Support informational calendar notifications

Hi @Susan Weinfurther, 

Thank you for posting your suggestion in the Microsoft Q&A forum. 

I understand the scenario you described. Many calendar entries are informational in nature rather than actual meetings, such as PTO notifications, coverage plans, holidays, maintenance windows, and operational announcements. In these situations, the current Outlook event types may not fully align with the intended communication experience. 

Based on the current Outlook and Microsoft 365 calendar functionality, there is no dedicated event type that provides all of the following behaviors together: 

• Marks only the organizer as Out of Office. 
• Notifies attendees without marking them as Out of Office. 
• Does not automatically block attendee calendars as Busy. 
• Does not automatically include a Microsoft Teams meeting link. 
• Optionally suppresses RSVP responses. 

Today, users generally need to choose between: 

1. Sending an email, which provides notification but lacks calendar visibility. 
2. Creating an Out of Office event, which primarily applies to the organizer's calendar status. 
3. Creating a meeting invitation, which may introduce attendee responses, calendar blocking, and Teams meeting information that are not necessary for informational announcements. 

At this time, there is no built-in Outlook feature designed specifically for informational calendar notices that combines the requirements you outlined. Your scenario represents a valid business use case, particularly for managers and operational teams who need to communicate schedule-related information while minimizing unnecessary meeting invitations and calendar noise. 

I also agree these functionality would be valuable for your organization, the best way to ensure that the product team reviews the suggestion is to submit feedback through the Microsoft Feedback Portal. This is the official channel where customer ideas are collected, reviewed, and considered for future product improvements. 

How to submit your suggestion: 

Visit the Microsoft Feedback Portal: Microsoft Teams · Community 

Select Send feedback. 

Provide a detailed description, for example: 

"Please add a dedicated informational calendar event type in Outlook that allows organizers to publish PTO notices, maintenance windows, holidays, coverage plans, and other operational communications. The event should mark only the organizer as Out of Office, notify attendees without affecting their availability status, avoid automatically adding a Teams meeting link, and optionally suppress RSVP responses." 

If you submit the idea, feel free to share the feedback link here so other community members can review it and vote for the suggestion. 

As a fellow forum user, I do not have the ability to change product behavior, implement new features, or influence Microsoft's product roadmap. I can only help explain the current functionality and guide you to the appropriate channel for submitting product ideas and feedback. 

Thank you again for your time and understanding. I really appreciate your patience, and I'm here to help. Looking forward to your response. 

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