cannot create events in outlook for Mac

Dear Catharine,

As a forum moderator, I am not able to access your account or delve into the backend systems to diagnose and fix this for you. My role here is limited to providing general guidance and solutions you can apply from your side. To narrow it down, could you clarify a few things?

• Is New Event missing, greyed out, or unresponsive?
• Is this your own calendar or a shared/subscribed calendar?
• Is the account Microsoft 365, Outlook.com, Gmail, or IMAP?
• Can you create an event in Outlook on the web?
• Does Outlook show Activation Required, View Only, or a license warning?
• What Outlook and macOS versions are installed?

A screenshot of what appears switched off would help as well, with any names and email addresses masked before posting.
There are two things worth checking before anything else. Select your own primary calendar in the calendar list and try creating an event again, then open Word or Excel to see whether editing is also blocked there. If it is, this points to a licensing issue rather than a calendar one.

Once I have a clearer picture, I will do my best to point you in the right direction. Looking forward to your reply.

Dear Catharine,

Thank you for the detailed answers, the IMAP detail is the key one here. In Outlook for Mac, IMAP accounts only support mail, with no calendar or contacts, which is why New Event is greyed out rather than returning an error.

For reference: Sync account in Outlook for Mac to Microsoft Cloud

If your organization hosts mail on Microsoft 365 or Exchange, adding the account that way instead of IMAP would give you a working calendar with the same work address, so it is worth asking your IT team. If that is not available, the macOS Calendar app alongside Outlook for mail is the practical alternative.

I hope this information helps clarify the situation and provides you with workable solutions. Let me know if you need anything else.

Also if the information was helpful, please click "Yes" and kindly upvote it so other users with similar questions can find the answer more easily.