​How Do I Create Multiple Calendars on My PC?

From a functional point of view, the interfaces are similar. But depending on the version and computer you are using, what you see may vary.

How to add and modify a calendar

Outlook starts you out with a default calendar that houses all your appointments, which you can change later.

To add calendars, click the Calendar icon on the left edge of the Outlook window so the Calendar view is showing and not, say, your email.

The method on a Windows PC I used for testing: Click Add calendar | Create blank calendar. 

By contrast, a colleague using a Mac opened a calendar view, went to the Organize tab and clicked New Calendar.

You may also see options after clicking Add calendar to Add Shared Calendar... or Import ICS.

On Windows, I entered a name for the new calendar in the provided space and was able to choose a color and/or a tiny icon or charm to customize it, which can help identify which calendar future entries are coming from, on a unified view. Under the Add to field, you can specify where you want the new calendar listed: on the left side of the window, under headings such as My calendars, Other calendars or People’s calendars.

Click Save if satisfied, or Discard to start over.

If you already have a work or school account, Microsoft will let you add one Google or Outlook.com personal account. It’s worth noting that adding this personal calendar only adds the calendar itself and not email from those personal accounts.

Editing a calendar. To make changes to a calendar after the fact, click Add calendar | Edit my calendars | Select a calendar. Then you can give it a new name, a charm and/or a color.

You may see other options after clicking Add calendar, including a Microsoft suggestion to add holiday calendars from around the world.

Sharing calendars. I mentioned that you can share a calendar with your family. Perhaps you also want to do so on a work calendar with colleagues, or a travel calendar with the pals you’ll be vacationing with. 

As mentioned above, you may see Add Shared Calendar... after clicking Add calendar, so start there.

As an alternative, drag your cursor over a specific calendar on the left side of the Outlook window until three horizontal dots appear. Click the three dots | Sharing and permissions, and enter the email address or contact name of the people with whom you want to share the calendar. Decide whether they Can view all details, which means they cannot alter the calendar. Or Can edit, which lets them add entries or make changes. Click Share after entering the emails. 

Those people will receive an invitation by email to accept and add the calendar to their own Outlook. You, as the calendar creator, can revoke access if you no longer wish to share it with anyone.

Subscribing to other calendars. You can upload or import calendars in the .ics or iCalendar (iCal) formats. The universal standards are supported by Apple Calendar, Google Calendar and other calendar programs and websites. You might find compatible calendars for sporting and community events, concerts, phases of the moon and even astrology.

When the owners of some of these calendars make new entries or edit existing ones, the changes will be refreshed in your own calendar. Other calendars, such as the holiday dates in a given year, will understandably remain static.

There are a couple of ways to do this:

Click Add calendar | Import ICS... and browse your computer for an .ics file to drag and drop into the provided space.

Or click Add calendar, then either Subscribe from web and enter the URL, or Upload from file and browse to that file.

Viewing multiple calendars. You can imagine that the more calendars you add to Outlook, the more cluttered your schedule can appear. Fortunately, you can mark meeting times as busy and set reminders for the event time, or earlier.

Either way, you can also select or deselect the calendars you want to view at any one time by clicking to place a check mark next to the calendar name on the left side of the Outlook window.

But you can also show multiple calendars in a single view, overlaid with the color you chose when adding each calendar. To toggle between a view where your selected calendars appear side by side as opposed to unified into a single calendar, click Split view in the Outlook navigation bar. Click Split view repeatedly to go back and forth.

You can also move calendars up and down the list on the left side of the Outlook window by hovering over them to surface the aforementioned three dots. Click the dots, then choose Move up or Move down from the menu.

Bonus tip: Google gives you more control over your personal information inside search results

A disturbing amount of personal information about most of us is already out there on the web. In 2022, Google launched a Results About You tool that let people request the removal of phone numbers and home addresses from Google search results; the tool has since been used by more than 10 million people, the company says.

Google has just expanded the tool so that you can also request the removal of government-issued IDs, including your Social Security number, driver’s license number and passport. Get started by clicking on your profile picture in the Google app or by visiting goo.gle/resultsaboutyou on the web.

Google says that removing the information from Google search doesn’t remove it from the web entirely. And the company reserves the right to turn down your request if it determines that leaving the information intact is “newsworthy” or in the “public interest.”