How to Fix Duplicate Events in a SharePoint Overlay Calendar
Question details
The user needs to resolve an issue where the same event is displaying twice with different category colors in a SharePoint overlay calendar.

- Product
- Microsoft SharePoint
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Managing and viewing events using the calendar overlay feature in SharePoint.
- Observed behavior
- A single event is duplicated with different category colors in the overlay calendar, and filtering out an empty category does not remove the duplicate entry.
Verify that the base calendars being overlaid do not actually contain duplicate entries of the event, and ensure you have sufficient permissions to create a test calendar on your SharePoint site.
Test with a New Overlay Calendar on a Different Site
Isolate the issue by checking if the duplication bug is specific to your current SharePoint site or a broader tenant-level issue.
Often, display glitches in SharePoint calendars are localized to a corrupted view or a specific site collection. Recreating the setup in a fresh environment helps determine the root cause.
Open a different SharePoint site within your organization where you have Site Owner or Member permissions.
Add a new Calendar app to the site and configure the overlay settings using the exact same base calendars, events, and categories.
Check if the duplicate events with different category colors still appear. If the new calendar functions correctly, the original site's view may be corrupted.

Contact Your Microsoft 365 Administrator
Escalate the issue if the duplicate events persist across different sites, as this indicates a backend environment or configuration problem.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my SharePoint overlay calendar show duplicate events?
This usually happens if the base calendars being overlaid have overlapping entries, if an event is tagged with multiple categories that the overlay separates, or due to a temporary backend synchronization glitch in SharePoint.
How many calendars can I overlay in SharePoint?
SharePoint allows you to overlay up to 10 different calendars into a single view. This can include a mix of other SharePoint calendars and Exchange calendars.
Can I remove duplicates by modifying the calendar view?
Sometimes. Modifying the view to filter out specific categories can help, but if the view is corrupted, filtering an empty category might fail. In such cases, deleting the overlay and recreating the view from scratch is recommended.




