it
Coworkers see when you’re busy	Free/Busy time (as Default)	Default entry, any version
Someone reads your full schedule	Reviewer / Can view all details	Add person, Reviewer
Assistant adds/edits events	Editor / Can edit	Add person, Editor
Assistant accepts invites for you	Delegate access	New Outlook Delegate level / classic Delegate Access
Manage who else has access	Owner / Publishing Editor	Add person, Owner (trusted only)
Hide calendar from someone	None	Default/Anonymous or remove person

When Permissions Aren’t Enough

Calendar permissions decide who can see your calendar — but someone still has to do the scheduling. Carly is an AI assistant that acts like a delegate without the setup: it reads free/busy from Outlook, Google, and iCloud, books and reschedules meetings over email, and keeps everything coordinated across the people you work with. CC Carly on a thread and it handles the back-and-forth, then logs the follow-ups across 200+ connected apps. Carly starts at $35/month.

More on Outlook: How to share your Outlook calendar · How to delegate calendar access in Outlook · How to open a shared calendar in Outlook · How to create a group calendar in Outlook · How to use Scheduling Assistant in Outlook · How to schedule a meeting in Outlook · How to create a calendar event in Outlook

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