How to block out /off time in Outlook calendar?

Author Kelly Last modified 2025-04-09

For example, you are going to take a vacation in next two weeks, and you want to block the off time from your and your colleagues’ Outlook calendars, any idea? This article will introduce two solutions for you.

Block out one-off vacation in Outlook calendar
Block out daily lunch time in Outlook calendar

Block out one-off vacation in Outlook calendar

If you need to block out one-off vacation from your and your coworkers’ calendars, you can do as follows:

1. Open the calendar you will block the vacation time, and click "Home" > "New Appointment" to create a new appointment.

2. In the new appointment window, please (1) type the subject and location as you need, (2) specify the date range you will take a vacation in the "Start time" and "End time" boxes, and then (3) check the "All day event" option. See screenshot:

3. Go ahead to select "Out of Office" from "Show As" drop down list under "Event" tab. See screenshot:

4. Make other changes as you need, and click "Event" > "Save & Close" to save the event.

Now your vacation time will show as out of office in your and your coworkers’ Outlook calendar. When they sending meeting invitations or other requests to you, your vacation time is not available.

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Block out daily lunch time in Outlook calendar

If you want to block a regular off time on every weekday from your and your coworkers’ Outlook calendars, such as lunch time, please do as follows:

1. Open the calendar you will block the lunch time, and click "Home" > "New Appointment" to create a new appointment.

2. In the new Appointment window, please type subject and location as you need.

3. Under the "Appointment" tab, please (1) select "Out of Office" from "Show As" drop down list, (2) select "None" from "Reminder" drop down list, and (3) click the "Recurrence" button. See screenshot:

4. In the Appointment Recurrence dialog box, please:
(1) In the "Appointment time" section, please specify the lunch time as you need;
(2) In the "Recurrence pattern" section, please check "Daily and "Every weekday" options;
(3) In the "Range of recurrence" section, please specify the block date range as you need;
(4) Click the "OK" button. See screenshot: