Encryption and privacy aren't just buzzwords in today's digital workplace.

If you're using Microsoft Outlook to manage your calendar and meetings, you need to think critically about who can see what and how exposed your sensitive data might be to prying eyes.

I've seen way too many professionals leave their calendar wide open. Not just to colleagues within the office, but also to external contacts, vendors, and, in worst-case scenarios, competitors. Exposing calendar settings, meetings, or appointments, and crucial information.

Let's fix that once and for all. Follow the steps below to ensure your sharing settings are right for you.

Protecting that calendar data matters more than you might realise, whether you're managing sensitive internal meetings, confidential client appointments, personal time blocks, or project check-ins with proprietary information.

Why Should You Care About Outlook Calendar Sharing Permissions?

Simple.

If your calendar's not private, you're basically broadcasting your entire professional (and sometimes personal) schedule to anyone in your organisation and maybe beyond it too.

Not every meeting needs to be public. In fact, many shouldn't be.

Some might contain:

• Private notes about sensitive HR matters
• Confidential client data and folders for meeting preparations
• Links to sensitive documents and project plans before the publish date
• Strategic business discussions that should remain internal
• Personal appointments you'd rather keep private from colleagues
• Competitive intelligence that could be harmful if leaked
• Details from others that are not yours to share

Let's not leave all that valuable information up for grabs. The consequences of calendar oversharing can range from minor embarrassment to major data breaches and competitive disadvantages.

According to recent cybersecurity reports, calendar data is increasingly becoming a target for social engineering attacks. Hackers can use your meeting patterns to determine when you're busy, who you meet with regularly, and even decipher organisational hierarchies—all valuable intelligence for crafting convincing phishing attempts.

Making Outlook Appointments or Meetings Private By Default

For Outlook Desktop App:

If you're using Outlook desktop and want to lock things down, here's the comprehensive approach:

For New Appointments/Meetings:

1. Create a new appointment or meeting as usual
2. Before saving, locate the "Private" padlock icon in the Tags section of the ribbon
3. Click on the padlock icon to enable private mode (it should appear highlighted or toggled on)
4. Complete all other meeting details as normal
5. Save and close

For Existing Calendar Items:

1. Open the existing appointment or meeting in your calendar
2. Look for the "Private" padlock icon in the Tags section of the ribbon
3. Click to enable the private setting
4. Save your changes
5. The item will now show as private to others

For Multiple Items at Once:

1. In Calendar view, hold down Ctrl and click multiple appointments you want to make private
2. Right-click and look for "Private" in the context menu
3. Toggle the button on for all selected items at once

That's it. No drama, and much better privacy with just a few clicks.

This Microsoft support guide walks you through step by step, see the details: Make an appointment or meeting private

What others will see: When you assign an item as private, other people with access to your calendar will only see that time as "Busy" without any details about the appointment title, location, or other information you've included.

For Outlook on the Web:

The web version of Outlook (sometimes called OWA - Outlook Web App) has a slightly different interface but offers the same privacy capabilities. Follow these steps:

Creating New Private Events:

1. Open Outlook on the web: Navigate to Outlook on the web (outlook.office.com or your organisation's custom URL) and log in to your account.
2. Access your calendar: Click on the calendar icon in the navigation pane to view your calendar.
3. Create a new event: Click "New Event" button (or the "+" icon in some versions) to open the event creation window.
4. Set the event as private: In the event window, look for the "Private" toggle or padlock icon near the top of the form. Click the "Private" toggle to enable it. Alternatively, you can click on the "Show as: Busy" dropdown and select "Private" if that option is available in your version.
5. Complete event details: Fill in all the necessary information for your event, including title, location, time, and any notes or attachments.
6. Save the event: Click "Save" to finalise your changes. This ensures that others with access to your calendar can see that you are busy during this time slot but cannot view any of the specific details of the event.

Making Existing Events Private:

1. Open your calendar in Outlook on the web
2. Find and click on the existing event you want to make private
3. In the event details pane or popup, look for the "Private" option or padlock icon
4. Toggle it on to make the event private
5. Click "Save" to apply the changes

Checking Privacy Status: To verify which of your events are currently set as private in the web version:

1. Look for events with a small padlock icon next to them in your calendar view
2. These events are already set to private
3. Events without the padlock are visible to anyone with access to your calendar

Bulk Privacy Changes (Pro Tip): The web version doesn't have as robust bulk editing as the desktop app, but you can:

1. Use the "Week" or "Work Week" view to see multiple events at once
2. Click on each event you want to change
3. Make privacy changes and save each one

This web-based approach ensures your meeting details remain confidential across devices, even when you're not at your primary computer. The privacy settings sync across all versions of Outlook you use with the same account.