How to Create a Meeting on Behalf of Someone in Outlook

Scheduling a meeting for another person in Outlook is a genuinely useful capability — but it's not as straightforward as sending an email from a shared inbox. Whether you're an executive assistant managing a busy calendar or a team lead covering for a colleague, the method you use depends on your permissions, your Outlook version, and how your organization's Exchange or Microsoft 365 environment is configured.

What "On Behalf Of" Actually Means in Outlook

When you create a meeting on behalf of someone, the invite goes out showing that person as the organizer — but recipients may also see a note indicating you sent it on their behalf. This is different from being a delegate who simply has access to another calendar.

In Outlook's architecture, there are two distinct access levels:

• Delegate Access — You can send meeting requests and emails as or on behalf of another user. Responses (accepts, declines, tentative replies) go to the delegate, the original organizer, or both, depending on settings.
• Shared Calendar Access — You can view and edit another person's calendar, but you may not have permission to send invites that display their name as organizer.

Most organizations use Exchange Online (part of Microsoft 365) or an on-premises Exchange Server, both of which support delegate access natively through Outlook.

Step 1 — The Other Person Must Grant You Delegate Access

Before you can create meetings on someone else's behalf, they need to explicitly give you permission. This isn't something you can set up for yourself.

The person granting access (the delegator) does this in Outlook desktop:

1. Go to File → Account Settings → Delegate Access
2. Click Add and search for your name
3. Choose the permission level for their Calendar — typically Editor (can read, create, and modify items) to allow scheduling meetings
4. Optionally check the box to receive copies of meeting-related messages

Once this is configured and synced (which can take a few minutes on Exchange), you'll have access to create items on their calendar.

Step 2 — Open Their Calendar in Outlook

After delegate access is granted, you can open their calendar:

• In Outlook desktop: Go to the Calendar view → Open Calendar → From Address Book → search for the person's name
• Their calendar will appear alongside yours in the navigation pane

From here, you can create a new meeting event directly on their calendar — not yours.

Step 3 — Create the Meeting Request

With their calendar open and selected:

1. Click New Meeting (or New Appointment → then add attendees to make it a meeting)
2. Add attendees, set the date/time, location, and any meeting details
3. Send the invite

The meeting request will go out showing their name as the organizer. Depending on Exchange settings, it may also show "Sent on behalf of [Your Name]" — recipients see this in the From field of the invite.

🗓️ One important nuance: if you want responses to go to the organizer (the person you're scheduling for) rather than to you, check the delegate settings. By default, the delegate often receives copies of responses, which can be useful or cluttered depending on your workflow.

Doing This in Outlook on the Web (OWA)

The process works in Outlook Web App as well, though the interface differs:

1. Open calendar and navigate to the other person's calendar (it should appear in your left panel if delegate access is active)
2. Click into their calendar and create the event from there
3. The system recognizes you're acting as a delegate and sends the invite accordingly

Some organizations restrict delegate functionality in OWA depending on Exchange or Microsoft 365 admin policies, so if the option isn't visible, that's likely the constraint.

Variables That Affect How This Works

Not every setup behaves identically. Several factors shape the experience:

Common Issues and What Causes Them 🔧

The calendar doesn't appear after being granted access — Sync can take time, or you may need to close and reopen Outlook. In some cases, the IT admin needs to confirm Exchange permissions are fully propagated.

Meeting shows your name, not theirs — This usually means you created the meeting on your calendar, not theirs. Always verify you're creating the event within their calendar in the navigation pane.

Responses aren't routing correctly — This is controlled in the delegate settings dialog. The delegator can specify who gets meeting response emails.

"Send on Behalf" permission vs. "Send As" — These are distinct. "Send As" (often set by IT admins) makes emails appear to come entirely from the other person with no "on behalf of" indicator. Delegate access uses "Send on Behalf," which is more transparent to recipients.

How Your Specific Setup Changes Everything

The mechanics above work reliably in standard Microsoft 365 and Exchange environments — but the exact steps, available options, and how meeting invites display to recipients depend heavily on how your organization has configured its mail environment, what version of Outlook you're running, and what level of delegate access has been granted.

A setup where you're using the New Outlook desktop app, for example, has a different interface flow than the classic desktop client. An organization using hybrid Exchange (part on-premises, part cloud) may have permission behaviors that don't match a pure Microsoft 365 deployment. The right approach for your situation depends on those specifics — and that's worth checking against your actual environment before assuming any single set of steps will map exactly.