Private Calendar events unnecessary dropdown

Question

Hello when using the web version of outlook. The privacy button previously allowed one click to enable or disable a private event. Now I have to use two clicks. This seems unnecessary to have an additional dropdown when the lock can be clicked to unlock or lock.

Answer 1

Hi @Rita Zarate, 

Thank you for reaching out regarding the Outlook scheduling experience upgrade. I can totally understand how convenient it is to select a single button and have your event immediately become private, especially when you are creating multiple events throughout the day. 

Based on recent updates to the event creation experience from November to mid-December 2025, some commands have been moved or grouped differently in the new form, which can result in extra steps for actions that previously felt like a direct toggle.  

While I understand how important this functionality is for your workflow, I recommend submitting feedback directly to Microsoft via the Feedback Portal to help prioritize this feature in future updates.  

     

Sharing your experience through this channel is the most impactful way to advocate for a change that would benefit you and other users.      

     

Note: As community moderators, we kindly ask for your understanding that our access to internal development details is limited. Our primary role is to guide users toward the appropriate resources and support channels. While we may not have  influence product design decisions and have limited access to internal development details , we’ll continue doing our best to support you within the scope of our responsibilities.          

Once you’ve submitted your feedback, feel free to share the link here. I’d be happy to upvote it to help increase its visibility.  Moreover, if you are unable to submit feedback, please inform me at your convenience. In that case, I will gladly assist by submitting it on your behalf to ensure your request is properly captured.           

Additionally, as other users have raised similar concerns and may not be aware of where to share their feedback, I hope this response helps clarify the situation and suggests a potential next step. Highlighting this information can make it more visible to others in the community who may be facing the same issue, making it easier for them to find guidance and contribute their feedback as well.     

Thank you again for your time and for raising this important usability concern. If you have any further questions or need additional assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out.     

Wishing you a smooth rest of your day.     

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Answer 2

The current behavior in Outlook on the web is by design. Recent updates to the calendar and event-creation experience added more structured controls for events and invitations, including privacy-related options, which can introduce additional clicks compared to the previous single-click lock toggle.

For events created automatically from email, there is still a way to have them default to private without extra interaction:

1. In Outlook on the web, open Settings.
2. Go to Calendar > Events from email (or Automatic processing > Events from email in classic Outlook on the web).
3. Enable Automatically add events to my calendar from email (if needed).
4. Select Mark events as private so only I can see them.

With this setting, events created from email will be marked private automatically, reducing the need to manually toggle privacy for those items.

For manually created calendar events, the extra dropdown step for the privacy/lock control is part of the updated UI and cannot be reverted through settings based on the available documentation. To influence future design changes (such as restoring a one-click lock/unlock), feedback needs to be submitted through the Outlook feedback channels in the product.

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References:

• Calendar settings in Outlook on the web
• Automatically add events from your email to your calendar
• Make an appointment or meeting private