Member Avatar for ali-d

Hi all,

I'm trying to give a user access to a shared calendar (that the rest of her team have access to already) but I can't figure it out. The calendar was originally set up by a staff member that has left so I'm in the dark with it. What I do know is:

  1. In the Exchange admin center it's listed as a Resource and under Mailbox delegation - none of the staff that have access to the calendar are listed here. It was set to be hidden from the address books too. I gave myself access through this permission so that I can see it and try to troubleshoot it.

  2. I can see it listed in AD. However if I look at a user that has access to the calendar, they don't appear to have any special membership that gives them access to this calendar.

  3. Since adding myself to the Mailbox delegation list I can see it in my outlook 2013 client. However it is listed under 'My Calendars' and I also have a mailbox now too. The other users who have access see the calendar under 'Shared Calendar'. For me the calendar is called 'Library Calendar' For the other users it's called 'Library Calendar - Library Calendar'

  4. Within the calendar I can go to Properties and Permissions and I can see all the staff with access listed as owners. I added the new staff member but when she opens the calendar it's blank.

Can anyone offer any suggestions as to how I can give her access to this shared 'resource' calendar without using the mailbox delegation in the exchange admin centre??

or

Can anyone offer any reasons as to how the other people have access without being listed in the mailbox delegation in the exchange admin centre??

Thanks a mill
Ali-D

Edited by ali-d
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  • Latest Post Latest Post by rproffitt

Dani AI

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Short practical summary for : what you're seeing is the classic difference between mailbox-level delegation (Full Access) and calendar folder sharing. Full Access will add the resource as an extra mailbox in Outlook (appears under "My Calendars"); folder-level permissions make a calendar show as a shared calendar. Folder permissions are stored on the Calendar folder, not in the Mailbox Delegation tab, so people can have access without being listed as delegates in EAC. (learn.microsoft.com)

Quick checks (run from Exchange Management Shell) — confirm the mailbox type/hidden status and inspect folder permissions:

# check mailbox type and hidden-from-AL flag
Get-Mailbox -Identity "library@contoso.com" | Format-List Name,PrimarySmtpAddress,RecipientTypeDetails,HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled

# list calendar folder permissions
Get-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity "library@contoso.com:\Calendar"

# add folder permission (example)
Add-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity "library@contoso.com:\Calendar" -User "domain\newuser" -AccessRights Editor

The Get-/Add-MailboxFolderPermission syntax uses the <mailbox>:\Calendar identity. Use those cmdlets to confirm whether the new user actually has folder-level rights. (learn.microsoft.com)

If you intentionally granted Full Access and you do not want Outlook to auto-map the mailbox into users' profiles, re-grant Full Access with automapping disabled:

Add-MailboxPermission -Identity "library@contoso.com" -User "domain\newuser" -AccessRights FullAccess -AutoMapping $false

Disabling automapping keeps the mailbox from appearing under "My Calendars." (learn.microsoft.com)

Client-side tips: test from Outlook on the web first — if the calendar items show there but the desktop Outlook user sees a blank calendar, it is usually a client / cache issue (reset navpane, recreate OST, or remove/re-add the shared calendar). If the resource is hidden from address lists you may need to open it by typing the SMTP address or temporarily unhide it while troubleshooting. For delegating to many people, give folder rights to a security-enabled AD group (not a distribution-only group) so membership is manageable. (support.microsoft.com)

Start with the two checks above (): verify folder permissions with Get-MailboxFolderPermission and view the mailbox in OWA to rule out client caching.

Member Avatar for rproffitt

This appears to be the old blank calendar discussion. This varies with version of Exchange and Outlook but here's the search you should be using.
https://www.google.com/search?q=blank+shared+calendar+exchange

Or take the training courses in Exchange, get your certs and while in class be sure to tell the instructor what specific topics you need covered.
I don't know why, but I see more and more folk tackle such without the corsework. That's a choice but a poor one when a company's revenues are at stake.

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