Can I block Outlook time without seeing it on iCal?

January 25, 2021 6:49 AM

I have several time periods set up on my work calendar (Outlook) as "out of office" so nobody schedules meetings during those periods. I also sync my work calendar as one of many calendars on my iphone (iCal) and want to ONLY see work meeting that are actual meetings when on my phone.

I'm currently WFH with a 6 month old and blocked off times that I'm most likely going to need to tend to her undisturbed from my work calendar (i.e. nursing). This is for courtesy so meetings get scheduled outside of those hours.

I use my personal phone for work as well, so my iCal is busy with my work schedule, husband's calendar, personal events, sports games, etc. I really would like to find a way to ONLY show actual work meetings on there. I don't need to see the times I've blocked off - that's only for coworkers. I want to see my actual work schedule so when I'm tending to the baby and need to see if anything's coming up, I can easily see it.

So far I've been switching between just having everything on there (annoying) or turning off my work calendar and opening the Teams app to see it at a glance. It still has my blocked-off times, but it's easier to visualize when it's not cluttered with the other calendars.

I am perfectly happy to still see everything when on my computer.

posted by DoubleLune to Work & Money (3 answers total)

You should be able to add the blocked times (assuming you’re creating calendar events to block the time) to a different calendar within Outlook, then uncheck that calendar in iCal so it doesn’t show up.
posted by MadamM at 11:30 AM on January 25, 2021 [1 favorite]

+1 MadamM. That's exactly what I would do. FWIW, I use the Mac+ iOS app Fantastical, which gives you more granular control over your menus, and I recommend it.
posted by adamrice at 2:10 PM on January 25, 2021

Response by poster: Alas I don’t think that will serve my purposes since only the default calendar syncs with Teams, and I also need my availability to show there. Too many systems.
posted by DoubleLune at 5:09 PM on January 26, 2021