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It's easy to remember your own vacation, but what about upcoming vacations for your coworkers and other people in your organization? Planning ahead is easier if you can see other people's time off right in your Outlook Calendar. Here's a way to see other people's vacation time — without taking up valuable blocks of time in your calendar.

Pass this calendar tip to other people in your company. Who knows? You could be responsible for setting a new, convenient, and courteous company policy! Have everyone post their upcoming time off. Then setting up meetings and other important gatherings in Outlook is even easier when you can see, right there as you look at a date, who's available to attend.

Add vacation time to other people's calendars

You can use a meeting request to add your vacation to other people's Outlook Calendars. By setting your time to Free, you won't block out work time in your coworkers' calendars.

Create and send your vacation meeting request to other people

1. In Calendar, on the File menu, point to New, and then click Meeting Request.
2. In the To field, choose or type the names of the people you want to be aware of your vacation time.

   Note  If you don't choose the names from the Select Attendees and Resources box, you must type their full e-mail address, such as someone@example.com.

3. In the Subject box, type your name and then type vacation. You can also use the Subject box to specify any other type of time off.

   Tip  You can add other text to the Subject box, such as the range of dates when you will be off. This information appears in other people's calendars without requiring them to open the meeting request.

4. In Start time, click the date when your vacation (or other time off) starts.
5. In End time, click the date when your vacation (or other time off) ends.
6. Click All day event.
7. In Show time as, click Free.
8. Click Send.

When you send this meeting request with Show time as set to Free, the request appears in your coworkers' Outlook Calendars at the top of each date — acting as a visual reminder but not blocking out any work time. The following examples show how the meeting requests might appear in your calendar.

You are not quite finished though, because most likely you want this time to show up as Out of Office in your own calendar. The information is in the Create a vacation appointment for your calendar section.

Day view in Outlook Calendar

Seven-day week view in Outlook Calendar

Create a vacation appointment for your calendar

When people use the Outlook Calendar to schedule meetings and other events, they can see your availability on the Schedule tab (unless your Calendar is set as Private). Because the meeting request you just sent out to everyone indicated the time as Free (so that it wouldn't block out other people's time), you now need to set an appointment for yourself showing that you are not available on those dates and times.

1. In Calendar, on the File menu, point to New, and then then click Appointment.
2. In the Subject box, type your name, and then type vacation. You can also use the Subject box to specify any other type of time off.
3. In Start time, click the date when your vacation (or other time off) starts.
4. In End time, click the date when your vacation (or other time off) ends.
5. Click All day event.
6. In Show time as, click Out of Office.
7. Click Save and Close.

Note  You might consider deleting the initial meeting request that you sent to other people; however, it can be a good idea to leave it in your calendar. If you keep the request, you can easily send an update or a cancellation if your plans change.

Now the only thing left is to enjoy that vacation!

To customize your future meeting requests, appointments, and calendar views, see more information on Calendar and scheduling.