Staring at a wall of empty, boxed calendars in Outlook, unsure how that is supposed to help you organize your time and energy? You deserve a cleaner, more useful look. Find out here how to overlay calendars in Outlook ⤓ (both Windows and Mac) atop each other (and still break out individual calendars where it suits you).
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How to Overlay Multiple Calendars in Outlook for Windows
⚡ Quick Fix
Classic Outlook: Right-click on a calendar in the folder pane and select Overlay to see it overlayed onto the current calendar.
New Outlook: Check all calendars you want to see in overlay mode in the sidebar and turn off Split view.
Outlook for Mac: Check two or more calendars in the sidebar and select View | Overlay from the menu.
Time needed: 3 minutes
To see multiple calendars overlaid on each other on a single sheet in Outlook for Office 365 for Windows:
- Enter Day, Work Week, Week or Month view in Outlook calendar.
No Schedule View: Schedule View always shows events from a calendar as a list
- Open the first calendar you want to see concurrently.
- Now right-click a calendar you want to overlay onto the current calendar in the folder pane.
No folder pane: If you do not see the folder pane, click the Click to expand Folder Pane button.
- Select Overlay from the menu that has appeared, so it is selected.
Repeat: You can select Overlay for additional calendars to toggle overlay mode.
Their word: Microsoft include information on viewing multiple calendars at the same time in Outlook help.
As an alternative to the context menu, you can also use a shortcut in the calendar display:
- Click the View in Overlay Mode arrow (⬅︎) for the calendar you want to add to overlay view.
Default: The leftmost calendar is always the main calendar; Outlook adds others to it as overlays.
No more vacant towers of calendars?
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See Calendars Side by Side
To exclude a calendar from overlay view and display it separately:
- Select Overlay from the calendar’s context menu in the folder pane (see above) or
- click the View in Side-by-Side Mode arrow (➜) in the calendar’s header.
Overlay Multiple Calendars in New Outlook and Outlook on the Web
New Outlook and Outlook on the Web show all select calendars in one overlaid view by default.
To see calendars in overlay mode in New Outlook:
- Go to Calendar in Outlook.
Keyboard shortcut: You can switch to calendars with Ctrl 2 on Windows. - Check all calendars you want to see in overlay mode in the calendar pane.
- Turn off Split view.
Here’s how: Go to the Home or View tab on the ribbon and click Split view.
How to Overlay Multiple Calendars in Outlook for Mac
Outlook for Mac always displays calendars in overlay mode when it shows four or more at a time. For two or three calendars, you can choose side by side or overlay view.
New Outlook for Mac
To switch between overlay mode and seeing calendars side by side in new Outlook for Mac:
- Select View | Overlay from the menu.
Outlook for Mac 16
To toggle calendar view in Outlook for Mac if two or three calendars are visible:
- Go to the Organize tab in Outlook for Mac calendar view.
- Click Overlay.
Overlay vs. Side-by-Side View in Outlook
Overlay view combines events from multiple calendars into a single calendar sheet.
Side-by-side view keeps each calendar separate in its own column.
With overlay mode, it’s easier to spot scheduling conflicts, and side-by-side view is better for comparing calendars, especially if they are heavily populated.
(Tested with Outlook for Windows for Microsoft 365 Version 2408–2610, New Outlook 1.2025.604 and Outlook for Mac 16.41; first published December 2020, last updated November 2026)