Learn How to Create a Calendar in SharePoint Online – Detailed Guide!

Have you ever noticed how SharePoint can automatically send out meeting reminders and important event notifications? This functionality is powered by the Calendar feature in SharePoint Online. In this blog, you will learn how to create a calendar in SharePoint Online and steps to automate this process by leveraging PowerShell scripts.

Overview – Creating a calendar in SharePoint Online is a great way to keep track of important events, deadlines, and team activities. Whether you are planning a project timeline, scheduling meetings, or tracking milestones, SharePoint’s calendar feature can help you stay organized. Additionally, you can also explore what is SharePoint? If you are curious to dig deep!

Before moving forward, let’s understand a user query related to creating a calendar and calendar lists in SharePoint Online.

User Query – Difficulty in Creating a Calendar and Calendar List in SharePoint Online.

After reading the user query we can understand the user is struggling with setting up and managing a calendar and calendar list in SharePoint Online. Therefore, in this guide, we are discussing the benefits of using SharePoint Online calendar, the steps to create a calendar, and configure a calendar list. Additionally, we are also mentioning the best practices followed by our experts at SharePoint Migrator.

Perks of Creating a Calendar in SharePoint Online

• Provides a centralized scheduling that helps to keep all team events and deadlines in one accessible location.
• Automated notifications that help in receiving automatic reminders and updates for upcoming events.
• Offers enhanced collaboration helps to share and manage events with team members which improves coordination.
• Provides customizable views to tailor how you view and manage events. Such as daily, weekly, or monthly.
• It also provides seamless integration with other Microsoft 365 apps for a unified experience.

How to Create a Calendar in SharePoint Online – Manual Steps

Follow these steps to create calendars effectively however we also provide steps to manage them after the creation. Here are simple steps to add a calendar in SharePoint  Online.

Step 1. Firstly, Log in to SharePoint Online and navigate to the site where you want to create a Calendar.

Step 2. Secondly, click on “Site Contents” on the left navigation pane.

Step 3. Thirdly, select “+ New” Select App from the dropdown.

Step 4. Click on the “Classic Experience” link on the site content page.

Step 5. Search for Calendar and Click on the calendar.

Step 6. Lastly, enter a name for your calendar.

Step 7. Finally, click “Create”. This will create your calendar.

Step 8. Verify whether your calendar is created or not in the Site content.

Customize and Use Your Calendar:

• After creating click on the calendar to open it.
• Add an event in the Calendar.
• Switch between different views (month, week, day) to find what works best for you and your team.

Create a Calendar in SharePoint Online Using PowerShell 

Here are two ways through which you can automate the calendar creation.

• Using PowerShell 
• Using PowerShell CSOM

#1 PowerShell Commands for Creating Calendar

# connect your SharePoint Online site by entering your site url
Connect-SPOService -Url https://yourtenant-admin.sharepoint.com
# Create a calendar in SharePoint Online
New-SPOSite -Url https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com/sites/yoursite -Owner user@domain.com -StorageQuota 1000 -Title "Calendar Site"

#2 Utilize PowerShell CSOM Commands for Calendar Creation

# Load SharePoint CSOM Libraries
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll"
Add-Type -Path "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\16\ISAPI\Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll"
# Create a Calendar Using CSOM
$siteUrl = "https://yourtenant.sharepoint.com/sites/yoursite"
$username = "user@domain.com"
$password = "yourpassword"
$securePassword = ConvertTo-SecureString $password -AsPlainText -Force
$credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($username, $securePassword)
$ctx = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($siteUrl)
$ctx.Credentials = $credentials
$web = $ctx.Web
$ctx.Load($web)
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()
$listCreationInfo = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ListCreationInformation
$listCreationInfo.Title = "Events Calendar"
$listCreationInfo.TemplateType = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ListTemplateType]::Calendar
$list = $web.Lists.Add($listCreationInfo)
$ctx.ExecuteQuery()

How to Add Events in SharePoint Calendar Step-by-step?

After learning how to create a calendar in SharePoint Online you can easily add events to that calendar by following these steps.

• Navigate to your SharePoint calendar.
• Click on “New Event” or “+ Add” depending on your view.
• Fill in the given fields such as title, date, time, and location.
• Click on “Save” which will add the event to the calendar.

How to Integrate a Calendar with Other Office 365 Apps

Till now you have learned how to create a Calendar in SharePoint Online and how to add events to a calendar. Let’s learn how you can integrate the newly created calendar with different microsoft 365 apps. Follow the below-given steps to efficiently integrate the calendar with Microsoft Outlook, Teams, and To-DO.

1. Outlook Integration

• Navigate to your SharePoint calendar.
• Click on “Connect to Outlook” in the calendar settings. 

After following this step your SharePoint calendar is synced with Outlook. Which helps you to view and manage your SharePoint events directly from your Outlook calendar.

2. Teams Integration

• Open the Microsoft Teams channel where you want to add the calendar.
• Click on the “+” icon to add a new tab.
• Choose “SharePoint” from the list of apps.
• Select the SharePoint calendar you want to integrate and click “Save.” 

This will add the calendar as a tab in your Teams channel for easy access and collaboration.

3. Microsoft To-Do Integration

• Firstly, open Microsoft Power Automate (formerly Flow).
• Secondly, set up a new flow to sync your SharePoint calendar events with Microsoft To-Do.
• Finally, define the triggers and actions to automate the synchronization of calendar events to your To-do list.

After following these steps you can successfully integrate a calendar in office 365.

Best Practices for Calendar Management

• Regularly Update Events – You have to keep the calendar updated by regularly updating events and deadlines.
• Set Access Control – You should define clear SharePoint Online permissions to control who can view or edit the calendar.
• Utilize Alerts – Set up alerts for upcoming events and changes which ultimately helps to get everyone informed.
• Organize Events – You should categorize events or use color-coding for better visibility and organization of events in the calendar.
• Leverage Views –  For a  Clear view of events and meetings you can customize calendar views to match different needs (daily, weekly, monthly) for optimal management.

Conclusion

To conclude, we have shown the ways through which you can create a Calendar in SharePoint Online. However, we have also discussed the perks of creating a calendar, the steps for creating it, two PowerShell methods for calendar creation, and customization of the calendar. Additionally, we have mentioned how to add an event to the calendar, integrate a newly created calendar into Microsoft 365 apps, and best practices for managing calendars. After going through this blog all your queries regarding calendar creation should be resolved.