How to share a Google Calendar with someone
Google Calendar can give another person a live view of your calendar — anything from "busy or free" right up to editing your events for you. You choose how much they see, and you can take it away again at any time. This guide covers the desktop browser version; the sharing settings aren't available in the Google Calendar phone app.
What you'll need: A Google Account. A desktop or laptop browser open to calendar.google.com. The email address of the person you want to share with — they'll need a Google Account of their own to view the calendar inside Google Calendar.
Open Google Calendar
Go to calendar.google.com and sign in if you aren't already.
Find the calendar in the left-hand panel
Look under My calendars on the left of the screen. Your main calendar carries your own name. If the panel isn't showing, click the Main menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top-left corner to open it.
Open the calendar's settings
Hover over the calendar's name. Three vertical dots appear to the right of it — click them, then click Settings and sharing.
Go to the sharing section
Scroll down to the section headed Share with specific people or groups, or click that heading in the menu on the left. Click + Add people and groups.
Enter their email address
Type the email address of the person you're sharing with into the box. If they're already in your contacts, their name appears as you type — click it to select it.
Choose how much they can see
Use the Permissions dropdown beneath the address to pick one of four levels:
See only free/busy (hide details) — they see blocks marked "Busy" and nothing else. No titles, no locations, no guests.
See all event details — they see everything on the calendar but can't change it.
Make changes to events — they can add, edit and delete events.
Make changes and manage sharing — as above, plus they can share the calendar with other people.
Send the invitation
Click Send. Their address now appears in the list under Share with specific people or groups, with the permission level you chose next to it.
They receive an email telling them you've shared the calendar. Once they open that email and follow its link, the calendar appears under Other calendars on their side, with a tick box to show or hide it.
Variations
Go back to Settings and sharing for the same calendar and find their name under Share with specific people or groups. Use the dropdown next to their name to change the permission level, or click the × to the right of it to remove their access altogether. The change takes effect straight away — there's no separate save button.
Create a second calendar and put only the shareable events on it. Under Other calendars in the left-hand panel, click the + and choose Create new calendar. Give it a name, click Create calendar, and it appears under My calendars. Share that one using the steps above, and when you create an event, pick the new calendar from the calendar dropdown in the event editor.
Instead of an email address, give them a link. In Settings and sharing, scroll to Integrate calendar and copy the Secret address in iCal format. They can paste that into Apple Calendar, Outlook or most other calendar apps as a subscribed calendar. The address is read-only, and anyone who has it can see your events, so treat it like a password.
Troubleshooting
Ask them to open the sharing email and click the link in it — the calendar may not show up until they do. Then ask them to check the tick box next to the calendar's name under Other calendars is ticked. Also check you shared to the address they actually sign in to Google with, not a different one.
Check which section of the left-hand panel the calendar is in. Calendars under Other calendars aren't yours to share, so the menu doesn't offer it. If a colleague owns the calendar, ask them to share it with you using Make changes and manage sharing — after that, you can share it onwards.
On a work or school account (Google Workspace), the administrator can limit what calendar sharing is allowed to people outside the organisation — often to free/busy only, or nothing at all. If the permission levels you expect aren't offered, or the invitation fails, that restriction is the cause and only the administrator can change it.
Need a calculator rather than a guide? Try Simplicalcs →