Sharing calendars and booking meetings
Updated 9 November 2026 · How-to
How to see a colleague's availability, share your own calendar, book a meeting room and let outside contacts pick a time with you.
Microsoft 365 calendars are designed to be shared, and once they are, a surprising amount of back-and-forth disappears. Here are the features most small businesses find useful.
Seeing when colleagues are free
By default, everyone in your business can see whether colleagues are busy or free, though not the details. When you create a meeting in Outlook or Teams, add the people and open Scheduling Assistant (or the suggested times in Teams) to find a slot that works for everyone. This alone saves most of the "does Tuesday work?" emails.
Sharing more detail
If a colleague or an assistant needs to see your appointments or manage your calendar, right-click your calendar in Outlook and choose Sharing and permissions. You can let a person see titles and locations, see everything, or edit on your behalf. Share with named people rather than the whole business, and review the list occasionally.
Shared calendars for teams
For things that belong to the team rather than a person, such as a leave calendar, an on-call rota or a schedule of site visits, a shared calendar works better than one person's. Ask us to create one and we add the people who should see or edit it.
Meeting rooms and equipment
A meeting room, a pool car or a projector can have its own calendar in Microsoft 365, so people book it by adding it to a meeting like an attendee, and double bookings are refused automatically. These room resources do not need a paid license. Email hello@bitnode.tech with the names of the rooms or equipment and we set them up.
Letting outside contacts book time with you
Most Microsoft 365 business plans include Bookings, which gives you a page where customers choose a time from your real availability and get a confirmation and a Teams or phone appointment automatically. It is ideal for consultations, viewings and support calls. We can set up a Bookings page with your services, hours and buffer times.
Time zones and working hours
Set your working hours and time zone in Outlook settings, so colleagues in other places see your availability correctly and suggested times stay sensible.
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