The fastest way to share a calendar with your team
To share a calendar in Google Calendar, open the calendar you want to share, click the three-dot menu next to its name, select "Settings and sharing," then scroll to "Share with specific people" and add email addresses one at a time. Each person you add can view the calendar, edit events, or see only busy/free times — you choose the permission level for each person. The calendar appears in their Google Calendar sidebar once they accept the invite.
This takes about two minutes per person. The shared calendar stays in your account; you are not creating a separate calendar that everyone owns equally. If you want multiple people to manage the calendar equally, you will need a different approach, which we cover below.
Key Takeaways
- Sharing a calendar in Google Calendar means giving specific people permission to view or edit it, not transferring ownership.
- You can set different permission levels for different people — some can edit, some can only see if you are busy, and some can view all details.
- The person sharing the calendar stays the owner; if that person leaves your organization, the calendar may become inaccessible unless you transfer ownership first.
- A shared calendar appears in each person's sidebar under "Other calendars" once they accept the invite, making it straightforward to see everyone's schedule in one place.
Step-by-step: sharing your calendar with one person or a group
Open Google Calendar and find the calendar you want to share in the left sidebar. Hover over the calendar name until three dots appear on the right. Click those dots and select "Settings and sharing."
Scroll down to the section labeled "Share with specific people." Click the "Add people" button. Type the email address of the person you want to share with — use their work email if they have one, since that is usually tied to their Google account. You can add multiple people by typing each email and pressing Enter after each one.
Next to each email address, choose a permission level from the dropdown menu. "See all event details" means they can view every event, including the title, time, and description. "Make changes to events" means they can also edit or delete events on your calendar. "See only free/busy" means they can see when you are busy but not what you are doing — useful if you want someone to know your availability without seeing your full schedule.
Click "Send" when you are done. Google Calendar sends an invite to each person. They will see a notification in their email and in Google Calendar itself. Once they accept, the calendar shows up in their sidebar under "Other calendars."
What happens when you share with a group email address
If you type a group email address instead of individual addresses — for example, marketing-team@company.com — Google Calendar shares the calendar with everyone in that group at once. This is faster than adding people individually, but it has a catch: if someone leaves the group, they keep access to the calendar unless you remove them by name later.
Group sharing also means you cannot set different permission levels for different people. Everyone in the group gets the same access. If you need some people to edit and others only to view, add them individually instead.
Changing or removing someone's access
Go back to "Settings and sharing" for that calendar. Under "Share with specific people," you will see everyone you have shared it with. Click the X next to a person's name to remove their access when ready. They will no longer see the calendar in their sidebar.
To change someone's permission level, click the dropdown next to their name and pick a new option. The change takes effect right away — you do not need to send a new invite.
When you need to transfer ownership of a calendar
Google Calendar does not have a built-in "transfer ownership" button. If you are leaving a job or want someone else to own the calendar permanently, the only way is to have that person create a new calendar and manually copy all the events over, or to export your calendar and have them import it.
To export your calendar, go to "Settings and sharing," scroll to the bottom, and click "Export calendar." Google Calendar downloads a file in .ics format. The new owner can then go to their own calendar settings, click "Import and export," and upload that file. This copies all past and future events, but it does not transfer the original calendar — you still own it.
If you want to avoid this problem, plan ahead: before you leave, share the calendar with your replacement and give them "Make changes to events" permission so they can manage it while you are still there. Then remove your own access once you have confirmed they can handle it.
Shared calendars versus collaborative calendars: which one do you need
A shared calendar in Google Calendar is one person's calendar that other people can see or edit. You own it, you control who sees it, and if you delete it, it is gone. This works well for a manager sharing their schedule with their team, or a project lead sharing a project timeline.
A collaborative calendar is different: it is a calendar that multiple people create events on equally, and no single person owns it. Google Calendar does not have a built-in collaborative calendar feature. If you need that, you have two options. First, you can create a shared calendar and give multiple people "Make changes to events" permission — they can all add and edit events, but you technically still own it. Second, you can use Google Workspace's "Team Calendars" feature if your organization has a Workspace account, which creates a calendar that belongs to a team rather than a person.
For most small teams, a shared calendar with multiple editors is enough. For larger organizations or long-term projects, ask your IT department whether Team Calendars is available.
Privacy and visibility: what shared calendar members can actually see
When you share a calendar with "See all event details" permission, the other person sees the event title, time, location, description, and any guests you have invited. They see everything except your personal notes (notes are only visible to you). If an event is marked as "busy," they see that too.
If you set permission to "See only free/busy," they see only the time blocks when you are busy — not the event title, location, or any other details. This is useful for scheduling meetings: they know you are unavailable from 2 to 3 p.m., but they do not know why.
People with "Make changes to events" permission can edit event details, delete events, and add guests. They cannot see your personal notes or change your calendar settings. If you want to keep certain events private, mark them as "private" in the event details — people with "See all event details" permission will see that an event exists at that time, but not the details.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I share a calendar with someone who does not have a Google account?
No. The person you share with must have a Google account (Gmail, Google Workspace, or another Google service). If they do not, they cannot accept the invite or see the calendar. Ask them to create a free Gmail account first, then share with that email address.
What if someone I shared the calendar with is not seeing it in their sidebar?
They may not have accepted the invite yet. Check their email for an invite from Google Calendar and ask them to click "Yes" to accept it. If they accepted but still do not see it, have them go to "Settings" in their own Google Calendar, click "Add calendar," and select "Subscribe to calendar" — then paste the calendar's public address (which you can find in your calendar's "Settings and sharing" page under "Integrate calendar").
Can I share a calendar with someone outside my organization?
Yes. Type their email address just as you would for anyone else. They will get an invite and can accept it with their own Google account. If your organization uses Google Workspace with security restrictions, your IT department may have blocked external sharing — check with them if the invite does not go through.
What happens to a shared calendar if I delete my Google account?
The calendar disappears for everyone it was shared with. Before you delete your account, transfer the calendar to someone else or export it so the events are not lost. There is no way to recover a deleted calendar.
Can I see who has viewed or edited events on a shared calendar?
Google Calendar does not show a log of who viewed the calendar or when. You can see who made changes to individual events by opening the event and looking at the "Guests" section — it shows who was invited and their response status. For a full edit history, you would need to use Google Workspace's audit logs, which only administrators can access.