Categories in Group Calendars

[Andy_J_R]

Hi all

We use group/team site calendars heavily within our organisation and departments. Up until recently, users have been able to tag/categorise calendar entries within group calendars that they are a member of. In addition, each calendar could have its own set of tags. I.e. "Accounts Department" calendar could have tags set for Meeting, Payment Due, Contract End etc, and "Sales Department" could have tags on their calendar for Client Call-back, Sales Visit, Training etc.

This has all been done via Outlook Online (Tags still seem to work fine from Outlook 2016 / Outlook for Mac) so I assume this is an update issue.

However, this all disappeared over the past few days. If a user now goes into and existing entry in a shared calendar, the existing tag shows but there is no options to change it or remove it. If creating a new entry, the option just isn't there at all. It is only visible on user's personal calendars!

Is anyone else experiencing this, or have any suggestions of a work around?

Many thanks!

Andy

[#2]

I can repro this, it does look like an OWA limitation/regression. @Julia Foran might be able to relay this to the correct person.

[#3]

Hi folks,

Thanks for reporting! A fix currently being reviewed by our engineering team and should roll out in the coming weeks.

[#4]

@Ethan Li  Was this ever fixed? We just started using Group Calendars embedded in Teams and the option to edit categories is grayed out (but we're still able to select the default colors). On the Outlook side, the entire Categories option is grayed out.

[#5]

I'd be interested in knowing if/when this issue is resolved, as not being able to categorise things on our shared calendar has stopped me from setting things up on it. I'm glad it's not just me being a bit slow - I thought I was missing something obvious. @Brett_Carpenter 

[#6]

Hi Ethan,
I've just looked this issue up online and found this discussion - which is really useful. Has the issue been resolved now? I'm still having the same problem - i.e. not able to add/amend categories on Group calendars.
Many thanks.
James

[#7]

Any Update on this issue?

[#8]

@Ethan Li Hi i'm just wondering if this has been sorted out as we are also trying to use this feature

[#9]

@Ethan Li How is this still an issue a year later? I have a new group I setup and we cannot use the Categories at all.

[#10]

Hi @Brett_Carpenter, can I ask how you are using Group Calendar's in Teams? Is this via a 'website' tab with a link to the group calendar? I find this a little unclear as it will display any of the other calendars each user has access to and currently turned on. This makes the view unclear and easy for uses to add content to the wrong calendar etc.

It would be very helpful to have a simple/clean view of 1 specific calendar only, which ideally could be viewed in a work-week/month view, so it displays the same information for everyone.

Note, this would be very helpful for SharePoint as well instead of the current list type views available with the 'events' or 'group calendar' web parts.

[#11]

Hi @DarylA!

I'm not sure on the specifics of how the calendar is set up. It is under a tab in Teams.

Here I have the option to turn off my calendar and only show the Marketing group calendar.

BUT I'm not able to edit (or manage) any of the categories. (clicking Manage does nothing)

Hope this helps to clarify? 

[#12]

@Brett_Carpenter  Like everyone else, I cannot manage categories in a Group Calendar in either Outlook 365 or Outlook Online. In Outlook Online, I can select default categories, e.g., Blue category. In Outlook 365, Categorize is greyed out.

This is an important feature for our Teams deployment. When will it be fixed?

[#13]

Thanks @Brett_Carpenter, that's very helpful. 

I think/guess that tab was set up as a website with a link to the group calendar. I think that setup will work as long as users are mindful of what calendars they have turned on or are using when they create a new event.

As you indicated, I do not have access to edit/create/manage the categories either and they are actually greyed out in my view. 

[#14]

Like everyone else, I find this unacceptable. I'm working to get my organization to adopt Teams - this broken feature isn't helping convince them! I don't care if I can't manage categories within Teams. I need the category names on the Team calendar to match the names on the Group Calendar. Is this really hard, Microsoft?

[#15]

@Ethan Li Can you comment on this? The lack of technical update is one thing but the lack of basic communication is unacceptable. 

[#16]

@Ethan Li  On 8/26/19, this fix was due out in the "coming weeks." It's now 1/28/21. Are these "coming weeks" coming any time soon?

Thanks.

[#17]

@lisa white 

I am working on the very same thing using O365 group calendars; and you aren't able to set the category during event creation. However, if you go into the event afterwards or right-click it; the category option is no longer greyed out and allows you to select categories and manage them for the group calendar.  I'd try looking at the events after their created and setting the category then as it's working for me now on M365 Business Standard/O365Businsess Premium Outlook client v2101.

[#18]

@distech_jk 

I am currently doing the same thing but the categories are not syncing through to the Outlook Web on teams. This makes this calendar very confusing and not useful. How hard can it be to Sync Category on a Group Calendar Microsoft?

[#19]

Hey Ethan, any luck on this one?

[#20]

@Ethan Li I am also inquiring about a solution to edit categories in a group calendar. Any updates? Thanks.