Create Calendar Events from a SharePoint Online list

In this SharePoint Online tutorial, we will discuss what are calendar events in SharePoint Online. Also, we will see, how to create calendar events from a SharePoint Online list. And also,

• How to make calendar view the default in SharePoint Online list.
• How to share the calendar event in the SharePoint Online list.

Calendar event in SharePoint Online list

In SharePoint Online, a calendar event refers to an item in a SharePoint calendar that has a start date, an end date, and additional information such as a title, description, location, and attendees. Calendar events can be used to track important dates and appointments, such as team meetings, project deadlines, and company events.

SharePoint Online calendars allow you to create and manage calendar events, as well as view upcoming events in a variety of ways, including daily, weekly, and monthly views. You can also set up email notifications to alert attendees of upcoming events or changes to the event schedule.

Calendar events in SharePoint Online can be customized to suit the needs of your organization, such as adding custom columns to capture additional information about the event, setting up recurring events, and configuring different views to display specific types of events.

Overall, SharePoint Online calendar events provide a useful tool for managing schedules and keeping your team members informed about upcoming events and deadlines.

The calendar view is the most applicable view for a SharePoint event list (or any list with a date field). We can add filters to the view, and choose the event details also we can display calendar lists in daily, weekly, and monthly views.

This is about calendar events in the SharePoint Online list.

Create calendar events from the SharePoint Online list

For creating a calendar event from the SharePoint Online list, we need to follow two steps, they are:

• Create a column using the Date and time type in the SharePoint Online list
• Create a calendar view in the SharePoint Online list

Example:- We have created a list for RENA Technologies, a company based out in the United States of America.

Based on the business scenario, the client stored Semiconductor Issue Tracker list in SharePoint Online. We stored information like:

• Issue ID
• Issue
• Issue Description
• Issue Image
• Issue Status
• Issue Assigned to

But we need to create a calendar event list as Issue Start Date and Issue Resolved Date. For that, we have to add the Date and time type column and create a Calendar view.

Create a column using Date and time type in the SharePoint Online list

We will create two columns for calendar events as Issue Start Date and Issue Resolved Date in the SharePoint Online list. Here we will see how to create a column using Date and time type from the SharePoint Online list. Follow these steps:-

• Navigate to the SharePoint Online list where you want to add the calendar event, Navigate to https://<tenantname>.sharepoint.com/sites/ <sitename>/Lists/<listname>Example: https://tsinfotechnologies.sharepoint.com/sites/RenaTechnologies/Lists/SemiconductorIssueTracker
• Then, click on the +Add column

• A dialog box appears and Choose the Date and time type -> Click on the Next button.

• A dialog box appears in Create a Column form, it includes:
  • Name: Provide a name to a column. Example: Issue Start Date
  • Description: Provide the detail of a column.
  • Type: Choose Date and time type.
  • Include Time: When we are creating a Date and time type column, where it displays a calendar with a date if we choose Include Time it also includes the time.
  • Friendly format: This represents the exact date, date fields started showing values such as “2 days ago”, “About a minute ago”, “3 hours ago”, “Today at 3:00 PM”, etc.
  • Default Value: We can set a default value to Today’s date else Select a Date and time.
    

• Click on the Save button -> Now we can find the Date and time type column that will be created as shown below:

Add some data to the list to the SharePoint list so that we can see how they look shortly when we turn the list into a calendar. We added some items to the Issue Start Date as shown below:

Similarly based on our requirement, I have created another Date and time type column as Issue Resolved Date, and added some items to the Issue Resolved Date as shown below. We can also create another Date and time type column, to end date based on our requirement.

This is how we can create a Column using Date and time type. By using the above SharePoint list, we can create a calendar event in the SharePoint Online list.

Create a calendar event in the SharePoint Online list

Here we will see how to create a calendar event from the SharePoint Online list. Follow these steps:-

• Open the SharePoint Online list that you have created using the Date and time type column, Example: Semiconductor Issue Tracker list, which created a column like Issue Start Date and Issue Resolved date.
• On the upper right-hand side, select the View options menu -> click on the Create new view

• A dialog box appears which contains:
  • View Name: Provide a name based on your requirement to create a new SharePoint Online list event. For example, I am creating a view for Issue Calendar Event.
  • Show as: we need to choose between different types of views, Choose Calendar View because we are creating calendar events in the SharePoint Online list
  • Default layout: We can choose a default layout representing in Month or Week.
  • Under Start date and End date, select which date-based column should apply. Example: I have two dates to track (such as “Issue Start Date” and “Issue Resolved Date”), and we specified one each under the Start date and End date.
  • Visibility: We need to select between make this a public view or not, Select Make this a Public View, where, Views are of two types in terms of audience,
    • Personal – Visible only to the logged-in user
    • Public– Visible to everyone (with access to a list)
  • Expand More Options, we can have the ability to select which column in our list is used as the label for each that appears on the calendar. By default, the Title is used, but we can change that if we like. 

• Click on the Create button.

The items in the SharePoint Online list are now displayed as calendar events when we select the default layout as Month. Click on a day that has an event.

Else, The items in the SharePoint Online list are now displayed as calendar events when we select the default layout as Week. Click on a day that has an event.

This is how we can create a calendar view.

How to make a calendar view the Default in the SharePoint Online list?

Here we will see how to make a calendar view the Default. Follow these steps:-

• Open the Calendar Event which we want to make as default from the SharePoint Online list. Example: Issue Calendar Event
• On the upper right-hand side, select the View options menu -> click on the Set current view as default

From now on, when we open this list, it will be shown as a calendar. People can view and create items in this view. 

This is how we can make a calendar view the default in SharePoint Online List.

Share a calendar event in SharePoint Online list

Users can share a calendar with all people in the organization. People who are inside the organization can view the shared calendar. If we share the calendar with external users, a URL will be sent, and they can use it to view the calendar. Once the Sharing is enabled, users can use Outlook to share their calendars with an inside organization or external users. The steps to share the calendar view are:

• Open the Calendar Event with which we want to share. Example: Issue Calendar Event
• On the upper left-hand side, select the Share menu

• A pop-up appears with:
  • Send link: We can send the link directly to the people who are inside the organization.
  • Copy Link: We can copy it and share it on any medium(WhatsApp, outlook, etc) with external users. They can only view the calendar.

• In Send link To provide the name of the people who are inside the organization, with whom we need to share the article -> Expand the eye icon where we can set permissions for people where they can edit or view the calendar

• Click on the Send button. Now the person whom we have sent can view and edit the calendar view.
• Else if we need to share with an external user, In Copy Link, if it shows people in your organization with the link, we need to change the settings so that you can select the people you choose by clicking on it.

• A dialog box appears as Sharing settings, select the people you choose -> provide the name, group, or email where we can select people inside the organization else external users. Example: I provided an external user email.

• Click on the Apply button -> Now it creates a link to share with an external user, Copy it.

Now, we can share it on any medium (WhatsApp, outlook, etc) with external users. They can only view the calendar.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we learned, what are calendar events in SharePoint, and how to create calendar events from a SharePoint Online list.

• How to make calendar view the default in the SharePoint Online list.
• How to share a calendar event in the SharePoint Online list.

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