How to Change Event Colors in Outlook

In Outlook you don't set an event's color directly—you assign it a category, and the category supplies the color. Separately, you can change the color of an entire calendar to tell your calendars apart. This guide covers both, with steps for new Outlook, the web, classic desktop, and notes on what mobile can and can't do.

How event coloring works

An individual event takes its color from a category (a named color like "Travel" or "Personal"). A whole calendar has its own single color that applies to every event on it that has no category. If you've never set up categories, start with Outlook Calendar Categories and Color Coding.

Change the color of a single event

You do this by applying a category.

New Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web

New Outlook and Outlook on the web (outlook.office.com or outlook.com) work the same way.

1. Right-click the event on the calendar grid.
2. Choose Categorize.
3. Select an existing category, or pick Manage categories / New category to create one with the color you want.
4. The event immediately shows the category color.

You can also open the event, select Categorize, and choose a color there.

Classic Outlook desktop

1. Right-click the event and choose Categorize, or open the event and select Categorize on the ribbon.
2. Pick a category. To create one, choose All Categories → New.
3. Save or close the event.

Change a calendar's color

Recoloring a whole calendar affects every uncategorized event on it.

New Outlook and Outlook on the web

1. In the calendar's left pane, hover over the calendar name.
2. Select the More options (…) menu, then Color.
3. Pick a color from the palette.

Classic Outlook desktop

1. Select the calendar so it's active.
2. On the View tab, use the Color dropdown to choose a color for that calendar.

Quick comparison

Mobile notes

The Outlook mobile app displays colors set elsewhere, but its editing options are limited:

• You can usually apply an existing category to an event by opening it and choosing Categorize.
• Creating new categories or changing a calendar's color is best done on desktop or the web—the mobile app may not expose those controls.
• Colors you set on desktop or the web sync down to mobile automatically.

Troubleshooting

• The color didn't change. Confirm you applied a category to the event rather than expecting the event to recolor on its own. Uncategorized events fall back to the calendar's color.
• An event shows the wrong color. It may have multiple categories; Outlook displays the most recently applied one. Open the event to see all assigned categories.
• Colors differ between devices. Give category sync a moment, and confirm you're viewing the same account on each device.
• Someone else's event looks uncolored. On shared calendars you see the owner's categories, which won't match your personal list.

Once your events are color-coded, seeing them next to your other calendars helps even more. nocal brings your Outlook and Google calendars into one timeline — see how.