Outlook Show As: free, tentative, busy, working elsewhere or out of office
Every Outlook appointment carries a status that colleagues see when they try to book you. Accepting a meeting or adding an item usually marks the time Busy, which is not always what you mean. Arte Soft, the developer of Cloud Calendars, explains how to choose each status and when automatic replies should do the work instead.
Pick the status
| Situation | Status or setting | Effect for schedulers |
|---|---|---|
| Committed meeting or focused work | Busy | Shown as busy |
| Unconfirmed or optional | Tentative | Shown as tentative; the pattern and colour depend on the client and selected calendar colour |
| Personal reminder that should not block | Free | Time shows as available |
| Working, but away from your usual office | Working elsewhere | Not out, but not in the usual location |
| Away from work | Out of office | Unavailable |
| Several days away with declines | Automatic replies with calendar options | Blocks time and can decline new invitations |
What most people assume
Out of office and Working elsewhere both just mean “not at my desk”.
The five statuses
Microsoft says appointments can be marked free, busy, tentative, out of the office or working elsewhere. Its developer reference defines them plainly: Free means available; Tentative means a tentative appointment is scheduled; Busy means busy; Out of office means out of the office; Working elsewhere means working in a location away from the office.
Microsoft states this choice affects the free/busy time others see when they try to schedule a meeting with you. It also says that, by default, when you add an item or accept an invitation in classic Outlook, the item is marked Busy.
Change the status of one item
In classic Outlook or new Outlook for Windows, right-click the item on your calendar, choose Show As, then the status. Do this for entries that should not block bookings, such as a reminder to submit expenses, which would otherwise default to Busy.
Read the status name and pattern in your actual client rather than relying on a universal colour. Microsoft’s Scheduling Assistant guidance illustrates busy and tentative with blue patterns, while its new Outlook availability page says Busy, Tentative and Working elsewhere colours adjust to the chosen calendar colour. A different palette is not itself evidence of a different availability state.
In new Outlook, changing an item’s availability after the initial invitation changes your calendar only. Microsoft says the organiser cannot rewrite every participant’s availability after that first invitation; attendees can customise their own. Verify the owner’s actual free/busy result rather than expecting your Show As edit to change everyone.
For whole periods away: automatic replies
For Outlook.com and Outlook on the web, Microsoft’s automatic replies settings include three calendar options alongside the reply message: “Block my calendar for this period”, “Automatically decline new invitations for events that occur during this period”, and “Decline and cancel my meetings during this period”. You can limit replies to a time period, and choose whether replies go outside your organisation.
The third option affects other people’s calendars, not just yours. Read the confirmation and consider telling attendees of meetings you organise before using it.
Worked example: one illustrative week
A fictional consultant marks Monday’s client workshop Busy. Tuesday they add a Working elsewhere label for a day at a partner’s site. That communicates a location category; it does not enforce room-booking rules or establish whether another booking system treats it as unavailable. Wednesday’s optional vendor demo is Tentative. A Thursday lunchtime personal reminder is Free because it should not protect a meeting slot.
For leave from the start of Friday through the end of the following Monday, including the weekend, the consultant chooses an explicit automatic-reply time interval. They select Block my calendar for this period and Automatically decline new invitations. They leave Decline and cancel my meetings unticked because a recurring team meeting they organise should continue without them.
Check the saved status names and patterns in the actual Outlook client and compare the intended calendar’s availability using an agreed test. Do not require a particular blue colour or infer room restrictions from Working elsewhere.
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
- Review items that defaulted to Busy and change reminders to Free.
- Use Working elsewhere to communicate working away; check actual room and booking arrangements separately.
- Use Tentative for meetings you may attend.
- For leave, use automatic replies with “Block my calendar” and “Automatically decline new invitations”.
- Only use “Decline and cancel my meetings” after considering the attendees of meetings you organise.
- Check the status and free/busy result in the actual client, remembering that your later Show As change does not rewrite every attendee’s calendar.
Questions
- Why does everything I accept show as Busy?
- Microsoft says that, by default in classic Outlook, items you add or invitations you accept are marked Busy. Change individual items with Show As.
- What is the difference between Working elsewhere and Out of office?
- Microsoft defines Working elsewhere as working away from the office and Out of office as out of the office. Use the first when you are still working.
- Will automatic replies cancel my meetings?
- Only if you choose “Decline and cancel my meetings during this period”. Blocking your calendar and declining new invitations are separate options.