Combining Calendars

Question

I have access to 25 calendars in my office but wanted to see if there is a way to get all calendar invites automatically sent to me and my calendar since people don't always remember to add me to their event. I need to be able to quickly see where people are without having to pull up each individual calendar.

Answer 1

Hello Jennifer Clark
Thank you for posting question to Microsoft Q&A Forum. I understand you need a streamlined way to track 25 colleagues' schedules without opening each calendar individually, especially since people often forget to include you in their invites.

Please refer to the Q&A Assist answer first, as it shares some of the same thoughts as me. However, please consider the impact if you choose to use mail flow rules or have everyone forward their invites to you. Automatically receiving calendar invites and updates for 25 different people might quickly flood your inbox and clutter your personal calendar with overlapping events that you may not actually need to attend.

Since you already have access to these calendars and are using Classic Outlook for Windows, the most effective and user-friendly approach is to create a Calendar Group and view it in Schedule View.

To set up a Calendar Group, please refer to this official article from Microsoft: Create, view, or delete a calendar group

This new group will then appear in your left-hand navigation pane. Whenever you need to check their availability, simply check the box next to the group's name. To prevent the calendars from visually piling up on top of each other, go to the Home tab and click on Schedule View in the Arrange section.

I hope this information is helpful for you.

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Answer 2

To automatically receive calendar invites from multiple calendars in Outlook, you can set up mail flow rules in Exchange Online. This feature allows designated users to have meetings automatically added to their calendars without needing to be invited individually. Here are some steps you can consider:

1. Direct to Calendar Feature: If you have administrative access, you can configure mail flow rules that will allow meeting invitations to be directly added to your calendar. This way, you won't miss any events even if people forget to add you.
2. Shared Calendars: You can also consider sharing calendars with your colleagues. This way, you can view multiple calendars in one place without needing to switch between them. You can overlay calendars in Outlook to see all events at once.
3. Calendar Groups: Organize your calendars into groups for easier management. This allows you to see all relevant calendars together, making it simpler to track events.

By utilizing these features, you can streamline your calendar management and ensure you stay informed about all relevant meetings and events.

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References:

• Use mail flow rules to automatically add meetings to calendars in Exchange Online
• Sharing calendar and contacts in Microsoft 365