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View Shared Calendar Category Colors

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› Exchange Server › View Shared Calendar Category Colors

Last reviewed on June 19, 2018     No Comments

Applies to: Office 365 Exchange

January 29, 2018 by Diane Poremsky Leave a Comment

An administrator had a question from users:

The users assign categories to appointments and share their calendars with other users, but many of the other users can’t see the category colors, only the category name, not the color the calendar owner set. How do we fix this?

This is a permissions issue. If the other users have the correct permissions on the calendar, they will be able to see the category colors. If they have the same category name in their category list, the appointments should use the color from their category list.

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Why? Only category names are visible on items when you share folders on Exchange server; category colors are set per user. Other users will see the categories in a white color (unless it's already in their color category list). When looking at the Category master list while the event is selected, the category will be list as 'Not in master list'.

Users who have Reviewer level or better permissions on the calendar will see the calendar owner’s category colors. To check the permissions, right click on the calendar (in the Owner’s mailbox) and choose Properties, then Permissions.
with the correct permissions, people the calendar is shared with can see the category colors

With the correct permissions, the person you shared your calendar with can see the category colors you assigned to appointments:
Category colors on a shared calendar

If you are setting the permissions in Outlook on the web, choose 'Can view all details' or 'Can edit'.
share using outlook on the web

To set or check the permissions using Powershell, use the Set-MailboxFolderPermission cmdlet.

Set-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity mailboxowner\folder -User alias -AccessRights Reviewer

Permission Level Permissions assigned
Owner CreateItems, CreateSubfolders, DeleteAllItems, DeleteOwnedItems, EditAllItems, EditOwnedItems, FolderContact, FolderOwner, FolderVisible, ReadItems
PublishingEditor CreateItems, CreateSubfolders, DeleteAllItems, DeleteOwnedItems, EditAllItems, EditOwnedItems, FolderVisible, ReadItems
Editor CreateItems, DeleteAllItems, DeleteOwnedItems, EditAllItems, EditOwnedItems, FolderVisible, ReadItems
PublishingAuthor CreateItems, CreateSubfolders, DeleteAllItems, DeleteOwnedItems, EditAllItems, EditOwnedItems, FolderVisible, ReadItems
Author CreateItems, DeleteOwnedItems, EditOwnedItems, FolderVisible, ReadItems
NonEditingAuthor CreateItems, FolderVisible, ReadItems
Reviewer FolderVisible, ReadItems
Contributor CreateItems, FolderVisible
None FolderVisible

If the user opening a calendar shared with them doesn't have the correct permissions, they can add the Category name to their own Category list to display it with a color.

To add a category that is not in your master list, to your master list:

  1. Select it (so it's highlighted)
    add categories to the master list
  2. Click the New button.
  3. Outlook will assign the next unused color; change the color and set a shortcut key, if desired, then click Save.

More Information

Outlook Categories and Color Categories: Categories in Shared Folders

View Shared Calendar Category Colors was last modified: June 19th, 2018 by Diane Poremsky

Related Posts:

  • Use Upgrade to Color Categories to add Categories to the Master List
  • Creating New Color Categories
  • Understanding Outlook's Calendar patchwork colors
  • Category Colors Don't Display in Inbox

About Diane Poremsky

A Microsoft Outlook Most Valuable Professional (MVP) since 1999, Diane is the author of several books, including Outlook 2013 Absolute Beginners Book. She also created video training CDs and online training classes for Microsoft Outlook. You can find her helping people online in Outlook Forums as well as in the Microsoft Answers and TechNet forums.

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