Applies To
Outlook for Microsoft 365 Outlook on the web New Outlook for Windows

By default, when you add an item to your calendar or accept an invitation from someone else using classic Outlook, the item is marked as Busy on your calendar:

  • This affects the free/busy time others see on your calendar when they try to schedule a meeting with you.

  • It also affects your status indicator in Teams, showing you as busy when you have meetings or appointments scheduled.

When you look at your calendar, the left edge of each item is color coded to indicate its status: A white edge indicates free, and a darker color indicates busy.

Legend for calendar availability statuses in Classic Outlook with pattern and color indicators: 'Free' is shown with a light blue outline, 'Busy' with solid blue, 'Tentative' with blue diagonal stripes, 'Out of office' with a pink cross-hatch pattern, 'No information' with gray diagonal stripes, 'Working Elsewhere' with light blue outlining an array of small blue dots, and 'Outside of working hours' indicated by solid gray. 

You can adjust any calendar item to show as Busy, Free, Out of Office, and so on:

  1. On your calendar, right-click the item you want to change.

  2. On the menu that appears, point at Show As, then select the option you want.

Want to adjust your status in Teams? See Set your availability status.

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