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Outlook Calendar Groups Malfunctioning

Brass Contributor

Hello!

 

I’ve been having an issue with Outlook’s calendar groups since November 5th of this year. I believe the issue started almost immediately after Outlook went through a larger update (the one that took away the refresh button in the top left corner of Outlook).

 

I’ve looked up the issue several times but haven’t found anyone with the same issue. Maybe I’m not using the right keywords. Here’s the issue (it’s a hard one to pin down/demonstrate and to explain, so bear with me :smiling_face_with_smiling_eyes:).

 

I’ve used custom Outlook calendar groups for over a year and have had no issues at all modifying them and using them. In early November I opened Outlook to find my calendar groups had completely changed. Some calendars had duplicated, some had disappeared, some had moved to different groups, and some were still there. When I tried to rearrange them back to what they used to be, some calendars were able to be moved back to where they were supposed to be, some that had disappeared refused to be added at all (no error message, I’d just add them and nothing would happen), and some would only be added duplicated. It’s very, very odd.

 

Sometimes I can get it all back to normal, but then the next day or the next-next day, I’ll open Outlook to find it’s completely messed up again and can’t be fixed. Calendars disappear, refuse to be added to certain groups, move themselves to different groups, and duplicate themselves all the time now. It is literally impossible to put them back the way I used to have them.

 

Sometimes when they duplicate, I can't delete one duplicate without the copy disappearing as well and then the calendar won’t add back at all. Other times, I can delete the duplicate and the copy will stay behind. It’s so random.

 

I tried signing out and back in, deleting the ost and nst files, and of course rebooting. Nothing works. 

22 Replies
You are certainly not the only person with this issue. Multiple people in my organization have this same issue and have since the same time last year. Moreover, we had this issue previously with another Outlook update. That time, the situation eventually resolved itself. Unfortunately, this issue does not seem to be resolving but actually worsening with additional calendars missing .
I have the same experience, but it has been going on for a lot longer! Thankfully I don't have to make changes to my groups often, but each time I do, it messes it all up!

@AlyssaL036 Any updates on this? We have some users having the same issue and it´s really annoying..

@Henric Appelgren Actually yes, I repaired my installation of Outlook and it fixed the issue! It looks like Microsoft made an update that was confusing me as well - it makes it so that you can't add the same calendar to two different calendar groups, which is a bummer. But the reparation of the Outlook installation did the trick!

I did the repair and that did not fix it for me. Anyone else still having issues?
Same here, repair and new profile but we still have issues
Yes, the usage of calendar groups is messed up. We had a button in the ribbon "Calendar Groups" and this is removed (by updates?) When creating a group, the added calendar switches to another group and does not allow to be added again.

@AlyssaL036 

I've been experiencing this as well for the last few weeks.

I'm wondering when #Microsoft will figure it out and provide a fix; never happened before and now it is.  It's their issue.

We've encountered this issue, too. Attempting to upgrade Office 2019 to M365 Apps. Calendar groups for some of our admin assistants are fine in Outlook 2019 but duplicate and get all messed up as you're describing once upgraded to the M365 Outlook App. For these users, it persists across computers, too. Meaning that if I upgrade to M365 Apps on a computer never used by either of these individuals and they login to the PC and then launch the M365 Outlook App, the calendar groups are still messed up. One user also reported wonky behavior with calendars in the Outlook app on her iPhone.

I'm happy to have discovered others with the same issue. I was just hoping for a resolution to the issue.

@d_kennedy We found a solution after a while.. Under account settings (same place you add shared mailboxes) there is a checkbox for Microsoft 365 functions, we use Swedish display language so I`m not sure what the correct translation is but something like "Activate improvment for shared calendar"? When we untick that feature our calendars was working as usuall..

Thanks, @Henric Appelgren, for that suggestion. It's worth knowing about but doesn't seem to resolve our issue. Thanks, too, to everyone who posted here because it gave me some ideas that helped me better understand the issue. Our issue seems to stem from the inability to add one individual's calendar to more than one calendar group. It is still possible to do so in Outlook 2019. I've had mixed results in the Outlook 365 App (I was able to do it once and haven't been able to since). In OWA, it's impossible to add from directory an individual's calendar if it already exists. The following appears at the bottom of the screen. 
Trying to add individual's calendar to second calendar group.Trying to add individual's calendar to second calendar group.

I'm going to guess that our admin assistants who schedule groups of individuals might need to use some other sort of group calendar. Organizationally, we've never worked that way and getting folks to rethink work and adopt collaboration tools like Teams is next to impossible.

@AlyssaL036 I'm having a similar issue after receiving enterprise Outlook updates. I'm wondering if the calendar groups that were malfunctioning for you were (1) shared calendars (e.g., you are or have a delegate, or you utilize a shared mailbox); (2) calendars that are tied to a M365 group; or (3) were groups you made in your personal calendar and added individuals' names to (i.e., NOT tied to an M365 group)? Thanks so much!

Just to confirm, we are seeing the same issues - also started late 2021.
In Outlook Desktop some Calendar groups appear empty while others have missing calendars.
In Outlook Online all Calendar groups are populated.
We have tried all tricks and settings without luck - but issues persist even if affected users log on to new computers.

The only "solution" is running "Outlook.exe /ResetSharedFolders" - But this of course means cleaning up all calendar groups and starting over.

We have an open Microsoft ticket, and they are currently investigating log outputs from Fiddler, SaRa, Calcheck and Outlook ETL logs.

Best regards
Martin

@AlyssaL036 

Try the below out, it worked for me.

File>Account Settings>Account Settings>Email>double click your email>More Settings>Advanced> Uncheck the "Turn on shared calendar improvements" under Microsoft 365 features.

 

Best wishes

KC

 

 

 

Hi KC,
I think Alyssa already solved her problem by reinstalling Office.
For us, unfortunately, neither reinstalling or disabling "Calendar Improvements" worked.

Best regards
Martin

Our experience is the same as @MartinHolstDk. Uninstalling/reinstalling Office/Microsoft 365 doesn't resolve the issue. Enabling/disabling shared calendar improvements also offers no resolution.

@MartinHolstDk, thanks for sharing the Outlook.exe/ResetSharedFolders "solution." Until Microsoft changes the functionality in OWA to allow an individual calendar to be added to multiple calendar groups, I suspect I'm going to have to document a work around solution for our admin assistants that will still require cleaning up calendar groups. If you get a resolution from Microsoft, please let us know. Thanks!

best response confirmed by AlyssaL036 (Brass Contributor)
Solution

I'll save anyone reading this thread some time - these are the two solutions that have worked for people:

For me, it worked to repair my Outlook installation:

It seems people have misunderstood my original solution. I did not "re-install" Outlook, I "repaired my installation" of Outlook. Those are two different things. I haven't had the issue since then. See this link to learn how to repair the installation: How to Repair Your Office or Outlook Installation (slipstick.com)

For others, it worked to uncheck "Turn on shared calendar improvements".

  1. File
  2. Account Settings
  3. Account Settings (Again)
  4. Email Tab
  5. Double Click Your Email In The List
  6. More Settings
  7. Advanced
  8. Uncheck "Turn on shared calendar improvements" Under "Microsoft 365 Features"
  9. Click Apply
  10. Click OK
  11. Exit Outlook Entirely
  12. Restart Outlook

If it doesn't work after these steps, restart your computer and then check again before assuming this step hasn't worked. If another solution is found, I will edit this comment with that solution.

Ureka. This setting solved the issue. Unchecked these improvements and the calendar groups can be used again with multiple calendars in different calendar groups! Thank you @KunpengCaiKC!

I revisited this issue this week and have some experience updates.

Using OWA, I still cannot add an individual's calendar to more than one calendar group. Microsoft really needs to address this. The options for doing so have changed since I last tried in Oct/Nov 2022 and hopefully give you the impression that this can be done, only to fail at the end of the process.

What has also changed (and I can't tell you why) is that UNCHECKING the Turn on shared calendar improvements box has improved the functionality of calendar groups in the Outlook 365 app, confirming one of @AlyssaL036's suggested resolutions. Previously, if an individual's calendar appeared in multiple calendar groups, the O365 app user would see that individual's calendar duplicated numerous times in those calendar groups. Yesterday I unchecked the turn on shared calendar improvements box, exited and restarted Outlook and saw the calendar group listings shuffle into the correct order. This resolved the issue for me and one other person. I'm testing further next week with another individual.

Using the calendar group feature shouldn't have to be this hard and unpredictable.

1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by AlyssaL036 (Brass Contributor)
Solution

I'll save anyone reading this thread some time - these are the two solutions that have worked for people:

For me, it worked to repair my Outlook installation:

It seems people have misunderstood my original solution. I did not "re-install" Outlook, I "repaired my installation" of Outlook. Those are two different things. I haven't had the issue since then. See this link to learn how to repair the installation: How to Repair Your Office or Outlook Installation (slipstick.com)

For others, it worked to uncheck "Turn on shared calendar improvements".

  1. File
  2. Account Settings
  3. Account Settings (Again)
  4. Email Tab
  5. Double Click Your Email In The List
  6. More Settings
  7. Advanced
  8. Uncheck "Turn on shared calendar improvements" Under "Microsoft 365 Features"
  9. Click Apply
  10. Click OK
  11. Exit Outlook Entirely
  12. Restart Outlook

If it doesn't work after these steps, restart your computer and then check again before assuming this step hasn't worked. If another solution is found, I will edit this comment with that solution.

View solution in original post