Outlook users often ask how they can edit a meeting request and not send updates to the attendees.
I need to change the location of an Outlook meeting and do not want to send the update to the other 15 people on the invite list.
Outlook was designed to send updates when you change the location or time of the meetings because the attendees need to know when and where the meeting is. You also can't avoid sending an update when you add a attendee, for the very same reason.
Adding Notes to a meeting request should never send updates. If Outlook wants to send an update and the only change was notes, make sure you have the latest updates for your version of Outlook then try this: Save the changes using Ctrl+S or the Save icon , then click the X to close. If asked to send updates, say no.
If you are changing the time to add travel or preparation time, I highly recommend creating an appointment for the extra time instead. Use the Notes field for location changes.
However, there is a way to trick Outlook into thinking the update was sent: set Outlook offline before sending the update, then open the Outbox and delete the update before going back online.
Delete a Meeting Update
Set Outlook offline by clicking the Work Offline button on the Send/Receive tab (Outlook 2010/2013) or File, Work Offline in older versions. Alternately, you can disable your network connection, either by unplugging the network cable or turning off the wireless adapter.- Edit the meeting time or location.
- Click the Send Update button when finished.
- Go to the Outbox, select the meeting update and delete. Or you can open the meeting update then click X to close and the meeting disappears from the Outbox.
- Repeat Step 1 to put Outlook back online.
Set Outlook offline by clicking the Work Offline button on the Send/Receive tab (Outlook 2010/2013) or File, Work Offline in older versions. Alternately, you can disable your network connection, either by unplugging the network cable or turning off the wireless adapter.This is not a perfect solution and I know of at least one issue: if someone accepts or declines the meeting after you delete the update, meeting tracking wont be updated. You'll need to change their status manually.
This method will work for all new meetings or to delete meetings when you don't want to send the cancellation notice.
outlookhater says
the terrible thing is that if the same inviter changed another meeting, and then changes this one, you won't get a new email. it will magically update an old change email so the invitee will have no clue that the meeting time changed
Harper says
Hi,
When I reschedule appointments. The appointment moves in my calendar but it doesn't move in the invitees calendars. It's almost like the appointment is 'sticking' in everyone's calendars but mine. Any suggestions on how to fix this?
Gabriel says
Hi Harper,
Do you have any lucky with your issue. I have the exactly same with you.
Luke says
Hi, I have set up an appointment on outlook for 400+ invitees. After sending an update earlier I found out some invitees received it and responded to the update, although someone wrote to me saying never received it. What could be the reason for this? She hasn't accepted the meeting yet so she should receive it in her mailbox. She did, however, receive some responses from individuals who have clicked attending, just not the actual update itself.
Any insight would be of great help!
Katie says
How would I manually update an invitees status manually?
Diane Poremsky says
To update their status to Accepted or Declined?
Open the tracking and click in the Response field.
Jenni P says
The solution you provide seems perfect, but it doesn't change the attendee's calendars, it only changes mine. So if I need to change the location I don't want to send out a email to all the recipients I would just like the location to change on their calendars. Is there a way to accomplish this with Outlook?
Diane Poremsky says
If you need to update their appointment, you'll need to send an update. Exchange (or Outlook) won't silently update meetings. (I understand Lotus Notes can do this - Exchange doesn't have such a feature yet, but they are working on improving it.)
The method above is for when the moderator needs to edit things that won't affect the meeting for the invitees.
Martian says
I did this method and the changes works only to my calendar and not to the attendees. Is there a way to revert it back? I want to have a control/ alignment again with my calendar and the attendees' calendar on the event that I set up.
Sham says
Hi Diane,
I've got an issue where if in a meeting the required or optional attendees are added or removed outlook sends an update to all attendees rather than prompting to send an update to those who have been removed or added. It just sends an email to all attendees, I do not get the prompt. Location hasn't changed only recipients. It's around 40+ recipients.
What can be the cause of this?
Thanks
Sham
Sham says
I realised this issue was resolved in the following update https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/outlook-unexpectedly-stops-prompting-and-automatically-sends-meeting-updates-to-all-attendees-18506249-a20a-40c1-941d-95d9206b93ec but it looks like it has returned to only affect 30+ recipient meeting invites. I tested creating a meeting with 4-5 people and I didn't get the issue above, I got the prompt as expected. Seems to only occur on 30+ recipients.
Krystal says
This happens to me a lot when there are too many recipients in the Required field. So I add everyone to the Optional field and make a note within the body of the email stating that everyone is required (or whatever the requirement actually is). This is the only workaround that I have found that works.
qg a says
Would be great if there was a VBA macro that could automatically enter offline mode, send the update, delete it in the outbox, and go back online. Is that possible?
Diane Poremsky says
i don't think so- mostly for the enter offline mode part (you'd need to use send keys). But I will check to see if i can do it using the commandid.
Diane Poremsky says
Step 1 works - going offline using commandbar id. The rest will be fairly easy.
Barrie B. says
Could you please post the vba macro details as I want to see if this works when we add additional attendees to an event and don't want to send them an outlook invite?
Diane Poremsky says
I thought I published this earlier - it's been a while since i last tested it - hopefully there are no errors in it. The delete part might need to be tweaked.
[ macro deleted - its not finished]
Kim says
I have been having an issue where if I have to change the time or location of a meeting and hit "Send Update" to make sure that all invitees will know about the change, Outlook sends a cancellation email to the recipients instead of just the update. I am NOT hitting cancel meeting on the menu bar. I am sure that I am clicking on "Send Update". Has anyone else had this issue and if so, how did you stop it from happening?
Maureen says
I'm so glad I found this! Thanks for sharing the instructions. I never thought of doing it that way!
Kris says
I am a delegate of my managers calendar. What is the best practice when updating information in a meeting that is both on my calendar and hers when she is the organizer of the meeting? One example is we have a recurring monthly meeting. After each meeting she likes to have the agenda for the next months meeting added to that next meeting on the schedule. Also, throughout the month, leading up to that next meeting, she likes to attach various spreadsheets, word documents, things that are deemed important for that next meeting as information is gathered throughout the month. As her delegate, can I add all these attachments throughout the month without having to send an update each time something is added? I am not given the option to save, only to send update. Ideally I would like to be able to add things throughout the month and then a week before that next monthly meeting send all the information, agenda, and attachments in one update. Also, does this update need to get sent while I have the meeting pulled up in her calendar (the organizer), or can I do it from the meeting pulled up in my calendar (her delegate)? Thank you for your help, I have been searching online for an answer to this scenario.
Diane Poremsky says
>> As her delegate, can I add all these attachments throughout the month without having to send an update each time something is added?
Yes, if you have the correct permissions on her calendar. Don't edit the copy in your calendar. Open her calendar, find the event, and add to it.
>> I am not given the option to save, only to send update.
if you are opening the event from her calendar and can't save, then you don't have sufficient permissions to the calendar. You need at least Editor permissions.
Naresh says
Meeting updates sent via phone do not get updated in the outlook.
Diane Poremsky says
So you see the original in outlook and the update doesn't even create a duplicate copy? Which phone do you use?
J McDonald says
I use MS Outlook 2010 Desktop Version we are connected to Microsoft Exchange and I also have an MS 365 account allowing me to check email through the cloud. I scheduled a recurring weekly meeting and now some attendees are receiving an invite to the meeting each week. I tried deleting the invite and creating a new invite, but it is still happening. I am not sure how to fix so there is no weekly calendar invite? And, I would like to fix without sending an update to all attendees, is that possible?
Diane Poremsky says
rule 1: do not edit or accept invitations on a smartphone - there seems to be a problem with this, especially using the default phone apps, although I don't think the outlook app is any better.
There are issues with activesync and microsoft is working on fixing them.
Damiana says
First, thank you for posting this!
Would this work if I was changing the notes in a series?
Diane Poremsky says
It should, but i didn't test it... but you shouldn't need to send updates if you are only editing the notes field. Try hitting Save (Ctrl+S or the Save icon in the Quick Access toolbar) after making the edit then click the X to close. If asked to send update, say no. The change should have been saved when you first clicked save.
Abilene Gray says
'send update' never shows up and I resent the original meeting to the entire list when I wanted to send only to one addition.
Diane Poremsky says
What version of outlook are you using? You definitely should have had the option of just sending to the new person, unless you also changed the time or location. In the future, you could Forward the meeting to invite new attendees. That will definitely only send to the new person, but they won't be listed as an attendee until they respond - then they will be listed as optional.
Michael LaPierre says
Diane, you seem to know a lot about Outlook. I was wondering if you have seen this before.
I have a recurring meeting happening today from 4-5. I want to change he meeting from today to tomorrow but only for this week. However, when I changed it it changes for a second but then goes back to today's original time. Have you seen this happen before?
Thanks,
Michael
Diane Poremsky says
The only behavior I've seen like this is when creating a new appointment - it shows up as today but opening the appt shows the correct time/date. The fix is to reset the view.
Michael LaPierre says
Thank you Diane. Which view are you suggesting I reset?
Thanks,
Michael
Diane Poremsky says
The view on the calendar where the problem is occurring. If you don't use customized views, you could just restart outlook using the /cleanviews switch and reset all folders to the default views.
Johndoe says
I have a user who created a reoccuring meeting event in outlook. Another users outlook account has been sending reminder of the meeting event to her own inbox on the behalf of the creator of the event, but this is only happenning to 2 of 12 people attending the meeting everyone else account is not acting this way I need you to help me figure out why is happening and how can we fix it
Diane Poremsky says
Sorry I missed this earlier.
>> outlook account has been sending reminder of the meeting event to her own inbox on the behalf of the creator of the event
is it sending an email or a reminder?
Hoddy says
In my previous version of Outlook when I accepted or declined an invite there was an option to add a comment. in 2013 version it just accepts or declines how can I get this feature back?
Diane Poremsky says
You should have the option to edit the response before sending on the buttons. If not, is this a corporate computer?
Tim says
This worked for me! I sent an update to a list of 400ish people to move from 4pm to 2pm, and the update went to them OK, but mine stayed at 4pm! So weird! But for this i was able to update it in my calendar without broadcasting a huge update. Thanks! :)
Joel says
This post should be taken down, his didn't work at all. I just wanted to add a note in the invite so everyone would know instead of sending an update. Now I have to send this out again just to add two words...this post leaves people to believe there is a solution when there isn't.
Diane Poremsky says
The post addresses the organizer adding notes to the message without sending updates to the attendees. You cannot add notes *and* update attendees without sending an update - Outlook doesn't work like that. It can't magically update everyone's meeting behind the scenes (but depending on the recipient's setting, outlook might autoprocess it without the recipient seeing it.)
Linda Aguilar says
Hi Diane, I just want to clarify. Per your comment: Outlook doesn't work like that. It can't magically update everyone's meeting behind the scenes. If I send out a meeting invite and then later attach a document, I can attach the document without sending an update (email) to the attendees. However, by not sending an update the attendee's calendar will not be updated with the attachment. Meaning the attachment is not visible to them on their calendar until either an update is sent or until it is time for the meeting. Is this correct? I was hoping that it would still update the attendee's calendar's without actually sending an update email. If statement is true, what exactly is the setting you are referring to that might have Outlook autoprocess it?
Thanks!
Diane Poremsky says
>> Is this correct?
Yes. If you don't send an update, they won't get the attachment - if you send an update, they'll get a meeting update email that will update the event on their calendar.
There are options in Outlook's File, Options, Mail, Tracking that will auto process updates. The user needs to enable it - and some don't like it as they want to see the notification in their inbox so they know that the meeting was changed. Not a big deal if you are just sending an attachment, but important if the time or place changes.
If you use onenote, you could link onenote to the meeting and add notes to the onenote meeting page. Of course, that's not without issues either - namely, the attendee needs to check for notes or information in onenote. A link to a file share would work too - but again, they need to know to check.
Janice says
This method doesn't work with Office 365 because the entries and the calendar are not accessible offline. There has to be another way. All I want to do is correct the subject line, not even the time or location, but It requires me to send the update.
Diane Poremsky says
Are you using Outlook desktop or Outlook on the web? This method was tested in Outlook desktop, no idea if it works in Outlook on the web.
leojay says
I often manually add notes/attachments to meeting invitations I've received, but if the organizer updates the invitation, my changes are lost. Is there any workaround you can suggest? Thanks.
Diane Poremsky says
There isn't a good solution - best is to use OneNote for meeting notes. if you want them on the calendar, copy the meeting to an appointment and make notes in the appointment version.
Chuck ONeill says
Hi Diane. I see you are involved with the development of Office and Windows. After skimming this sight, I have noticed that many of your answers begin with "there isn't a good solution" or "you can't". To get here, I googled "can I edit a calendar event in ms portal without re-sending". Apparently the answer is "no". That is extremely frustrating, as the people I have invited to a meeting do not appreciate receiving a new invite every time I add a note or an attendee.
Are you taking the feedback of the many people who seem to dislike the way the current version operates and implementing changes? I feel like many changes were made for the sake of change.
Thanks,
Chuck O'Neill
Fleet Manager, City of Pittsburgh
Diane Poremsky says
I don't work for Microsoft, so the best i can do is discuss it with the product team. They do take customer suggests at https://outlook.uservoice.com/forums/322590-outlook-2016-for-windows
When you add attendees, you should have the option to send only to the new person - or hit forward and send it to the new people.
When you add notes you shouldn't be required to send an update - changing the time or location do require updates (so the attendees know when and where). If the send update dialog comes up when you add notes or change the subject, try clicking Save (or Ctrl+S) then click X to close it.
Karinah says
Hi, I manage two of my clients calendars, is there anyway to avoid sending any calendar notification to their inboxes when I add and remove stuff? I am sure there is some feature in Outlook, I just can’t figure it out.
Diane Poremsky says
Sorry I missed this earlier - what types of notifications are they getting? If you are a delegate and editing the calendar directly, it shouldn't generate messages.
Tracy says
How can I send a calendar appointment for a meeting and allow the recipients to amend the notes for everyone to see.
Diane Poremsky says
Unfortunately, you can't. Only your notes can be sent in updates. However, if you use a current version of outlook, you can add a link to OneNote for meeting notes and that can be edited by any attendee.
Bobbie says
I followed the steps above so an email address update would not be sent to all meeting attendees, however, my Sent Items folder shows the update like it was sent. Does that mean my update really did send?
Diane Poremsky says
If it's in the sent folder with the changes you made, then yes, it was sent.
Syndi L Martin says
I had to send an update just to change my reminder time from 15 minutes to one day, which doesn't affect any of the invitees. You'd think they'd have a "save without sending" feature for things like this.
Diane Poremsky says
Changing a reminder shouldn't trigger an update - changing the time of the meeting would. Usually you can click the Save button then click the X button to close. When asked to send updates, say no. Open the event and see if your changes stuck.
Mel says
What about if you just want to modify the subject line? I made a spelling error id like to correct and dont want to send out updates for it
Diane Poremsky says
If Save then click the X doesn't save without sending an update (click Cancel if the dialog comes up), it can't be done.
Ryan says
I'm using Outlook 2016 and I just wanted to add a ridiculous scenario in which you're still forced to send an update to all recipients: changing the reminder. If I simply want to open a meeting on my own calendar and change my own reminder, I should be able to do so without alerting everyone else that I changed something. It's unacceptable in my opinion that the option to save without sending an update doesn't exist. The workaround in this article worked great though. Thank you!
Diane Poremsky says
Yes, it's stupid to send an update for a reminder.
jack says
This will only update the meeting in your own calendar not in the recipients'
Diane Poremsky says
Correct. if you want to update recipients copy, you need to send the update.
JFo says
Oh, gravy. That's the whole point of why one would want this. In order to update some little detail for recipients without them having to deal with an update. Grrrr...Outlook.
Nick says
Works flawlessly, thanks :)
meghan says
I am using the internet/one drive version of Outlook 365, not the app. I use the calendar often, but unlike the app version, every time there is a change in the description body of the event that I have created, I need to send an update to all who have been invited. Is there a way to just save the changes on my end, but not send along a update to the invited attendees??
Thanks
Andy says
I have an issue where a user is trying to change a meeting location for one meeting in a series of recurring meetings. When the user changes the location and saves the update, it just reverts back to the original location automatically
Any suggestions?
Diana Johnson says
Attendees not receiving meeting update as an informational update. I have updated my meeting and then received a bunch of responses from the attendees saying they already accepted my meeting - ? is there something in setting to be changed?
Google Calendar Rules says
Outlook and Apple Calendar basically SUCK. You will NEVER run into these problems with Google Calendar. Scheduling is an enormous part of my job and am 100% certain that Outlook and Apple Calendar couldn't care less about advanced functionality that makes any shred of sense. I've just started with a new company after 10+ years using Google calendar and could not be more frustrated.
As everyone else has stated, it just makes zero sense.
Eg., I have 25 people on an invite for a big meeting which by the way requires a lot of logistics, planning and emailing with attendees. Some attendees have accepted the invite, some have declined, some have not responded at all. In between all of this, I am mid-communication with attendees on their travel plans, logistics are complex, etc. Now let's say I need to add another attendee to the invite. You're telling me I have to update every single one of the 25 people to simply add another invitee or delete an invitee? Perhaps to move the meeting from one in-house conference room to another in-house conference room? You're telling me the previous 25 invitees will not start emailing me, like, "hey, I already declined/accepted/dunno if attending that meeting" or "Did you change something?" "Is soemthing different?" "Can you stop flooding me with emails on this?"
Don't even get me started on an even larger meeting like a Town Hall invite to the entire company having to be adjusted by 30 minutes.
This "system" is completely jurassic, redundant and plain old dumb. Google Calendar is truly a masterpiece and the only calendar I've ever used at work that makes total and complete sense. Working on Outlook/Apple Calendar now is nothing short of a nightmare for everyone. Who needs to see calendar updates often flooding their inboxes, confusing everyone so unnecessarily?
Google calendar ALWAYS gives you the option to "send update to everyone" or "send to ONLY added or deleted invitees" or even more: "don't send update" or "send update" or "do NOT send cancellation" or "send cancellation". It is an absolutely perfect calendar.
The people who's sole job purpose is to build a working calendar for MS and Apple should be fired. I don't even know how they can sleep at night knowing their ONE job is to build a product that is meaningful and WORKS and they have completely failed. These totally necessary functionalities do not exist in their product. I feel like I'm working in 1998 again.
Elaine says
MS Outlook 2010 issue someone send an invite to her,
if it is an update to the invite, she is getting no response is needed with the invite,
next user deletes the email, or no response needed when they send an update to the invite it changes her to the originator, and is not updating her calendar
Sophalin says
It doesn't work. I followed the step. Went offline. Updated, changed and rescheduled my meetings. I went back online. Everyone received the updates!!!!!
Roy says
You may have missed the step to delete the outgoing message from your Outbox. If that is deleted, there is no way anyone can receive an update.
Peta Sinclair says
Outlook used to have three options, one of which was to make a change WITHOUT notifying everyone! Why can't this be included again??
Diane Poremsky says
I don't recall that option... but if you can any of the important details like location and time (or attendees), it will send updates.
Changes to the notes field shouldn't send an update but it occasionally asks to. You can usually save changes by hitting the Save icon then closing (click the X) without saving (because you already saved it.:))
Gregory says
I remember that option, but think the last time they had it available was in Version 2003...2007 and up don't seem to have it. It should still be an option in my opinion...
Diane Poremsky says
It's supposed to be an option in all versions but there was a bug that prevented it from showing in some builds. It should show in current versions as long as you aren't changing the time or location. If it doesn't come up, clicking Save before closing (and choosing don't save changes) will usually work.
Betty says
But if you want to save changes without sending out to all invitees you won't want to choose "don't save changes" otherwise you are back to square one. where is the logic in that
Diane Poremsky says
If you Ctrl+S before closing, the changes should be saved without sending updates - provided you are not changing the time or location.
Aileen says
I created a meeting invite in Outlook 2010 and sent it. Then the next day I added some additional people and sent it to the new people only (worked fine). Today when I added some more people and sent it to only the new people it sent it to them but randomly sent meeting cancellations to some of the original recipients. The meeting remained in my diary and those that I added were able to accept the meeting request. My question is how/why did it decided to cancel the meeting for some people? Any advice would be appreciated.
Diane Poremsky says
Did you remove any of the names from the attendees list? It will send cancellations if any addresses were removed.
Brenda P Boyd says
Same thing happened to my coworker today. And No, she definitely did not DELETE any of the names yet after she added to names to the invite, several others received cancellation notices and many did not. And now her Attendee list is cleared out and all back to NO RESPONSE even for those who already had accepted it. It was sent to two distribution lists containing over 200 names total. I'd love to see Diane's response.
Diane Poremsky says
What version of Outlook? Does anyone accept it on a smartphone? (That can cause issues.) If 2016, think there is a KB about this - will need to hunt for it.
Diane Poremsky says
If using smartphones see Current issues with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and third-party devices
Friendly NBhood siderman says
not sure if this has been said, but if you were declined from a meeting room (so Location will be the same), and its free - if you forward the invite to the meeting room... you don't have to update all but you will score the spot. Hope this helps
david4eye says
Great tip, thanks!
John says
I recently set up a bunch of meetings and invited attendees and made a silly mistake. I was supposed to set them up on behalf of my boss in her group calendar, but instead set them all up in my own personal calendar... I hesitate to ask as I've been searching all over online for an answer to no avail, but is there any way to move these meetings to the calendar I should have set them up in? If so, will this move the attendees to the new calendar as well?
Diane Poremsky says
You can move it, but it won't pick up updates or responses. (You can update the responses yourself.)
Diane Poremsky says
BTW, the attendees names will show but you will still be the organizer - you can't change that.
Gemma Sturtridge says
Thanks very much for this! I recently changed job and needed to remove meetings from my calendar but not the other attendees.
Mi says
How can I avoid that an update sent by the one who organises the meeting overwrites all notes any invitee had made in the originally planned meeting? (i.e: someone accepts an invite, writes down some items as a memo for this meeting - the meeting gets postponed - he/she gets an update, and al their notes are gone)
Diane Poremsky says
The only way to totally avoid it is to not update the meeting - copy it in place and edit the copy (select it, ctrl+c,v). You can't block updates from the organizer.
Gary says
Hello Dianne, when I click send update it does not send it. The screen just sits there and never sends updates to everyone. But when I close the meeting update it does appear on calendar.
Diane Poremsky says
What type of email account are you using with the calendar?
Paula says
How do I delete one person from a meeting without Outlook sending a cancellation to the whole group? Why does it do that!
Diane Poremsky says
It should only send the cancellation to the one person, not everyone.
Set Outlook offline, remove the person's name, delete the update from the outbox, go back online.
Ev says
Sometimes when I add/delete attendees to a meeting,Outlook will ask if I want to send the updated to all attendees or only to the ones added/deleted. Other times it does not ask me that question and all attendees get the update everytime I change attendees. What do I need to do to assure that I always get that option?
Diane Poremsky says
You should always get the all or one question if you only changed attendees. If you made any other changes, it will send to all. I don't know of any way to change that behavior.
David says
In Outlook 2007, whether you are prompted or not for a decision when adding or deleting attendees depends on which screen you send the update from.
Clicking the "Send Update" button from the "Appointment" screen results in the decision prompt. Clicking the "Send" button from the :"Scheduling Assistant" screen will not result in a decision prompt. Weird but true.
Ron says
how can i simly update a change on the meeting invite as an informational update and not require anyone to respond to my update?
Diane Poremsky says
Once they accepted it, the meeting should update automatically, they don't need to accept it again.
martine says
The update of a meeting doesn't request to be accepted again. But when a meeting is recurent, changing only one of them (adding an agenda for instance) there is a request to accept the meeting again. How can we avoid this? I don't want the invitees to have to have to accept again.
Diane Poremsky says
If you are only adding to the notes field, you shouldn't have to send an update. The only option I'm aware of is to set it to no reply required, but that's not really going to helap here - they'll need to acknowledge the update to add the agenda to their copy.
Molly Dunton says
If you change the description and don't send the update, does the change show up in everyone else's calendar?
thanks!
Diane Poremsky says
No, if you don't send updates, their calendar will not be updated.
Salome says
Would this delete the meeting in the invitees calendar as well?
Diane Poremsky says
No, if you don't send updates, the meeting won't be deleted from the attendees calendar.