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How to change the default appointment length in Outlook?

By default, when you create new appointments or meetings for a day or a week, the appointment length or meeting duration in Outlook is 30 minutes with the start time and the end time as following screenshot shown. If your appointment length or meeting duration is not 30 minutes per time, do you want to change the default appointment length for your needs? With this tutorial, you can easily change the default appointment length in Outlook.

Change the default appointment length in Outlook

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arrow blue right bubbleChange the default appointment length in Outlook

In Outlook, you can change the default appointment length as follows.

1. Shift to the Calendar view by clicking Calendar in the Navigation Pane.

2. Then click View > View Settings in Outlook 2010/2013.

In Outlook 2007, please click View > Current View > Customize Current View. See screenshot:

3. In the Advanced View Settings: Calendar dialog (Customize View: Date/Week/Month dialog in Outlook 2007), please click Other Settings. See screenshot:

4. When the Format Day/Week/Month View dialog popping up, select the appointment or meeting time length from the Time scale drop-down list. And then click OK button.

5. Click OK in the following dialog. And now the appointment length is changed to the time scale you have configured immediately. See screenshot:

Note: The changes of the time scale cannot work in the Month view.

Besides the above method, you can also change the appointment length or meeting duration by clicking View > Time Scale. And then select the time scale for your own needs.

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Comments (17)
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Imane
Imane
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Je travaille sur la version Outlook 2016 et pour installer par défaut des réunions de 45 minutes automatiquement je ne peux pas suivre la démarche "classique" qui est la suivante :

Fichier -> Options -> Calendrier
« Finir la réunion plus tôt ».
Existe-t-il une autre démarche ?
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alex
alex
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THis does not work
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Evan Marshall
Evan Marshall
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I wish I could set events to zero time. I just want the time they begin.
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Steven
Steven
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Change default meeting length in Outlook.

schedule meetings to conclude five minutes before the end of the hour or half hour.

In Outlook:

File -> Options -> Calendar
"End meeting early"
Your meetings are now 50 and 25 minutes long - by default, no need to set it manually. Not sure when it showed up in the options but my team is using it and it really helps.
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Dale Bradbury
Dale Bradbury
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Unfortunately I can't change to 25 mins > google calendar would allow this and is very useful for defining multiple end to end meetings, allowing 5 minutes per half hour as gap to get from one to another.
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Mike Owens
Mike Owens     Dale Bradbury
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In Office365 you can do this. Go to Options --> Calendar --> under Calendar Options, check "end appointments and meetings early" and select the desired time you want to shorten meetings by (e.g., 5 minutes for less than 1 hour, 10 minutes for one hour or more).
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Brooke wayman
Brooke wayman     Mike Owens
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Do you know how to update Outlook to get this functionality? I can change the default to end meetings early in the web version of Outlook but if I am in the desktop version of Outlook I don't have that setting in Options.
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Mike Owens
Mike Owens     Dale Bradbury
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In Office365 you can do this. Go to Options --> Calendar --> under Calendar Options, check "end appointments and meetings early" and select the desired time you want to shorten meetings by (e.g., 5 minutes for less than 1 hour, 10 minutes for one hour or more).
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Gene
Gene
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Actually, in Outlook 2013/2016/365 if you go to "Options" - "Calendar" -"Calendar options" - "Default duration for new appointments and meetings" field - you can just simply toggle/choose between 30 minutes and up to 2 hrs ( in increments of 30 minutes).
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Shelby
Shelby     Gene
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I don't have field "Default duration for new appointments and meetings" available in Outlook 2013...are you sure?
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Johannes
Johannes
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Hi, unfortunatly this solution doesn't work with Outlook 2016 for Mac. Do you know any solution for Outlook for Mac?
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Gaurav Khurana
Gaurav Khurana
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Hey thats what we call a perfect blog. Very well explained with images
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Gitte
Gitte
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I want to change the default duration of an appointment to 1 hour, but I do not want to change the time scale of the calendar. Can that be done?
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Peter Obel
Peter Obel     Gitte
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Hi Gitte, There are two ways to that. One way via VBA where you program your own form (search for 50 minute meeting VBA), or via this add-in: http://4minutes.ecomerc.com<br /> Regards Peter Disclosure: I am the developer of the add-in 4 Minutes (OML) [quote]I want to change the default duration of an appointment to 1 hour, but I do not want to change the time scale of the calendar. Can that be done?By Gitte[/quote]
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Fredrik
Fredrik     Peter Obel
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I'm amazed that this is not already implemented in Outlook. Maybe Microsoft is secretly working on some sort of teleport gizmo so that you can come in time to the next meeting without having to leave early. (That workaround also implies toilets and coffee-machines in all meeting rooms).
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Brenna
Brenna
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And I am interested in changing it to 25 minutes, so people have time to get between meetings. How can I change the default to 25 minutes?
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