Copying a meeting to another caledar work around. (it works)

Question

Has anyone noticed in the old Outlook, that you CAN copy an appointment by clicking and dragging to the other calendar BUT ONLY IF you do it before adding the meeting attendees?

Once attendees are invited, it switches to calling it a meeting and cannot be coppied.

So I created an appointment with all the info except the attendees, left clicked on the appointment and dragged it to the other calendar, and then added the attendees. So far so good. It's annoying, but it prevents having to type it all again.

Answer 1

Dear @Larry Graves,

Thank you very much for sharing this workaround with the community. That’s a great observation, and your explanation clearly highlights the distinction between an appointment and a meeting in classic Outlook. You’re absolutely right, once attendees are added and the item becomes a meeting, Outlook restricts copying or moving it between calendars.

Your approach of creating the appointment first, copying it to the other calendar, and then adding attendees is a practical and effective workaround. While it’s admittedly a bit inconvenient, it can definitely save time and prevent re‑entering all the details.

If you haven’t already, I’d strongly encourage you to submit this feedback directly to Microsoft through the Outlook in‑app feedback option or the Microsoft Feedback Portal. Suggestions like this, especially when they include clear repro steps and real‑world impact are exactly the kind of input the product team reviews for potential future improvements.

Thanks again for taking the time to post and help other users tips like yours make these forums much more helpful.

Answer 2

In classic Outlook for Windows this behavior aligns with how Outlook distinguishes between appointments and meetings.

• An appointment is a calendar item with no attendees and exists only on one calendar. Appointments can be moved or copied between calendars. • Once attendees are added, the item becomes a meeting. Meetings are designed to stay tied to the organizer’s calendar so that updates and responses are tracked correctly. Because of this, copying or moving meetings between calendars is intentionally restricted and, in some cases, fully blocked.

This is also why Outlook for Mac does not support moving meetings between calendars at all, while still allowing appointments to be moved. The same design principle applies in Outlook for Windows, and newer builds are tightening restrictions further so meetings cannot be copied.

The described workaround—creating the item as an appointment first, copying it to the other calendar, and only then adding attendees—works because the copy operation happens while the item is still an appointment. After it is copied, adding attendees turns each copy into an independent meeting organized from that calendar.

Be aware that this pattern effectively creates separate meetings, each with its own organizer and attendee list, and is different from having a single meeting instance shared across calendars.

---

References:

• Can't move meetings between calendars in Outlook for Mac
• Shared calendars updates in Outlook for Windows