Provide a feature of Darker shade or color for "Out of Office" appointments in Microsoft Outlook 2016
Provide a feature to show "Out of Office" appointments in Microsoft Outlook 2016 in darker shade or color.

20 comments
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Becky commented
Please fix this - I use outlook via remote desktop with reduced colour set and the white and light grey get merged into one colour. effectively there's no out-of-office colour.
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C commented
Please fix this MS. These light colors suck!! Go back to the dark purple. We constantly have people double booking because they can't tell something is busy and don't see the thin ribbon at the top.
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Kelly J. commented
MS, this has been an ongoing problem for a while. Please fix this!
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Jennifer commented
Yes, please fix this issue! I used to have Outlook 2010 and recently upgrade to 2016. I HATE the out of office color is so light that I can't tell when someone is in or out quickly. I am an Executive Assistant and support multiple executives so this has become a huge issue. I've been thinking of downgrading just to get back to the darker shade option. Please fix this Microsoft.
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Mel Singleton commented
Please make 'Outside of working hours' a darker color. The light grey is too easy to miss.
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Patti commented
There really needs to be a fix for the out of office color. I too have scheduled on a day when the boss was out. And boy did I hear about it! I have six calendars to manage and need to see quick and fast when someone isn't available. Obviously this is a concern for many and not sure why there isn't a fix.
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Carrie commented
Please, please, please fix this feature back to the way it used to be. I cannot tell at a glance anymore when my boss will be out of the office. So frustrating!! Thank you.
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Anonymous commented
color selections need to be more obvious in the drop-down selector please, varying patterns of blue-grey is not useful.
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Paul Thompson commented
Darkening the color for out of office is a problem, however, the bigger problem is the lines on the calendar. They're too light when you're looking at multiple calendars and you can't tell what time you're looking at.
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Paul Thompson commented
Piling on...
Gray vs. Purple shading for Out of Office is difficult to see when viewing multiple calendars. Sometimes you can miss one of the executives being out when trying to schedule meetings. Is it possible to override/install themes to not use the default color scheme (which are pastel)?
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Anonymous commented
I want my windows 10 calendar back this one sucks.
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Rachel commented
The color blocking my calendar for out of office is so muted that I can barely tell the difference from in office. Other people are scheduling into times when I'm not in the office now when they normally wouldn't because I'm not available.
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Anonymous commented
Will be out of the office from Monday, October 2 and will return on Thursday, October 5th, 2017
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Anonymous commented
First, make it clear how to find "out of office" section, which I used in Outlook 2007 but so far have not found in Outlook 2016. I'm going away for 16 days and would like to use this feature. I'd been told the "new" Outlook would be upward compatible, but is it really?
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Adam Lein commented
You have the ability to customize this yourself in the view settings since maybe Outlook 2007. The options are still there in Outlook 2017. I've added instructions and screenshots to the MS Answers thread here: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_outlook-mso_other/calendar-out-of-office-shading/6a63ab16-f7da-4d1d-b925-d923f6f62b62?rtAction=1500431661821
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SK commented
Because of the horrible "downgrade" I got to 2016, my I.T. people at work "upgraded" me to 2013, a better product, but not as good as 2010. Microsoft Outlook 2016 is a disgrace. It's worse than gmail. It's so primitive.
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Devin commented
Have the out of office icon readily accessible in Outlook, maybe when you click on the file tab. Where is it hidden?
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Anonymous commented
My assistant scheduled a meeting when I'm OOO because the shading is too light. Bring back the 2013 version of DARK shading when OOO.
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SK commented
Yes, please make the whole OOO calendar page that DARK PURPLE color again. Or a dark ANY color. It's so light, I can't even see it when I scroll through the days looking for open appointments. I've only had Outlook 2016 for a week and I've made so many mistakes scheduling my managers' calendars. I've been on the verge of tears all week because of this. Scheduling calendar appointments is 45% of my job!!!
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wrhf commented
Hi,
I posted a well documented example of the problem that this including sample screenshot on May 17, 2017 at this link:
Regardless of how many votes this gets, this is an issue that should be addressed.
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1) The way it is, the pale lavender that shows for each Out of Office day is very hard to see, and thus it is hard to see at a glance of the calendar when one is out of office.2) There is a small dark purple rectangle at the beginning of each "Out of Office" bars that shows on a weekly or monthly view and this is the color that should be used for the entire bar for "Out of Office" notices. The bar currently shows as blue, just like any other appointment. If the entire bar 'Out of Office' bar was dark purple, that would help us see what days we are out.