Change colors for booked appointments in Outlook 2021 calendar .......

Dave Cason 21 Reputation points
2026-08-30T21:28:59.63+00:00

Hi,

Been using MS Outlook for decades and I bought the office 2021 suite ..... Subscriptions suck.

In my Outlook 2021 now, it seems like I can't change each appointment or booking in the calendar anymore.

They all seem to have to stay the sickly blue color ...... I used to be able to change the color for each separate appointment or booking - what happened? I can change all of them at once of course, but I want different colors for different type of bookings.

Here's all of them in the default blue ........

cal colors

Is it something obvious, I tried the conditional formatting but that's a stupid work around.

CHeers'
Dave C

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For home
Answer accepted by question author
Hornblower409 14,600 Reputation points
2026-09-02T10:08:18.8166667+00:00

Looking at your original screen shot, it looks like it is a "This Computer Only" calendar, probably for an IMAP or POP account?

No Cats allowed in that type of Calendar.

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You can still have Cats with an IMAP/POP account if you switch to a separate PST Default Outlook Data File and the IMAP Calendar is in the Default PST. This is probably the setup you had with your old Outlook.

[External Non-Microsoft site] https://robert365.com/article/do-not-risk-losing-your-contacts-and-calendar-when-using-imap

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  1. Hornblower409 14,600 Reputation points
    2026-09-02T00:06:32.0733333+00:00

    @Dave Cason said

    right click each email address / then go down to data file properties / click the upgrade to color categories

    That is only for very old Outlook Data Files that have been migrated to a recent Outlook version. Outlook 2021 has Color Cats enabled by default.

    I used to be able to change the color for each separate appointment or booking - what happened?

    Not sure I understand. If you Right-Click on an event, do you not see "Categorize" ?

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    And when you assign a Cat, the event takes on the Cat color.

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  2. AI answer

    2026-08-30T21:29:14.64+00:00

    Yes — in classic Outlook, different colors for individual appointments are done with Color Categories, not the overall calendar color setting.

    For Outlook 2021 / classic Outlook:

    1. Open Calendar.
    2. Right-click the appointment, meeting, or event.
    3. Select Categorize.
    4. Pick a category color from the list.

    Another way:

    1. Open the appointment.
    2. On the ribbon, use Categorize in the Tags group.
    3. Choose a category.

    If the color wanted is not shown:

    1. Select Categorize > All Categories.
    2. Create a new category with New, or rename an existing one with Rename.
    3. Choose the color and save it.

    Useful details:

    • A single item can have multiple categories.
    • In classic Outlook, only the 15 most recently used categories appear directly on the Categorize menu.
    • If assigning a default category for the first time, Outlook may prompt to rename it.

    If all appointments are still showing the same blue, that usually means only the calendar view color is being changed, not the item’s category. The per-appointment colors come from Categorize.

    Conditional formatting is separate. It can color appointments based on rules, but for manually setting different colors on different bookings, categories are the direct feature.

    AI-generated content may be incorrect. Read our transparency notes for more information.

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