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Open Outlook with multiple calendars selected

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› Outlook › Calendar › Open Outlook with multiple calendars selected

Last reviewed on April 3, 2020     13 Comments

Applies to: Outlook (classic), Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010

A popular request is the ability for Outlook to remember what calendars were selected when you last used Outlook and to reselect them at start-up.

The good news: Outlook 2007 and newer versions should remember the selected Calendars.

The bad news: it only remembers when you “start in” the Inbox or non-calendar folder.

If the calendar module opens at start, only the default calendar is selected. This includes using the Start in [folder] option or closing Outlook with a second window open to the calendar module. Using Open in new window command will also display just one calendar.

If you want to open to the calendar module and remember which calendars were selected, Public Calendar Choice (freeware) remembers selected calendars and re-selects them for Outlook 2003 and 2007.

You can also use a VBA macro to select the calendars. See Select multiple calendars in Outlook for details.

Open Outlook with multiple calendars selected was last modified: April 3rd, 2020 by Diane Poremsky

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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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Dennis (@guest_213634)
July 20, 2019 10:27 am
#213634

Hi Diane! We have Office 2016 with exchange and I have my main default exchange account calendar (call it "Dennis") as well as my wife's shared exchange calendar (call it "Alison"). We have them in tabs, not both side by side. The issue we have is many times Outlook will open hers instead of mine first and it's very hard to see that. Then we create meeting requests or other entries on the wrong one and have to start all over - SO ANNOYING! Is there a way to fix this and tell Outlook only to open mine, the default data file as set in Outlook, first? thanks in advance for your help!

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Dennis (@guest_214054)
Reply to  Dennis
October 3, 2019 9:57 pm
#214054

Hi Diane, just wanted to see if you had any thoughts on how to fix this. thank you!

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Diane Poremsky(@diane-poremsky)
Author
Reply to  Dennis
October 3, 2019 10:08 pm
#214055

Outlook will (usually) remember the last order you used - if you opened her calendar then closed yours then reopened outlook, her's could be in focus,.

You could use a macro to always select them in order. Specifically the macro to set the calendars on start. If you find you accidentally bring her's into focus, there is a macro that will select the calendars when you switch modules.
https://www.slipstick.com/developer/code-samples/select-multiple-calendars-outlook/#start

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Christine Garrett (@guest_205766)
April 6, 2017 1:50 pm
#205766

Many of my users want to be able to check (view) multiple calendars in Outlook 2013 and when they close Outlook and reopen it, they want those same calendars to be viewed.

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Diane Poremsky(@diane-poremsky)
Author
Reply to  Christine Garrett
April 8, 2017 1:00 am
#205791

do they have outlook set to start in the calendar? That is how it should be with current versions of outlook, however, if they have outlook starting in the calendar, they won't remain selected and you'd need to use a macro to select a predefined list of calendars. For a group of people, I think not starting up in the calendar would be easier to admin in the long run.

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dejo (@guest_202204)
October 11, 2016 3:46 am
#202204

Thanks for the very useful information.

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Vowani (@guest_183986)
June 14, 2014 8:45 am
#183986

"Using 'Open in new window command' will also display just one calendar".

Is there a way to have Outlook 2013 open all calendars which were selected, when opening the calendar in a new window?

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Diane Poremsky (@guest_183994)
Reply to  Vowani
June 14, 2014 9:42 pm
#183994

No, there is no way within Outlook to use the open in new window command and open multiple calendars. Sorry.

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Adam Davies (@guest_179416)
September 21, 2013 1:48 pm
#179416

Sorry for taking so long to reply. Initially there was no impact but sometime in the last few weeks the problem resolved itself... I'm guessing a patch of some kind took care of it.

Thank you.

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Adam Davies (@guest_177512)
June 7, 2013 1:47 pm
#177512

I tried deselecting all except 'My Calendars - Calendar' (from exchange) then restarted immediately.
Result: Checkmarks against: My Calendars - Calendar, Travail (sub of Shared Calendar) and iCloud-Personnel

This seems to be fairly consistent. It also occurs periodically without restarting.

Should I disable the iCloud Addin?

Thanks

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Diane Poremsky (@guest_177514)
Reply to  Adam Davies
June 7, 2013 2:42 pm
#177514

You can try disabling iCloud and see if it changes it. I know iCloud sets its calendars to display but I have not noticed t setting non-iCloud calendars to display. It definitely should not do it when Outlook is running - that seems to indicate something is doing it. It could be iCloud, it could be something else. Any other addins installed?

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Adam Davies (@guest_177430)
June 4, 2013 12:57 pm
#177430

I find the opposite problem - Outlook insists on re-selecting my non-default calendars. I don't want shared calendars or iCloud selected most of the time but neither do I want to delete them since I might want to check them once a week.
Is there a way to get Outlook to accept that if I uncheck all but my main calendar that I would like to keep it that way?

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Diane Poremsky (@guest_177436)
Reply to  Adam Davies
June 4, 2013 6:56 pm
#177436

I swear iCloud addin causes the iCloud calendars to be selected - it's annoying. :)

Try deselecting the calendars and immediately restart outlook. Does outlook remember your settings?

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