Create Outlook events in a shared or delegated calendar

In Outlook, customers can share a calendar with other users and let them view, create, or modify events in that calendar. Customers can also grant a delegate to act on their behalf to receive or respond to meeting requests or create or change items in the calendar.

Programmatically, Microsoft Graph supports reading or writing events in calendars that have been shared by other users, as well as reading the shared calendars, and updating the calendar name for sharees. The support also applies to calendars that have been delegated. The rest of this article walks through creating a meeting event in a shared or delegated calendar. For getting events, refer to Get Outlook events in a shared or delegated calendar.

The walkthrough below uses the example scenario where Alex has delegated his primary calendar to Adele in Outlook, and kept the default Outlook mailbox setting to direct meeting requests and responses to only delegates. (This setting corresponds to the delegateMeetingMessageDeliveryOptions property of Alex' mailboxSettings set as the default value sendToDelegateOnly.)

The walkthrough describes a few subsequent steps:

  1. Adele gets the calendar that Alex has delegated to her.
  2. Adele sends a meeting invitation to Christie and Megan on Alex' behalf.
  3. Christie receives the meeting request, and inspects the associated event in her calenda
  4. Christie responds tentative to the invitation.
  5. Adele receives Christie's response message.
  6. Alex checks attendees' responses as part of the event.

If Alex has shared and not delegated his calendar with Adele:

  • Signed in as Adele, an app can get the calendar that Alex has shared with Adele
  • The app can use the requests and responses in steps 2 to 4 to apply to the shared calendar the same way as the delegated calendar.
  • In step 5, the app can sign in as Alex, instead of Adele, to receive Christie's response message.

Step 1: Adele gets the delegated calendar

Signed in as Adele, get the calendars she has access to and identify the one Alex has delegated to her, so to use it in the next step to create an event in that calendar.

Microsoft Graph permissions

Use the least privileged delegated permission, Calendars.Read.Shared. For more information, see the Calendars.Read.Shared permission in the permissions reference.

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/calendars

Notice a successful response includes the response code HTTP 200, Adele's own primary calendar, and a copy of the calendar delegated by Alex in Adele's mailbox, with the following properties:

  • canShare is false since Adele is only a delegate and not the calendar owner.
  • canEdit is true since as delegate, Adele has write access to non-private events in the delegated calendar.
  • owner is Alex Wilber indicating it is Alex' calendar.
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
    "@odata.context": "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#users('d3b9214b-dd8b-441d-b7dc-c446c9fa0e69')/calendars",
    "value": [
        {
            "id": "AQMkADGkAAAJMjAAAAA==",
            "name": "Calendar",
            "color": "auto",
            "changeKey": "NDznl+Uh50WkanaCOKHkaQAAAAACXQ==",
            "canShare": true,
            "canViewPrivateItems": true,
            "canEdit": true,
            "owner": {
                "name": "Adele Vance",
                "address": "AdeleV@contoso.com"
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "AAMkADRpAABf0JlzAAA=",
            "name": "Alex Wilber",
            "color": "auto",
            "changeKey": "NDznl+Uh50WkanaCOKHkaQAAX8m4eQ==",
            "canShare": false,
            "canViewPrivateItems": false,
            "canEdit": true,
            "owner": {
                "name": "Alex Wilber",
                "address": "AlexW@contoso.com"
            }
        }
    ]
}

Note

Signed in as Adele, you can alternatively get the delegated calendar directly from Alex' mailbox, by specifying Alex' identity and the calendar shortcut, as in GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users/AlexW@contoso.com/calendar. The returned calendar ID corresponds to only Alex' mailbox.

Step 2: Adele creates and sends an invitation on Alex' behalf

Signed in as Adele, use the calendar ID obtained from step 1 to create an event in the delegated calendar and send it to Christie and Megan, on Alex' behalf.

Microsoft Graph permissions

Use the least privileged delegated permission, Calendars.ReadWrite.Shared. For more information, see Calendars.ReadWrite.Shared permission in the permissions reference.

POST https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/calendars/AAMkADRpAABf0JlzAAA=/events

Prefer: outlook.timezone="Pacific Standard Time"
Content-type: application/json

{
  "subject": "Christmas dinner",
  "body": {
    "contentType": "HTML",
    "content": "Happy holidays!"
  },
  "start": {
      "dateTime": "2019-12-25T18:00:00",
      "timeZone": "Pacific Standard Time"
  },
  "end": {
      "dateTime": "2019-12-25T22:00:00",
      "timeZone": "Pacific Standard Time"
  },
  "location":{
      "displayName":"Alex' home"
  },
  "attendees": [
    {
      "emailAddress": {
        "address":"meganb@contoso.com",
        "name": "Megan Bowen"
      },
      "type": "required"
    },
    {
      "emailAddress": {
        "address":"ChristieC@contoso.com",
        "name": "Christie Cline"
      },
      "type": "required"
    }
  ]
}

Notice a successful response includes the response code HTTP 200 and the following eventMessage properties:

  • meetingMessageType specifies this message is meetingRequest.
  • sender is Adele.
  • from is Alex.
  • toRecipients include Megan and Christie.

And the following event properties:

  • attendees include Alex, Megan, and Christie.
  • organizer is Alex.

Adele's identity appears only in the sender property of the eventMessage and not in the associated event.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
    "@odata.context": "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#users('662b947c-d9a1-4064-926c-eba1316d4462')/messages(microsoft.graph.eventMessage/event())/$entity",
    "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.eventMessage",
    "@odata.etag": "W/\"CwAAABYAAADK82uJYVo4RrFV3ADVj3fyAABZ378h\"",
    "id": "AAMkADADVj3fyAABZ5hYdAAA=",
    "createdDateTime": "2019-12-21T04:59:03Z",
    "lastModifiedDateTime": "2019-12-21T04:59:04Z",
    "changeKey": "CwAAABYAAADK82uJYVo4RrFV3ADVj3fyAABZ378h",
    "categories": [],
    "receivedDateTime": "2019-12-21T04:59:03Z",
    "sentDateTime": "2019-12-21T04:59:01Z",
    "hasAttachments": false,
    "internetMessageId": "<DM6PR17MB3593711A1C0A098167F5A977A12C0@DM6PR17MB3593.namprd17.prod.outlook.com>",
    "subject": "Christmas dinner",
    "bodyPreview": "Happy holidays!",
    "importance": "normal",
    "parentFolderId": "AQMkADIAAAIBDAAAAA==",
    "conversationId": "AAQkADNqQlzYAM8jQM=",
    "conversationIndex": "AdW3u1xx5S7TYrbluE2pCXNgAzyNAw==",
    "isDeliveryReceiptRequested": null,
    "isReadReceiptRequested": false,
    "isRead": true,
    "isDraft": false,
    "webLink": "https://outlook.office365.com/owa/?ItemID=AAMkADADVj3fyAABZ5hYdAAA%3D&exvsurl=1&viewmodel=ReadMessageItem",
    "inferenceClassification": "focused",
    "meetingMessageType": "meetingRequest",
    "body": {
        "contentType": "html",
        "content": "<html>\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\">\r\n<meta content=\"text/html; charset=us-ascii\">\r\n</head>\r\n<body>\r\nHappy holidays!\r\n</body>\r\n</html>\r\n"
    },
    "sender": {
        "emailAddress": {
            "name": "Adele Vance",
            "address": "AdeleV@contoso.com"
        }
    },
    "from": {
        "emailAddress": {
            "name": "Alex Wilber",
            "address": "AlexW@contoso.com"
        }
    },
    "toRecipients": [
        {
            "emailAddress": {
                "name": "Megan Bowen",
                "address": "MeganB@contoso.com"
            }
        },
        {
            "emailAddress": {
                "name": "Christie Cline",
                "address": "ChristieC@contoso.com"
            }
        }
    ],
    "ccRecipients": [],
    "bccRecipients": [],
    "replyTo": [],
    "flag": {
        "flagStatus": "notFlagged"
    },
    "event": {
        "@odata.etag": "W/\"yvNriWFaOEaxVdwA1Y938gAAX+T7Jg==\"",
        "id": "AAMkADADVj3fyAABZ5ieyAAA=",
        "createdDateTime": "2019-12-21T04:59:03.4336242Z",
        "lastModifiedDateTime": "2019-12-27T01:38:32.3766961Z",
        "changeKey": "yvNriWFaOEaxVdwA1Y938gAAX+T7Jg==",
        "categories": [],
        "originalStartTimeZone": "Pacific Standard Time",
        "originalEndTimeZone": "Pacific Standard Time",
        "iCalUId": "040000008200FEFE0BA532444B5FD89BDE22BA103",
        "reminderMinutesBeforeStart": 15,
        "isReminderOn": true,
        "hasAttachments": false,
        "subject": "Christmas dinner",
        "bodyPreview": "Happy holidays!",
        "importance": "normal",
        "sensitivity": "normal",
        "isAllDay": false,
        "isCancelled": false,
        "isOrganizer": false,
        "responseRequested": true,
        "seriesMasterId": null,
        "showAs": "tentative",
        "type": "singleInstance",
        "webLink": "https://outlook.office365.com/owa/?itemid=AAMkADADVj3fyAABZ5ieyAAA%3D&exvsurl=1&path=/calendar/item",
        "onlineMeetingUrl": null,
        "recurrence": null,
        "responseStatus": {
            "response": "none",
            "time": "2019-12-21T05:16:48.8931825Z"
        },
        "body": {
            "contentType": "html",
            "content": "<html>\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\">\r\n<meta content=\"text/html; charset=us-ascii\">\r\n</head>\r\n<body>\r\nHappy holidays!\r\n</body>\r\n</html>\r\n"
        },
        "start": {
            "dateTime": "2019-12-26T02:00:00.0000000",
            "timeZone": "UTC"
        },
        "end": {
            "dateTime": "2019-12-26T06:00:00.0000000",
            "timeZone": "UTC"
        },
        "location": {
            "displayName": "Alex' home",
            "locationType": "default",
            "uniqueId": "Alex' home",
            "uniqueIdType": "private"
        },
        "locations": [
            {
                "displayName": "Alex' home",
                "locationType": "default",
                "uniqueId": "1396aaf3-e344-4567-a4e3-797557ec24c8",
                "uniqueIdType": "locationStore"
            }
        ],
        "attendees": [
            {
                "type": "required",
                "status": {
                    "response": "none",
                    "time": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z"
                },
                "emailAddress": {
                    "name": "Alex Wilber",
                    "address": "AlexW@contoso.com"
                }
            },
            {
                "type": "required",
                "status": {
                    "response": "none",
                    "time": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z"
                },
                "emailAddress": {
                    "name": "Megan Bowen",
                    "address": "MeganB@contoso.com"
                }
            },
            {
                "type": "required",
                "status": {
                    "response": "none",
                    "time": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z"
                },
                "emailAddress": {
                    "name": "Christie Cline",
                    "address": "ChristieC@contoso.com"
                }
            }
        ],
        "organizer": {
            "emailAddress": {
                "name": "Alex Wilber",
                "address": "AlexW@contoso.com"
            }
        }
    }
}

Step 4: Christie responds to the meeting request

Signed in as Christie, reply to the event as tentative, and include a reply message in the response:

Microsoft Graph permissions

Use the least privileged delegated permission, Calendars.ReadWrite.Shared. For more information, see Calendars.ReadWrite.Shared permission in the permissions reference.

POST https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/events/AAMkADADVj3fyAABZ5ieyAAA=/tentativelyAccept
Content-type: application/json

{
  "comment": "I will probably be able to make it.",
  "sendResponse": true
}

A successful response returns HTTP 202 Accepted.

HTTP/1.1 202 Accepted

Step 5: Adele receives the response message

Because Adele is a delegate of Alex' primary calendar, Adele receives all meeting responses for that calendar on Alex' behalf.

Signed in as Adele, get the eventMessage that represents the response from Christie in step 4.

Microsoft Graph permissions

Use the least privileged delegated permission, Mail.Read.Shared. For more information, see Mail.Read.Shared permission in the permissions reference.

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/messages/AAMkADI4oeRpAABf0HJUAAA=

Notice a successful response includes the response code HTTP 200 and the following eventMessage properties:

  • meetingMessageType is meetingTenativelyAccepted.
  • from is Christie.
  • toRecipients includes only Adele, but not the calendar owner Alex. This is because Alex kept the default to have Outlook direct all meeting responses to only delegates.
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
    "@odata.context": "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#users('d3b9214b-dd8b-441d-b7dc-c446c9fa0e69')/messages/$entity",
    "@odata.type": "#microsoft.graph.eventMessage",
    "@odata.etag": "W/\"DAAAABYAAAA0POeX5SHnRaRqdoI4oeRpAABfybkT\"",
    "id": "AAMkADI4oeRpAABf0HJUAAA=",
    "createdDateTime": "2019-12-21T05:16:55Z",
    "lastModifiedDateTime": "2019-12-21T05:16:57Z",
    "changeKey": "DAAAABYAAAA0POeX5SHnRaRqdoI4oeRpAABfybkT",
    "categories": [],
    "receivedDateTime": "2019-12-21T05:16:56Z",
    "sentDateTime": "2019-12-21T05:16:49Z",
    "hasAttachments": false,
    "internetMessageId": "<86880ccb8ec64184996e46eaddaed279@DM6PR17MB3593.namprd17.prod.outlook.com>",
    "subject": "Tentative: Christmas dinner",
    "bodyPreview": "I will probably be able to make it.",
    "importance": "normal",
    "parentFolderId": "AQMkAD5GkAAAIBDAAAAA==",
    "conversationId": "AAQkADK25bhNqQlzYAM8jQM=",
    "conversationIndex": "AdW3u1xx5S7TYrbluE2pCXNgAzyNAwAAoBoZ",
    "isDeliveryReceiptRequested": null,
    "isReadReceiptRequested": false,
    "isRead": false,
    "isDraft": false,
    "webLink": "https://outlook.office365.com/owa/?ItemID=AAMkADI4oeRpAABf0HJUAAA%3D&exvsurl=1&viewmodel=ReadMessageItem",
    "inferenceClassification": "focused",
    "meetingMessageType": "meetingTenativelyAccepted",
    "body": {
        "contentType": "html",
        "content": "<html>\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\">\r\n<meta content=\"text/html; charset=us-ascii\">\r\n</head>\r\n<body>\r\nI will probably be able to make it.\r\n</body>\r\n</html>\r\n"
    },
    "sender": {
        "emailAddress": {
            "name": "Christie Cline",
            "address": "ChristieC@contoso.com"
        }
    },
    "from": {
        "emailAddress": {
            "name": "Christie Cline",
            "address": "ChristieC@contoso.com"
        }
    },
    "toRecipients": [
        {
            "emailAddress": {
                "name": "Adele Vance",
                "address": "AdeleV@contoso.com"
            }
        }
    ],
    "ccRecipients": [],
    "bccRecipients": [],
    "replyTo": [],
    "flag": {
        "flagStatus": "notFlagged"
    }
}

Step 6: Alex accesses responses as part of the event

Because Alex kept the default to have Outlook direct all meeting requests and responses to only delegates, Alex does not receive Christie's response from step 4. He can however get the response through the event in his primary calendar.

Signed in as Alex, get the event that Adele created in step 2 and get responses from the attendees property.

Microsoft Graph permissions

Use the least privileged delegated permission, Calendars.Read. For more information, see Calendars.Read permission in the permissions reference.

GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/me/calendar/events/AAMkADJXJGu0AABf02qwAAA=

Notice a successful response includes the response code HTTP 200 and the following event properties:

  • isOrganizer is true.
  • attendees include only Megan and Christie.
  • The status property of each attendee instance indicates any response from the attendee:
    • Megan's response is none.
    • Christie's response is tentativelyAccepted.
  • organizer is Alex.
  • No property in the returned event indicates the delegate, Adele.
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-type: application/json

{
    "@odata.context": "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/$metadata#users('64339082-ed84-4b0b-b4ab-004ae54f3747')/calendars('AQMkADAw7QAAAJfygAAAA%3D%3D')/events/$entity",
    "@odata.etag": "W/\"NEXywgsVrkeNsFsyVyRrtAAAX8xuhA==\"",
    "id": "AAMkADJXJGu0AABf02qwAAA=",
    "createdDateTime": "2019-12-21T04:59:01.4435895Z",
    "lastModifiedDateTime": "2019-12-21T05:16:54.689345Z",
    "changeKey": "NEXywgsVrkeNsFsyVyRrtAAAX8xuhA==",
    "categories": [],
    "originalStartTimeZone": "Pacific Standard Time",
    "originalEndTimeZone": "Pacific Standard Time",
    "iCalUId": "040000008200FEFE0BA532444B5FD89BDE22BA103",
    "reminderMinutesBeforeStart": 15,
    "isReminderOn": true,
    "hasAttachments": false,
    "subject": "Christmas dinner",
    "bodyPreview": "Happy holidays!",
    "importance": "normal",
    "sensitivity": "normal",
    "isAllDay": false,
    "isCancelled": false,
    "isOrganizer": true,
    "responseRequested": true,
    "seriesMasterId": null,
    "showAs": "busy",
    "type": "singleInstance",
    "webLink": "https://outlook.office365.com/owa/?itemid=AAMkADJXJGu0AABf02qwAAA%3D&exvsurl=1&path=/calendar/item",
    "onlineMeetingUrl": null,
    "recurrence": null,
    "responseStatus": {
        "response": "organizer",
        "time": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z"
    },
    "body": {
        "contentType": "html",
        "content": "<html>\r\n<head>\r\n<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=utf-8\">\r\n<meta content=\"text/html; charset=us-ascii\">\r\n</head>\r\n<body>\r\nHappy holidays!\r\n</body>\r\n</html>\r\n"
    },
    "start": {
        "dateTime": "2019-12-26T02:00:00.0000000",
        "timeZone": "UTC"
    },
    "end": {
        "dateTime": "2019-12-26T06:00:00.0000000",
        "timeZone": "UTC"
    },
    "location": {
        "displayName": "Alex' home",
        "locationType": "default",
        "uniqueId": "Alex' home",
        "uniqueIdType": "private"
    },
    "locations": [
        {
            "displayName": "Alex' home",
            "locationType": "default",
            "uniqueId": "Alex' home",
            "uniqueIdType": "private"
        }
    ],
    "attendees": [
        {
            "type": "required",
            "status": {
                "response": "none",
                "time": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z"
            },
            "emailAddress": {
                "name": "Megan Bowen",
                "address": "MeganB@contoso.com"
            }
        },
        {
            "type": "required",
            "status": {
                "response": "tentativelyAccepted",
                "time": "2019-12-21T05:16:48.8931825Z"
            },
            "emailAddress": {
                "name": "Christie Cline",
                "address": "ChristieC@contoso.com"
            }
        }
    ],
    "organizer": {
        "emailAddress": {
            "name": "Alex Wilber",
            "address": "AlexW@contoso.com"
        }
    }
}