Calendar Problems

Room Mailbox Calendar Shows Tentative Meetings Before Acceptance: Outlook Guide

Maira Mehtab Sep 21, 2026 869 views

Question details

The user wants their room mailbox calendar to display only meetings that have been explicitly accepted by the delegate, rather than showing pending requests as tentative.

Product: Microsoft Outlook
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Managing a room mailbox calendar where meetings require delegate approval.
Observed behavior: Unaccepted meeting requests automatically appear as tentative on the room calendar before the delegate responds to them.

Before you start

Ensure you have delegate access to the room mailbox and can view meeting invitations in your Outlook inbox.

Solution 1Recommended

Manage Delegate Responses for Tentative Meetings

Understand that showing tentative meetings is a built-in Outlook design to prevent double-booking, and learn how to clear them by responding.

By design, if a delegate has not responded to a meeting request, the time slot will appear as tentative on the room calendar. This behavior temporarily blocks the slot to prevent other users from double-booking the room while the request is pending.

Locate the Meeting Request

Open your Outlook Inbox and find the meeting request email sent to you as the room delegate.

Decline to Remove

To remove the tentative meeting from the room calendar, click the 'Decline' button in the Outlook ribbon and send the response to the organizer.

Accept to Confirm

If you wish to approve the booking, click 'Accept' in the ribbon. The meeting status on the room calendar will change from Tentative to Busy.

Expected Behavior: Because this is an intended feature of Microsoft Exchange to prevent scheduling conflicts, meetings cannot be completely hidden before a response is given.

Solution 2

Submit Feedback to Microsoft

Since hiding tentative meetings is not supported by default, you can submit feedback to request a change in product behavior.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I automatically decline conflicting meeting requests for a room mailbox?

Yes, Exchange administrators can configure the room mailbox to automatically decline conflicting meeting requests through the Exchange admin center by checking the 'Auto-decline meetings that conflict with existing appointments' setting.

Why does the meeting stay tentative even after I accept it?

If you accept the meeting but choose 'Do not send a response', the calendar might not update properly for the organizer or the room. Delegates should always choose to send a response when accepting or declining.

Is there a way to hide tentative meetings from other users viewing the room calendar?

While the calendar itself holds the tentative slot to prevent double-booking, administrators can adjust folder sharing permissions so that users only see free/busy time blocks rather than the details of tentative meetings.

Outlook & Email Problems