Understanding Outlook Calendars: Shared vs. Group Calendars

When managing calendars in Outlook, it’s essential to understand the differences between Group Calendars and Shared Calendars. Each serves distinct purposes and is suited for different collaboration needs. Here's a breakdown:

What is a Group Calendar?

A Group Calendar is part of a Microsoft 365 (M365) Group such as CEP-Laval and is designed for collaborative scheduling. It integrates seamlessly with other M365 tools like Teams and Planner, making it ideal for team-specific tasks.

To recognize a group, here's a quick tip: type it into an email. If you see the + sign show up and the number of recipients being greater than one, then that's a group.

Furthermore, groups have their own space in Teams:

Key Features:

Accessibility: Restricted to members of the M365 Group.
Collaboration: High; all group members can view, edit, and manage events.
Integration: Fully integrates with M365 tools, enhancing team workflows.
Use Case: Best for teams that require synchronized schedules and collaborative event management.

What is a Shared Calendar?

A Shared Calendar is associated with a shared email account, such as payables@cep-experts.ca. Permissions are granted to specific users within the organization, allowing them to view or edit the calendar.

Key Features:

Accessibility: Available to anyone with permissions.
Collaboration: Users can view and edit events but lack integrated collaboration tools.
Integration: Works primarily with Outlook.
Use Case: Ideal for broad scheduling where multiple users coordinate or view events without needing advanced collaborative features.

Group Assignments for Scheduling

To help facilitate scheduling and vacation tracking, all employees have been automatically assigned to different M365 Groups according to their home office and practice.

These groups have many uses, one of which is a calendar that everyone within that group has access to. This common calendar allows all team members to easily see events such as vacation entries or site visits, allowing everyone to be aware of each other's availability, reducing the chances of miscommunication and scheduling conflicts.

Key Differences at a Glance

Feature M365 Group Calendar M365 Shared Calendar Accessibility Group-specific Organization-wide with permissions Collaboration High Moderate Integration Outlook, Teams, Planner Outlook Visibility Events for the entire group Events for all users with permissions Privacy Controlled by group admin Controlled by calendar owner

There's another knowledge article on how to use Group Calendars.