New Outlook Desktop app shows incorrect work hours highlighted in calendar view

Question

New Outlook Desktop app shows incorrect work hours highlighted in calendar view

Abdul Haque 20

I use the New Outlook app for Windows 11. I have my personal Gmail account and 2 further work accounts connected to it. Both the work accounts allow the configuration of Work hours. I set it to Mon-Fri 09:00-17:00. However, in the Calendar view, Mon-Fri 08:00-17:00 are filled in with a light grey colour (to signify Work hours). How can I fix it so that 09:00-17:00 hours are filled in with a light grey colour to reflect the correct Working hours set? To further add, I previously had another work account, which had work hours from 8am set, but that work account is deleted.

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Answer 1

Chloe-L 10,500 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Dear @abdul haque

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A.

I’m very sorry to hear that your New Outlook calendar is showing incorrect work hours. I can certainly understand how distracting it is when your calendar grid doesn't align with your actual professional schedule.

Based on what you've described, this often happens because of how the New Outlook app prioritizes account settings. The "Work Hours and Location" feature is designed for Microsoft 365 Business or Exchange accounts. Since Gmail is handled as a personal account, it doesn't always communicate those specific "Work Hour" rules to the New Outlook grid in the same way.

If your Gmail account is currently set as the "Primary" account in the app, Outlook may be using its default settings to draw your calendar, even if your work accounts are configured correctly.

Let’s try a few steps to see if we can get the calendar to recognize your 9–5 schedule:

Step 1: Set your Work Account as the Primary

The app often takes its visual cues (like calendar highlighting) from the primary account. We can try switching this to one of your work accounts to see if the grid updates.

Open New Outlook.
Click on the Settings (gear icon) in the top right corner.
Go to Accounts > Email accounts.
Find your Work Account (the one where your hours are already set correctly).
Click Manage next to that account and select Set as primary account.
Please restart Outlook to allow the changes to take effect.

Step 2: A quick workaround if the "Primary" button is missing

Sometimes, the app "locks" the first account added as the primary. If you don't see the option to change it, you might try a quick refresh:

Temporarily remove the Gmail account from Outlook.
Ensure your Work account is the only one remaining (this usually forces it to become the primary).
Re-add your Gmail account.

I truly hope this helps get your calendar looking exactly the way you need it! Please let me know if those hours still aren't highlighting correctly, and we can look into other options.

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

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Abdul Haque 20 Reputation points

2026-02-17T10:46:34.3366667+00:00

Thanks, when I made one of the other work accounts the primary account, it worked. However, I do want to keep my personal Gmail account as the primary account in Outlook. This prompted me to check the calendar settings in Google Calendar, where the working hours were set from 8am; I updated it to 9am. Then I removed the Gmail account from Outlook and then re-added it to make it the primary account. I did this after 24 hours, but it still showed the cells shaded in calendar view from 8am. Is there a way to delete Outlook's cache files? I also tried resetting Outlook via Settings > Apps > Installed apps > Outlook
Chloe-L 10,500 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-02-24T23:54:17.48+00:00
Hi Abdul Haque,

Thank you for the detailed update — this really helps narrow it down. I completely understand you want to keep your Gmail account as the primary one in New Outlook while having the calendar correctly highlight 09:00–17:00 as work hours.

This is still happening is likely because New Outlook pulls the calendar grid shading (the light grey work-hours background) mainly from the primary account. Because Gmail is primary, it is using Google Calendar’s work hours setting — and even after you changed it from 8am to 9am and re-added the account, an old cached value (from your previous deleted work account + earlier Gmail setting) is still stuck in the app’s local storage. Normal reset or re-adding doesn’t always clear it.

Please try these steps in order:

Step 1: Set Work Hours at the App Level

In New Outlook, click the gear icon (top right) → Calendar.

Click Work hours and location.

Set it to Monday – Friday, 09:00 – 17:00.

Save the changes.

Completely close New Outlook (check Task Manager → end any Outlook tasks) and reopen it.

Step 2: Clear New Outlook’s Local Cache

Completely close New Outlook.

Press Windows key + R to open the Run box.

Type exactly this and press Enter: olk.exe --devtools

A Developer Tools window will open.

In the left menu, click Application.

Under Storage on the left, expand Local Storage.

Right-click on outlook.live.com → choose Clear.

Close the Developer Tools window.

Restart your PC (important), then open New Outlook again and wait 5–10 minutes for full sync.

After these two steps, the calendar should now correctly shade 09:00–17:00 even with Gmail as primary.

Thank you again for the feedback!
Abdul Haque 20 Reputation points

2026-02-27T14:46:01.8366667+00:00

Hi @Chloe-L

Thanks, Step 1 could not be completed as when you go to Calendar settings and then Work hours and location, this setting is applied at account Level in the app. And selecting the Gmail account, it states, "Work hours and location are not supported for the selected account". Selecting the other 2 work accounts, shows the work hours from 09:00-17:00 Mon-Fri.

Should I therefore skip Step 1 and proceed to Step 2?
Chloe-L 10,500 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-01T00:11:09.26+00:00

Hi Abdul Haque,

Yes, please go ahead and skip Step 1 and move directly to Step 2.

Just to give you a little context on why you saw that message: the "Work hours and location" setting is an enterprise-level feature designed specifically for business, school, or organization accounts (which is why your two work accounts displayed it perfectly). Personal email accounts, like your Gmail account, simply do not support this specific calendar feature in Outlook.

Since your work accounts are already correctly showing your hours, you are safe to bypass that step entirely.

Please proceed with Step 2, and let me know how the rest of the troubleshooting goes. I'll be right here if you run into any other roadblocks!
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Abdul Haque 20 Reputation points

2026-03-04T16:31:14.6466667+00:00

Hi @Chloe-L ,

Not sure why my previous comment was deleted.

While following instructions for Step 2, running olk.exe --devtools also opened up New Outlook at the same time, then closing New Outlook also closed olk.exe --devtools. Hence, while New Outlook was open, I proceeded to clear the said storage files in olk.exe --devtools, I noticed as soon as I clicked clear, new files were being created. I then restarted PC, waited 10 minutes, and launched New Outlook, I noticed one of the work accounts was set as the main one, therefore displayed the correct shading for work hours from 9am. But, as previously tested, once I made the Gmail account the main one, it reverted to show the shading for work hours from 8am.
Chloe-L 10,500 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-11T00:42:40.4066667+00:00

Dear Abdul Haque,

Thank you for providing those detailed results from your test, and please accept my sincerest apologize for the late reply. It is very helpful to know that the calendar reacts immediately to the primary account change.

In the new Outlook, the Work hours and location feature is only available and configurable for work or school accounts with a qualifying Microsoft 365 subscription. When a Gmail account is set as the primary account, the new Outlook may not apply your work-account settings to the calendar highlighting and can fall back to a default display. Therefore, to see the correct 9:00 AM shading, one of your work accounts must remain set as the primary account.

I understand this may not be the answer you are hoping for, but I hope this helps clarify what is happening. You can also bring this to Microsoft's attention by submitting your feedback; the more users request a feature, the more likely it is to be included in the future.

If you have any other questions or encounter any further issues in the future, please feel free to reach back out. If you found my answer was helpful, you can consider marking the response as the Answer. This helps other members of the community who may have similar questions find the right information more quickly.

I wish you all the best and thank you for your understanding.

Answer 2

Adrian Walker 5

It's a bug, but MS won't admit it, but go back to classic (classic = working).

Answer 3

The issue you are experiencing with the New Outlook app displaying incorrect work hours in the calendar view may be related to the settings for your work accounts. When multiple accounts are connected, Outlook may sometimes not reflect the most recent settings accurately, especially if there was a previously configured account with different work hours.

To resolve this issue, you can try the following steps:

Check Work Hours Configuration: Ensure that the work hours for both of your work accounts are set correctly to 09:00-17:00. You may need to revisit the settings for each account to confirm.
Restart Outlook: Sometimes, simply restarting the Outlook app can refresh the settings and display the correct work hours.
Clear Cache: If the problem persists, consider clearing the Outlook cache, as it may be holding onto outdated information.
Update Outlook: Ensure that your Outlook app is updated to the latest version, as updates often include bug fixes that may resolve display issues.
Re-add Accounts: If none of the above steps work, you might want to remove and then re-add your work accounts to ensure that all settings are applied correctly.

If the issue continues after trying these steps, it may be beneficial to consult Microsoft support for further assistance.

References:

Outlook Calendar displays working hours as grey

Abdul Haque 20 Reputation points

2026-02-15T18:23:41.76+00:00

Already did steps 1, 2, 4, didn't resolve issue. How do I reset Outlook's cache data, researching online states to navigate to %localappdata%\Microsoft\Outlook\ but no such cache files or folders exist, only an empty folder called NewOutlookMigration.

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New Outlook Desktop app shows incorrect work hours highlighted in calendar view

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