The four you will actually use
| Permission | What they can do | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Can view when I’m busy | See free and busy blocks only | The default for everyone in the business |
| Can view titles and locations | See subjects and locations, not details | Colleagues who need to know where you are |
| Can view all details (Reviewer) | Read everything except private items; change nothing | Close colleagues, a team leader |
| Can edit (Editor) | Create, change and delete items | A colleague who books meetings for you |
| Delegate | Everything Editor can, plus receive and respond to meeting requests for you | A PA or assistant |
The first column shows the names used in Outlook on the web and the new Outlook; classic Outlook also shows the older names — Reviewer, Editor and so on — in its Permissions tab.
Editor or Delegate?
This is the choice people most often get wrong. An Editor can manage your calendar but does not see your meeting invitations. A Delegate receives copies of meeting requests and can accept, decline and propose new times on your behalf — which is what a PA needs. If someone is managing your diary day to day, make them a delegate.
Delegates do not see items you mark as private, unless you specifically allow it.
The older permission levels
Classic Outlook lists more levels. For completeness:
- Owner — full control, including changing permissions.
- Publishing Editor / Publishing Author — Editor or Author, plus creating subfolders.
- Author — create items and edit or delete only their own.
- Nonediting Author — create items, delete only their own, edit nothing.
- Contributor — create items but not see the calendar.
- Free/Busy time, subject, location — the older name for viewing titles and locations.
How to share your calendar
- Classic Outlook: in the calendar, right-click your calendar, choose Sharing Permissions, add the person and pick a level. For a delegate, use File → Account Settings → Delegate Access.
- Outlook on the web and the new Outlook: right-click the calendar, choose Sharing and permissions, add the person and choose a level, including Delegate.
Sharing with people outside your organisation depends on your organisation’s sharing settings and on their email system.
Rooms, vans and equipment
Do not share a person’s calendar to manage a meeting room or a pool car. Create a resource mailbox instead: it has its own calendar, people book it by inviting it to a meeting, and it can decline double-bookings automatically. On Microsoft 365 resource mailboxes do not need a licence; on our hosted Exchange they are free and do not count towards your mailbox total, and you can create them in the SolidCP control panel.