Customise Your Outlook Calendar Colours for Better Organisation

Managing multiple calendars in Microsoft Outlook can become confusing when everything looks the same. Fortunately, there’s a simple solution that many users overlook: customising your calendar colours. In this guide, I’ll show you exactly how to change Outlook calendar colours whether you’re using Classic or New Outlook.

Why Change Your Outlook Calendar Colours?

Before diving into the how-to, let’s explore why this feature is so useful. When you’re juggling work meetings, personal appointments, and perhaps family schedules, being able to see the differences at a glance is important. Different colours help you instantly identify which calendar an event belongs to, reducing confusion and improving your productivity.

Multiple Calendars? Different colour can make it easier to tell different appointments - especially in Overlay mode.

I personally use blue for my main calendar and orange for my business calendar. This simple colour coding system means I can glance at my schedule and immediately understand the context of each appointment without having to read the details.

Step-by-Step Guide: Changing Calendar Colours in Outlook

For New Outlook Users

The process is refreshingly straightforward in New Outlook:

Navigate to your calendar view in Outlook
Locate the calendar you want to modify in the left-hand panel
Hover over the calendar name until you see additional options appear
Click the three dots that appear to the right of the calendar name
Select “Colour” from the dropdown menu
Choose your preferred colour from the available options

Outlook calendar colours can be found in the More Options.

The beauty of this feature is its immediacy – as soon as you click your chosen colour, all existing meetings and events from that calendar automatically update to reflect the new colour scheme.

Classic Outlook Compatibility

If you’re still using Classic Outlook (and I know many of you are!), don’t worry – this feature works exactly the same way. The screen might look slightly different, but the functionality and steps remain identical.

Best Practices for Calendar Colour Organisation

When choosing colours for your calendars, consider these tips:

Use contrasting colours to ensure clear visual separation
Assign colours logically – perhaps red for urgent work items, blue for regular meetings, green for personal time
Keep it consistent across all your devices and applications
Don’t use too many colours as this can become overwhelming rather than helpful

The Impact on Your Productivity

This simple customisation can have a significant impact on your daily workflow. Instead of squinting at calendar entries trying to determine their source, you’ll instantly recognise patterns and contexts. This visual organisation helps with:

Quick schedule scanning during busy periods
Better work-life balance by clearly separating professional and personal commitments
Reduced scheduling conflicts by immediately seeing calendar overlaps
Improved time management through clearer visual priorities

Troubleshooting Common Issues

If your calendar colours aren’t displaying correctly, try refreshing your Outlook application or checking your display settings. Sometimes, synchronisation delays can affect colour changes across different devices.

Give It a Go!

Honestly, this is such a simple change but it makes such a difference! I can’t tell you how much easier it’s made my life since I started using different colours for my calendars.

So go on, give it a try right now – it literally takes 30 seconds. I bet once you’ve done it, you’ll be kicking yourself for not doing it sooner. Trust me on this one!

Let me know how you get on with it – I’d love to hear which colours you choose and whether it helps you stay organised too!

Written with the help of Claude AI from an original transcription.

Struggling with the transition from Classic to New Outlook?

I’ve been tracking the differences I discover in a simple spreadsheet – what’s been removed and what’s new. It’s free after joining my mailing list. Get the spreadsheet here.