Stop creating focus time blocks in Outlook

Hello JoJCE,

If the above step doesn't work you can contact your admin to disable disable Viva Insights’ focus plan for the affected account.

We look forward to your reply. We will continue to assist you based on the information you provide. I sincerely appreciate your patience and cooperation.   SincerelyEben Ezer Tres | Microsoft Community Moderator

Hello JoJCE,

Good morning!

Thank you for publishing in Microsoft Community. We are happy to help you.

Typically If we talk about Google Calendar, you can select the focus time from the calendar view. After that, click on the Delete event icon to remove the focus time event. In case you want to delete focus time from the Outlook calendar, you can disable Viva Insights’ focus plan option or directly delete it from the calendar.

The process of removing focus time in Microsoft Outlook is quite easy. You can follow the below steps to do so:

1. Open Outlook.
2. Move to Calendar.
3. Search for focus time event.
4. Select the Focus time.
5. Press the Delete button.

First, open the Outlook app and go to the Calendar tab. You can see focus time highlighted on your calendar.

You can simply select the focus time bar and press the Delete button on your keyboard to remove the focus time.

If you can’t see the focus time bar highlighted on the calendar, you can manually search for it. For that, click on the search bar in the Calendar tab and enter the “focus” or similar keyword as used by you previously.

You will see all focus time items in the results; select the one you want to remove.

In the opened window, click on the Delete button to remove the focus time.

Similarly, you can delete other focus time items in Outlook.

If the above step doesn't resolve the issue then you need to disable Viva Insights’ focus plan option:

you can follow the below steps to do that:

• First, go to the Home tab in Outlook and click on the Viva Insights add-in.
• Now, in the opened pane, select the gear-shaped (Settings) icon.
• After that, scroll down to find the Focus plan option and switch off the toggle associated with it.

This will disable and remove the focus time created with the Viva Insights add-in in Outlook.

Or contact your admin or It department to disable from the admin portal for the affected account .

We look forward to your reply. We will continue to assist you based on the information you provide. I sincerely appreciate your patience and cooperation.   SincerelyEben Ezer Tres | Microsoft Community Moderator

Hello JoJCE,

Since you said you have create a focus plan in the Viva Insights app in Teams that started adding these events, please

You can change or opt in and opt out of the focus plan as many times as you want. 

Make changes 

To edit your focus plan settings: 

1. Select the ellipses (...) at the top-right of any Viva Insights tab, then select Settings.
2. Select Protect time from the left pane.
3. Edit your scheduled focus hours per day, morning or afternoon preferences, and reminder and notification preferences.

Leave 

1. Select the Leave planbutton at top right.
2. Answer the survey question, then select Leave plan again Reference: Focus plan for Viva Insights - Microsoft Support

If the issue persist you can Viva Insights off, by clicking on privacy and If you turn Viva Insights off, your collaboration data will no longer be used to display personal insights. Or uninstall the ap from teams by right click to check if the issue still persist.

After the above steps if the issue still persist you can contact your admin to disable Viva Insights’ focus plan for the affected account.

We look forward to your reply. We will continue to assist you based on the information you provide. I sincerely appreciate your patience and cooperation.   SincerelyEben Ezer Tres | Microsoft Community Moderator

This is the exact issue - I don't have those options in Viva Insights.

When I go to the Protect Time tab, I only have Breaks, Learning or Catch Up on Messages plan. I don't have a Focus plan option to be able to leave it.

I also don't have an option to set my focus hours - just whether to mute mobile notifications.

I'll escalate it internally as I'm not sure what is going on with the setting.

Thank you for replying.

I can manually delete the created events, no problem.

I did create a focus plan in the Viva Insights app in Teams that started adding these events and I have the Outlook add-in configured, but I don't have the Viva Insights add-in option within Outlook to follow the steps you suggested.

Guess it'll have to be one for my admin team.

Thank you for your help.