How to Add Public Holidays to a Microsoft 365 Outlook Calendar
Question details
The user wants to display national or regional public holidays in their Microsoft 365 calendar.
- Product
- Microsoft 365
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Organizing a schedule and tracking national or regional holidays to prevent scheduling conflicts.
- Observed behavior
- The calendar currently does not display public holidays, requiring the user to manually add or subscribe to a holiday calendar.
Determine whether you are using the classic Outlook desktop application or Outlook on the web, as the steps and update behaviors differ slightly between the two platforms.
Add Holidays via Classic Outlook Desktop
Use the built-in calendar options in the classic Outlook application to add static holiday calendars for various countries.
This method adds holiday events directly to your calendar file. It is available for most account types, including POP and IMAP, but the holidays will not update automatically in subsequent years without repeating the process.
Launch the classic Outlook desktop application. Click on 'File' in the top left corner, then select 'Options', and choose 'Calendar' from the left sidebar.
Scroll down to the 'Calendar options' section and click on the 'Add Holidays...' button.
A dialog box will appear. Check the boxes next to the countries whose public holidays you want to import, then click 'OK' to add them to your calendar.
Subscribe to Holidays in Outlook on the Web
Subscribe to dynamic holiday calendars via Outlook on the web to ensure they update automatically each year.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why aren't my public holidays updating automatically in classic Outlook?
Holidays added via the classic Outlook 'Add Holidays' feature are static events and do not update automatically. To receive automatic updates, you must subscribe to a holiday calendar via Outlook on the web using a Microsoft 365 Exchange account.
Can I add public holidays for multiple countries at once?
Yes, when you click 'Add Holidays' in the Outlook Calendar Options, you can check the boxes for multiple countries. Outlook will import the holiday events for all the selected regions into your default calendar simultaneously.
Does my email provider affect my ability to add holiday calendars?
Yes. Subscribing to dynamic, auto-updating holiday calendars typically requires an Exchange or Microsoft 365 account. If you use IMAP or POP providers, you cannot subscribe to auto-updating calendars on the web, but you can still manually add static holiday events using the classic Outlook desktop application.
