Only seeing free/busy and not the event name

Question

I am suddenly having issues seeing event detail. All of the events on a shared calendar are showing up as busy or free on their own calendar interface. This affects all mobile, Outlook app and Teams.

Answer 1

Hi Anna

I understand that a shared calendar is showing only Free/Busy instead of event names/details, and that it happens across mobile, Outlook, and Teams. I am happy to help. Please confirm: 

• Is this a personal Outlook.com shared calendar or a Microsoft 365 work/school calendar?  
• What permission does the calendar owner currently see for your account: Can view when I’m busy, Can view titles and locations, Can view all details, or Can edit?  
• Are the affected events marked as Private?  
• Does the same issue happen when checking the calendar directly in Outlook on the web?  

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

Answer 2

The behavior described matches a scenario where only free/busy information is visible instead of full event details. This is typically due to how availability information is exposed and what the client is able to show, not a client-specific bug.

From the available information:

• Outlook and Teams can only show detailed event information (subject, location, etc.) when the calendar and attendees are in the same organization and when the calendar’s permissions allow more than just free/busy.
• When access is limited to free/busy only, all clients (Outlook desktop, new Outlook, mobile, and Teams) will show just “Busy/Free” blocks with no event names.
• There are also limits on how much free/busy detail Outlook can retrieve when many attendees or large distribution lists are involved; in those cases, Outlook may fall back to free/busy only.

To restore event details on the shared calendar:

1. Verify that the shared calendar belongs to the same organization as the viewers. If it does not, only free/busy is expected.
2. In the calendar owner’s mailbox, increase the sharing/permissions level for the affected users (for example, from “Availability only” to a level that includes event details) so that clients can display subject and other information instead of just free/busy.
3. If the shared calendar is being accessed via a distribution list or Microsoft 365 group, ensure that Outlook is not hitting attendee or distribution list limits that force free/busy-only behavior. Reducing the number of attendees or expanding large distribution lists can help in those cases.

If the issue persists after confirming permissions and organizational context, check for any known Outlook or calendar-related incidents in the Microsoft 365 Service Health dashboard, as service-side issues can temporarily affect free/busy and scheduling data.

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References:

• Can't see scheduling or free/busy information for meeting attendees