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Cannot un-decline a recurring meeting request

Philip Molter 0 Reputation points
2026-04-06T12:58:52.3766667+00:00

I am using Outlook's web interface (outlook.office.com via a browser) and the Teams app. I received a meeting request for a recurring meeting. In Teams, I accidentally declined this meeting. I want to accept this meeting instead. However, I cannot find any way to do it. In Teams, the meeting request is gone. It's not under Activity. It doesn't show in Calendar, even when I have the "Show declined events" setting enabled.

In the Outlook web interface, the meeting invite is in my Inbox. I see the details for the meetings. There is a response from me showing that it's declined. However, there are no options to accept, un-declined, anything. It just shows that the meeting organizer sent the request. It shows the calendar time (blank, nothing in it), and it shows my response with just "You declined". The three dot menu (both main and per-message) has no ability to accept.

There has to be a way to accept the meeting, even after you decline it, right? I see lots of references to doing it be just clicking on the "Accept" button (not there for me), or dragging it back from Deleted Items (never in Deleted Items for me) or turning on "Show declined events" (did that, nothing in the calendar either in Teams or or the Outlook web calendar).

Outlook | Web | Outlook.com | Calendar
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  1. Francisco Montilla 30,255 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-04-06T14:07:12.21+00:00

    Hello,

    So the thing with Exchange is that once you respond to a meeting invitation it normally turns the original actionable message in your inbox into a simple status card that lacks any accept or decline buttons. Usually when you decline an event it automatically shunts the original invitation over to your deleted items folder so you can accept it from there but because you declined a recurring series specifically inside the Teams application it often triggers a hard delete that skips standard folders completely.

    If changing your calendar view to show declined events is coming up blank for both Teams and Outlook web that confirms the background synchronization completely dumped your association to the event instead of soft deleting it. You really only have one reliable way out of this right now without digging blindly through server side dumpsters. Just send a quick message to the meeting organizer and ask them to open the series on their end and use the forward feature to send the meeting right back to your email address.

    Because the forward action triggers Exchange to generate a fresh request item for your mailbox it will give you a brand new email containing the active RSVP buttons you need to lock your attendance back in.

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  2. Q&A Assist
    2026-04-06T12:59:06.8166667+00:00
    AI generated content. This question contains an answer created with AI from Q&A Assist. Learn more

    In this scenario the declined recurring meeting cannot be “un‑declined” directly because Outlook on the web is treating it as already processed and no longer offering response actions.

    For Outlook/Exchange, the supported ways to change a declined response are:

    1. Classic Outlook for Windows (when available)
      • If using classic Outlook (the version with a File menu), a previously declined meeting can be accepted only by acting on the original meeting request item in Deleted Items:
        1. Go to the Deleted Items folder in the Folder Pane.
        2. Open the original meeting request.
        3. Choose Accept or Tentative.
      • If the Deleted Items folder has been emptied, the original request is gone and this option is not available. In that case, the organizer must send a new invitation.
    2. New Outlook / Teams / Outlook on the web
      • The “Show declined events” feature only controls visibility of declined items that are still on the calendar; it does not restore response buttons on an already processed invite.
      • If the declined series does not appear on the calendar even with “Show declined events” enabled, and there is no Accept/Tentative option on the message in the Inbox, the only supported resolution is to have the organizer send a new meeting request (or forward the existing series) so it can be accepted again.

    Given the described state (no item in Deleted Items, no Accept button on the message, and nothing on the calendar even with “Show declined events” enabled), the recurring meeting can only be re‑added by the organizer sending a fresh invite or forwarding the series.

    References:

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