What To Know
- To cancel: View Switcher > Calendar > pick meeting. In the Meeting tab > Cancel Meeting > give a reason > Send Cancellation.
- Recurring meetings: Calendar > pick meeting > Just this one. Meeting Occurrence > Cancel Meeting > Delete. Give a reason > Send.
- To reschedule: Open the calendar, and pick the meeting. Change any details, and give an explanation. Press Send Update.
This article explains how to cancel meetings in Outlook, including recurring meetings, removing participants, and rescheduling. Instructions in this article apply to Outlook for Microsoft 365, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2016, and Outlook 2013.
Cancel a Meeting
To cancel a meeting and remove it from the calendar in the Outlook desktop app:
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Go to the View Switcher and select Calendar.
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Find the meeting on the calendar and double-click the meeting.
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In the meeting invitation, go to the Meeting tab and select Cancel Meeting. The meeting invitation changes to a meeting cancellation.
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In the meeting cancellation, enter a message explaining the reason why the meeting was canceled.
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Select Send Cancellation.
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The meeting is removed from the calendar and the attendees receive an email message about the cancellation, just like you would for a meeting reminder.
Cancel an Individual Recurring Meeting
When you only need to cancel one meeting in a set of recurring meetings, select that meeting on the calendar to remove it.
To cancel an individual meeting in a set of recurring meetings:
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Go to the Calendar and select the recurring meeting you want to cancel.
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When prompted, select Just this one.
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Go to the Meeting Occurrence tab and select Cancel Meeting.
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Confirm the deletion on meeting by selecting Delete this occurrence.
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In the meeting cancellation, compose a message explaining the reason for the canceled meeting.
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Select Send Cancellation.
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The meeting is removed from the calendar and the meeting cancellation is sent to the attendees.
Cancel Future Recurring Meetings
If you set up a series of meetings that recur until a date in the future and you want to cancel all those meetings, send a meeting update with a new end date for the series.
To cancel recurring meetings after a specified date:
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Go to the Calendar and double-click any meeting in the series.
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In the Open Recurring Item dialog box, select The entire series and select OK.
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In the meeting invitation, select Recurrence.
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In the Appointment Recurrence dialog box, select End by and enter a date that comes before the date that you want to hold the last meeting.
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Select OK.
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In the message area, compose a message to all attendees that tells them why the future meetings are canceled.
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Select Send Update.
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The recurring meetings that are after the end by date are removed from the calendar and an update email is sent to the attendees.
This approach works best for meetings without a lot of modifications to the series, because the update retroactively modifies attendees' calendars.
Reschedule a Meeting
When plans change and you want to change the time or date of a meeting scheduled in Outlook, reschedule it.
To reschedule a meeting in the Outlook desktop app:
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Go to the calendar and double-click the meeting.
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Change the date, time, and any other meeting details that have changed.
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Compose a message explaining the change.
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Select Send Update.
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The meeting details change on the calendar and a meeting update email is sent to the attendees.
Remove a Participant From a Meeting
If someone can’t make it to the meeting, remove that person from the meeting invitation.
To remove an attendee:
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Go to the calendar and double-click the meeting.
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In the meeting invitation, go to the Scheduling Assistant tab.
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In the All Attendees list, click to clear the check box next to the person you want to remove.
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Select Send.
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In the Send Update to Attendees dialog box, choose to either Send updates only to added or deleted attendees or Send updates to all attendees.
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Select OK.
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The meeting update transmits to the selected attendees.