Flights and hotels added to Outlook from email: control what appears
Outlook can extract supported bookings from email and add them to the calendar. Display choices are available by event type; the private-event checkbox is a separate setting. Arte Soft, the developer of Cloud Calendars, explains the account limits and what to check before sharing.
Per-type choices
| Choice | In email | On calendar |
|---|---|---|
| Don’t show event summaries in email or on my calendar | No | No |
| Only show event summaries in email | Yes | No |
| Show event summaries in email and on my calendar | Yes | Yes (private by default) |
What most people assume
Every booking email becomes a calendar event.
What gets added
Microsoft lists flight, hotel and rental car reservations and package deliveries from supported senders. The same page says bills, dining, event and service reservations stopped being supported from mid-August 2020, even though some older instructions lower on the page still mention them. Do not promise those discontinued types. Past events and unsupported providers are not added.
Which accounts
Microsoft’s page applies to Outlook 2024, Outlook 2021 and Outlook.com and refers to Microsoft accounts (Outlook.com or Microsoft 365). It says the feature isn’t available for Office 365 operated by 21Vianet, Office 365 Germany or government plans, and lists the regions where it is available.
Change it per type
In Outlook on the web or Outlook.com, open Settings > Calendar > Events from email. For each supported type choose Don’t show event summaries in email or on my calendar, Only show event summaries in email, or Show event summaries in email and on my calendar. Separately, the Mark events as private so only I can see them checkbox controls whether these created events are marked private; it is checked by default.
Microsoft says these settings are changed through Outlook on the web or Outlook.com, not Outlook for Windows. If the feature was turned off, turning it back on does not create events or summaries for past messages. Its classic-web notes also say package-delivery information is not added automatically for Microsoft 365 business or other commercial accounts.
Worked example: shared calendar, private trips
A fictional traveller shares their calendar with a partner and wants flights visible but hotel bookings out of the calendar. In Outlook.com they open Events from email, keep flights on Show event summaries in email and on my calendar, set hotels to Only show event summaries in email, and leave flight entries private.
Microsoft’s sharing guidance says most people you share with see the time of a private item but not its details. It also describes an exception for a delegate granted access to private events. The traveller checks the actual audience and sharing permissions with the partner rather than assuming private is an absolute secrecy guarantee.
Check: after the next booking email, confirm what the partner can see before relying on it.
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
- Open Calendar settings → Events from email in Outlook.com or Outlook on the web.
- Choose a display option for each reservation type.
- Keep entries private unless others need details.
- Confirm what calendar viewers see with a real booking.
Questions
- Why doesn’t my restaurant booking appear?
- Microsoft says dining reservations were discontinued in mid-August 2020.
- Can my shared-calendar viewers see flight details?
- These events are private by default. Microsoft says most shared viewers see only their times, but delegates granted access to private events are an exception. Check your actual sharing permissions before relying on this.