How to Create Recurring Meetings in Outlook

Recurring meetings save you from re-creating the same weekly standup or monthly review every time. Outlook lets you set daily, weekly, monthly, or fully custom repeat patterns, choose when the series ends, and later edit either one occurrence or the entire series. This guide walks through it across new Outlook, the web, classic desktop, and mobile.

Set up a recurring meeting

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. Select New event (or double-click a time slot).
2. Add a title, attendees, time, and location.
3. Find the Repeat option (a dropdown near the date/time).
4. Choose a built-in pattern—Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly—or select Custom for more control.
5. Set the meeting details and select Send.

Classic Outlook desktop

1. Create a new Meeting from the Home ribbon.
2. On the meeting window, select Recurrence (a circular-arrows icon) on the ribbon.
3. In the Appointment Recurrence dialog, set the pattern and range.
4. Select OK, finish the meeting details, and Send.

Build a custom pattern

The Custom / Recurrence options let you express most schedules:

Choose the option that matches how people actually think about the cadence—"first Monday of the month" is more robust than a fixed date that drifts across weekdays.

Set an end date

Every recurring series needs a range. Outlook offers:

• No end date — repeats indefinitely (use sparingly).
• End after N occurrences — for example, a 6-week training series.
• End by a date — stops on a date you pick.

Open-ended series clutter calendars over time, so prefer an end date or occurrence count when you can.

Edit a recurring meeting

When you change a recurring meeting, Outlook asks whether you mean one occurrence or the whole series.

• This occurrence — changes only the meeting you opened (e.g., move next week's standup an hour later). It becomes an "exception" while the rest of the series stays put.
• This and following occurrences — available in newer surfaces; updates the occurrence you opened and all future ones, leaving past ones unchanged. Availability varies by Outlook version and account type.
• All occurrences / The entire series — changes every meeting in the series.

When you save, Outlook prompts attendees with an updated invitation so everyone stays in sync.

Delete one vs. all

Deleting works the same way: pick This occurrence to cancel a single meeting (good for a one-off skip) or The entire series to end the whole thing. Use a single-occurrence delete instead of editing if you just need to skip one week.

Mobile

In the Outlook mobile app:

1. Create or open an event.
2. Tap Repeat and choose a pattern (mobile favors the common presets; deep custom rules are easier on desktop).
3. When editing a recurring event, the app asks whether to change this event or all events.

Set complex custom patterns on desktop or the web, then manage day-to-day exceptions on mobile.

Troubleshooting

• An edit hit the whole series by mistake. If you chose "all occurrences," reopen the specific meeting and edit only that occurrence to restore it.
• An occurrence looks out of place. That's an exception you (or an attendee) created—open it to adjust.
• "This and following" is missing. Some account types or older versions don't offer it; edit individual occurrences or the full series instead.

With recurring meetings set, a single view of every calendar keeps overlaps visible. nocal brings your Outlook and Google calendars into one timeline — see how.