Can my delegate see my private appointments?

New Outlook and Outlook on the web document a Let delegate view private events option for this calendar-sharing flow. Classic folder permissions have different scope, and Microsoft warns not to rely on Private alone to prevent access where folder-read permissions exist. Check the actual client, grant and checkbox rather than treating an unticked box as a universal confidentiality guarantee.

Can I make an external virtual assistant my delegate?

For the Microsoft 365/Exchange work-or-school flow covered here, Microsoft limits editor and delegate grants to people in the organisation. Personal Outlook.com has a different view/edit sharing model; do not apply this work-account rule universally.

How many delegates should I have?

Microsoft recommends only one delegate with Editor permissions and avoiding large numbers of delegates; its testing used up to four.

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Microsoft 365 calendar: give an assistant Can edit or Delegate access?

This guide concerns Microsoft 365 or Exchange work-or-school calendars, mainly in new Outlook and Outlook on the web. Can edit and Delegate do different jobs, and invitation routing has separate consequences. Personal Outlook.com sharing and classic folder permissions are distinct cases. Arte Soft develops Cloud Calendars.

Which access fits the job

Job	Grant	Private items	Receives your meeting requests
Reads your schedule to plan around you	Can view all details (or less)	Time only	No
Maintains entries on your calendar	Can edit	Time only	No
Accepts, declines and sends meetings for you	Delegate	New Outlook/web: check Let delegate view private events; classic folder permissions need separate review	Yes, per the routing option you choose
Person outside the work/school organisation	Neither Can edit nor Delegate is available	—	—
A whole team via a security group	Not supported as a delegate	—	Add individuals instead

What most people assume

Edit access and delegate access are the same thing with different names.

The difference in one sentence each

Microsoft says Can edit lets the person view and make changes to your calendar. Delegate lets them edit your calendar items and, in addition, schedule and respond to meetings on your behalf.

So the question is not how much you trust the person but which job they do. A colleague maintaining a team rota needs Can edit. An assistant who accepts, declines and sends invitations for you needs Delegate. Microsoft states that you cannot give editor or delegate access to people outside your organisation, and that delegate access requires a work or school account in Microsoft 365 or Exchange Online.

Delegate options that change your inbox

Under Send invitations and responses to, Microsoft lists three choices. Delegate only sends requests and responses to delegates. Delegate and send me a copy sends both a copy, but the owner’s copy is a normal email without Accept/Decline controls there; the owner can still respond by opening the calendar item. Both my delegate and me gives both people actionable invitations. Agree who processes each request to avoid conflicting actions.

Microsoft also offers “Let delegate view private events”. Without it, most people you share with see only the time of items marked Private, not the subject, location or other details. A separate option lets a delegate manage categories, so colour-coding is not automatically part of delegate access.

Classic delegate levels in Exchange

Microsoft’s delegate overview describes three per-folder levels. Reviewer can read items. Author can read and create items and change or delete items they created. Editor can do everything an Author can and also change and delete items you created.

Author is a sensible middle ground for someone who adds holds to your calendar but should not touch meetings you set up. Editor is needed when they must rework your existing entries.

Do not treat the classic Private flag as a universal security boundary. Microsoft’s classic Outlook instructions explicitly warn against relying on it to prevent access when folder-read permissions such as Reviewer are granted. The classic checkbox is called Delegate can see my private items and can affect several Exchange folders; that is not the same scope as the new Outlook/web calendar checkbox.

Setups Microsoft advises against

Microsoft’s organisational best practice recommends granting Editor to only one delegate and avoiding many delegates with Reviewer or Contributor permissions; it says its testing used a maximum of four delegates. It also states that setting a security group as a delegate is not supported — add individual people instead.

Two editing delegates processing the same requests can leave meetings in conflicting states. If you need cover during absences, name one primary delegate and agree when the backup acts.

Worked example: a director and two helpers

A fictional director has an executive assistant who runs their diary and a project coordinator who adds review sessions. The assistant gets Delegate, with requests sent to the delegate with a copy to the director, and “Let delegate view private events” ticked because they need to work around private appointments. The coordinator gets Can edit only.

The director keeps a few entries Private. The coordinator sees those as time only; the assistant sees their details. Nobody else is a delegate, and the director does not add the whole admin team as a security-group delegate.

For a harmless test, ask a consenting colleague to send an invitation to the director. The assistant first accepts the calendar-sharing invitation. Then check the director’s normal-email copy and the assistant’s actionable request according to the selected routing option, rather than expecting identical buttons in both inboxes.

Cloud Calendars and delegated calendars

Cloud Calendars’ Microsoft connection is part of its Premium plan, but general Microsoft capabilities do not guarantee that every delegated or shared-mailbox calendar appears in a third-party app. Grant and test delegation in Outlook itself.

What it looks like

Cloud Calendars overview, using our product images. Provider settings and protocol examples described in this guide are separate from the screens shown here.

What to do

Decide whether the helper edits your calendar or also handles your meetings.
Grant Can edit for maintenance; grant Delegate only for meeting handling.
Choose meeting-request routing on purpose, keeping a copy for yourself if you still want to see invitations.
Tick “Let delegate view private events” only if they need private details.
Keep to one Editor delegate; never use a security group as a delegate.
Test with a harmless invitation and confirm where it arrives.

Questions

Can my delegate see my private appointments?: New Outlook and Outlook on the web document a Let delegate view private events option for this calendar-sharing flow. Classic folder permissions have different scope, and Microsoft warns not to rely on Private alone to prevent access where folder-read permissions exist. Check the actual client, grant and checkbox rather than treating an unticked box as a universal confidentiality guarantee.
Can I make an external virtual assistant my delegate?: For the Microsoft 365/Exchange work-or-school flow covered here, Microsoft limits editor and delegate grants to people in the organisation. Personal Outlook.com has a different view/edit sharing model; do not apply this work-account rule universally.
How many delegates should I have?: Microsoft recommends only one delegate with Editor permissions and avoiding large numbers of delegates; its testing used up to four.