Turn off Busy in Outlook 11

Dear @Tina Alexander,

Good day, and thank you for clearly explaining your concern. I understand that Outlook Calendar is showing you as Busy until 10:30 AM, and you’d like to turn that status off.

As a forum moderator, I genuinely wish I could directly access your account or review the backend to diagnose this for you. However, I don’t have visibility into individual accounts, so I can only provide general guidance that you can apply on your side.

Please try the steps below to see if they help:

If the “Busy” block is a visible event

Open Outlook (desktop or web).

1. Go to Calendar.
2. Find the block showing as Busy until 10:30 AM (look in the morning of today or the relevant day).
3. Double-click the event to open it.
4. In the event window, look for the "Show As" dropdown (it usually says Busy, Tentative, Free, or Out of Office).
5. Change it to Free.
6. Click Save (or Send Update if it's a meeting).

After saving, the block should no longer show as Busy.

If There Is No Visible Event (Hidden or All-Day)

• Switch to Day or Work Week view to see the full morning.
• Right-click any suspicious blank space in the morning > Show As > choose Free.

If the busy status still appears after trying the steps above, please let me know in the comments and share any additional details you notice. Please note that our initial response does not always resolve the issue immediately. However, with your help and more detailed information, we can work together to find a solution. Thank you for your patience and understanding. I'm looking forward to your reply.

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In Outlook on the web for business, the “Busy until 10:30 AM” status comes from items on the calendar that are marked as Busy. To stop showing as Busy, change or remove the calendar item that covers that time.

Use one of these options:

1. Change the item’s “Show as” status

• Open the calendar in Outlook on the web.
• Click the event/appointment that is blocking time until 10:30 AM.
• Edit the item and change its availability from Busy to Free (or another status such as Out of Office, Tentative, etc., depending on what you want others to see).
• Save the change.

2. Delete the blocking item

• Open the calendar in Outlook on the web.
• Select the event/appointment that runs until 10:30 AM.
• Delete it and send any required updates if it is a meeting.

Calendar “Show as” directly controls free/busy information, which is what others see when scheduling with the account and what services like Teams use to show Busy vs. Available.

References:

• Add your out of office event to the Outlook calendar of others
• Change an appointment, meeting, or event in Outlook
• About the Free/Busy API
• Teams status information available in Outlook