By default, only your free/busy time will display in Outlook. People can see that you are busy or out of the office, but they can’t see what you are doing. However, you can opt to share the details of your calendar with other people, choosing from preferences that could allow others to view, and even edit, your calendar.

To share your calendar, you must use a desktop client rather than Outlook Web Access and should follow the instructions below.

Note – Although you can opt to hide your free/busy availability, this is not recommended. People setting up a meeting will see “No information” displayed and might still invite you to meetings, whether or not you are available to attend.

Outlook 2007/2010 for Windows and 2011 for Mac

  1. Open Outlook and switch to the Calendar. If you have access to more than one calendar, click My Calendars to expand the full list.
  2. In Outlook 2011, Ctrl-Click on the calendar you would like to share and choose Sharing Permissions. In Outlook 2010 for Windows, right-click on your calendar, expand the Share menu, and select Calendar Permissions. In Outlook 2007, right click on the calendar you would like to share and choose->Change Sharing Permissions.
  3. Click Add (or Add User).
  4. Search (or Find) the account you want to share with.
  5. Click OK (or Add and OK) to select a name and return to the Calendar Permissions screen.
  6. Modify the permissions for the account you added by selecting it and changing the Permission Level drop-down menu OR by customizing permissions with the Read, Write, Delete Items, and Other menus.
  7. When all of your permissions are set, click OK to return to Outlook.

    Troubleshooting

    Can see a calendar but not a meeting schedule?

    1. Go to Options -> Calendar -> Free/Busy
    2. Click on the Other Free/Busy button and change the setting from 2 months to 12 months. The details on subsequent months will then be visible.

    Can’t see the availability of someone you know you should be able to see? or can’t share your calendar with someone (as shown in the image below)? You may have a corrupt local profile for that individual. To fix this problem:

    1. Use the the removal icon (an X next to their name) that appears in the auto-fill window to remove the suggested address.
    2. Manually enter the person again as login@bu.edu.
    3. Restart Outlook.

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