Default All Day events in webcal URL feed as "Free"

Question

By default, any all-day events I get in a subscribed (webcal URL) feed block my whole Outlook calendar as "Busy." Unfortunately, because these are feeds, I cannot manually change them from Busy to Free.

Does Outlook have any options for changing the default status (Free, Busy, Out of Office) for all-day events?

Note: I'm using new Outlook on Mac, though I don't see the option for the web-based version either.

Answer 1

Hi Joe Johnson

I understand you’re having an issue where all‑day events from a subscribed webcal (iCal) feed show as “Busy” in Outlook.com / new Outlook on Mac, and you can’t change “Show as” because the items come from a read‑only subscription feed.  

Please note that Outlook doesn’t provide a global setting to override the “Show as” (Free/Busy/OOF, etc.) status for events that come from a subscribed webcal/iCal feed. Those event properties are controlled by the feed content, and the calendar subscription is effectively read‑only in Outlook.com. 

Please confirm:  

• Do you control the webcal/iCal feed (can edit how the .ics is generated), or is it a third‑party feed you can’t change?  
• Is this calendar subscribed into an Outlook.com personal account, or a work/school mailbox?  

I would love to hear from you. Have a lovely day! 

Answer 2

Outlook does not provide a global setting to change the default “Show As” status for all all-day events coming from subscribed calendars.

Each event’s status is controlled on the event itself via the Show As field (Free, Working Elsewhere, Tentative, Busy, Out of Office), but there is no tenant‑wide or account‑wide option in Outlook or Outlook on the web to automatically convert all-day events from Busy to Free, including those from webcal subscriptions.

For manually created items, the status can be changed per event:

1. Open the appointment, meeting, or event.
2. Use the Show As drop-down to select Free (or another status).
3. Save the item.

However, this does not override statuses on items coming from subscribed feeds.

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References:

• Change an appointment, meeting, or event in Outlook
• Create an all-day event
• Bookings with me calendar doesn’t honor user’s personal calendars