How to change the calendar in the To-Do Bar in Outlook?

Author Kelly Last modified 2025-04-14

Generally speaking, we can easily show appointments into To-Do Bar with checking the "To-Do Bar" > "Calendar" on View tab in Outlook 2013 (or "To-Do Bar" > "Normal" and "Appointments" on "View" tab in Outlook 2010). Nevertheless, even we have checked the Calendar or Appointments in the drop down list of To-do Bar, the upcoming appointments we added just now are still missing. That’s because the To-do Bar can only show the appointments in default calendar of default Outlook data file. In this case, to show appointments of other calendar in the To-Do Bar, you have to change the default calendar in the To-Do Bar in Outlook.

To change the default calendar in the To-Do Bar of Outlook, you have to change the default Outlook data file. And you can do as following:
Step 1: Open the Account Settings:

In Outlook 2007, click the "Tools" > "Account Settings";
In Outlook 2010 and 2013, click the "File" > "Info" > "Account Settings" > "Account Settings".

the screenshot of step about changing the calendar in the To-Do Bar in Outlook 1

Step 2: In the Account Settings dialog box, go to the "Data Files" tab, click to highlight the Outlook Data File that you change to, and then click the "Set as Default" button. See screen shot:

the screenshot of step about changing the calendar in the To-Do Bar in Outlook 2

Step 3: Now a warning dialog box comes out, and please click the "Yes" button.

the screenshot of step about changing the calendar in the To-Do Bar in Outlook 3

Step 4: Click the "Close" button to exit the Account Settings dialog box.

Note: In Outlook 2010 and 2007, the changed default Outlook data file will take effect the next time you start your Outlook.

Now in the To-Do Bar, you will see upcoming appointments in the default Outlook Data File are showing in the To-Do Bar.

Note: You can show To-Do Bar and appointments on it with:

In Outlook 2013, click the "View" > "To-Do Bar", and check the "Calendar" from the drop down list;
In Outlook 2010 and 2007, click the "View" > "To-Do" Bar, and then make sure both "Normal" and "Appointments" are checked in the drop down list.