In Outlook for Windows, how do I allow other users to view my Calendar or other folders in my Exchange mailbox?

In Outlook for Windows, if you have an Exchange mailbox, you can allow other users within your Exchange organization to access folders in your Exchange mailbox, including your calendar. You can use Microsoft Outlook to share your mailbox folders and to access other users' mailbox folders that have been shared with you.

Outlook allows two types of sharing:

• Folder permissions: This type of sharing allows selected users to view the contents of a specified folder, but does not allow other users to send email on your behalf. When setting up folder permissions, you can determine exactly how much access a given user has to your folder. There are nine roles with different permissions that you can assign to users:
  
  
  • Owner: Users with this role have full rights to the mailbox, including assigning permissions; you should not assign this role to anyone.
  • Publishing Editor: Can create, read, edit, and delete all items, and create subfolders
  • Editor: Can create, read, edit, and delete all items
  • Publishing Author: Can create and read items, create subfolders, and edit and delete items they've created
  • Author: Can create and read items, and edit and delete items they've created
  • Nonediting Author: Can create and read items, and delete items they've created
  • Reviewer: Can read items
  • Contributor: Can create items
  • None: This role gives no permissions for the selected accounts on the specified folder.
  
  
• Delegates: You can also designate users as delegates. You can give delegates different permissions, but they have the additional ability to send email on your behalf. By default, a delegate has Editor permissions on the Calendar and Tasks folders. For more information on delegates, see In Outlook for Windows, how do I make other users delegates so that they can send email on my behalf?

Setting folder permissions in Outlook

First, you must give the other user access permission to both the mailbox and the specific folder in the mailbox. You must assign permissions along the entire path down to the folder you want to share. For example, if you have a subfolder in your Inbox that you want others to have access to, you have to assign permissions to the mailbox folder, the Inbox folder, and the subfolder. To set permissions on folders:

1. Open Outlook, and find the Folder List. If you don't see the Folder List, from the Go (Outlook 2003) or View (Outlook 2002 and earlier) menu, click Folder List. Then, from the Folder List, right-click (for Macintosh, Ctrl-click) the folder you wish to share (this could be your mailbox, Inbox, or calendar, or a subfolder).
   
   
2. From the menu that appears, select Properties, then click the Permissions tab (for Macintosh, the Permissions... tab).
   
   Note: If you do not see the Permissions tab, you probably have Personal Folders set as your default delivery location. In order to grant permissions, you must set the default delivery location to your Microsoft Exchange mailbox. To change this setting, see In Microsoft Outlook, why is my Exchange email disappearing from my Inbox at work after I read it at home?
   
   
3. Click Add... , and select the users to whom you wish to grant permissions from the resulting dialog box. After each selection, click Add-> . When you have added all the users, click OK.
   
   
4. You can now select what permissions to grant to these users. If you want to grant users only the ability to view items in this folder, you should assign the role of Reviewer. For more information on the specific permissions you can grant, see the list above.
   
   To grant permissions, select a name from the box beneath "Name:" and "Permissions:", then from the drop-down menu beside "Permission Level:" or "Role:", make your selection. You can also create custom permissions by making selections from the checkboxes and radio buttons within the "Permissions" area. Once you've finished making your selections, click Apply, then OK.
   
   Note: In the list under "Name:", there is a group called "Default", which includes everyone at Indiana University who has an Exchange account. Under normal circumstances, you should not assign permissions to it; you should leave it set to None. If you grant any permissions or assign a role to it, you are granting those permissions to everyone with an IU Exchange account.
   
   
5. The users to whom you have granted permissions must now set up Outlook to view your folders. For information on how to view another user's folders, see In Microsoft Outlook, how do I view other users' calendars, or other folders to which I have access?

Also see:

• In Microsoft Outlook, how do I view other users' calendars, or other folders to which I have access?
• In Outlook for Windows, how do I make other users delegates so that they can send email on my behalf?
• In Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002 or 2000, why is the Permissions... button unavailable in the delegates window?