How to Share Google Calendar: The Complete Guide (2026)

Sharing your Google Calendar seems like it should be a simple, obvious feature — until you actually go looking for it. Maybe you want your family to see when you’re free for dinner, your team to know when you’re in meetings, or clients to be able to book time with you without an endless back-and-forth of emails. Whatever the reason, Google Calendar’s sharing tools are genuinely flexible once you know where to find them, offering everything from full editing access to a simple “busy/free” view that hides all the details.

This guide covers every method: sharing with a specific person, sharing with a group, using a public link, the different permission levels and what they actually mean.

Before diving into the steps, it’s worth clearing up a common point of confusion, since it determines exactly which method you need. Sharing a Google Calendar gives another person permission to view (or edit) your calendar — the events still live on your calendar, and the other person is simply looking at it, with you controlling how much detail they see. This is different from syncing two calendars, which would actually copy or merge events between separate calendars or accounts — Google Calendar’s built-in sharing doesn’t do this on its own; that requires a separate calendar sync tool or app.

This guide focuses entirely on sharing, which is what most people actually mean when they ask how to let someone else see their schedule.

How to Share Your Google Calendar With a Specific Person (Desktop)

This is the most common method, and it requires a desktop browser — more on why that matters in a moment.

1. Open Google Calendar at calendar.google.com and log in.
2. On the left sidebar, find My calendars, and locate the specific calendar you want to share.
3. Hover your cursor over the calendar’s name until a three-dot menu icon appears.
4. On the settings page, look for the section labeled Share with specific people or groups.
5. Click Add people and groups.
6. Choose their permission level from the dropdown menu (covered in detail below).
7. Click Send.

The recipient will receive an email invitation. Once they click the link in that email and accept, your calendar will appear in their Other calendars section on the left sidebar of their own Google Calendar.

Understanding Permission Levels

Google Calendar offers several distinct permission levels, and picking the right one matters — both for privacy and for avoiding unwanted changes to your schedule.

• See only free/busy (hide details): The person can see when you have events scheduled, shown simply as “Busy” blocks, but can’t see the titles, descriptions, locations, or any other details of those events. This is the most private option and a good default for coworkers or acquaintances who just need to know your general availability.
• See all event details: The person can view full event information — titles, times, locations, descriptions, and guest lists — but can’t make any changes. This works well for family members or close collaborators who need context, not just a busy/free status.
• Make changes to events: The person can view full details and also edit, move, or delete events directly on your calendar. This is best reserved for close collaborators, an assistant, or a co-organizer managing a shared project.
• Make changes and manage sharing: The highest level of access, allowing the person to edit events and also adjust who else has access to the calendar. This should be limited to someone you’d trust as a full co-owner of that calendar.

A good general rule: give people the lowest permission level they actually need to accomplish what they’re trying to do. You can always upgrade their access later if it turns out they need more.

How to Share With a Group

If you regularly share with the same set of people — a team, a family, a project group — sharing with a Google Group can save you from adding individual email addresses every time:

1. Follow the same steps as above to reach Add people and groups.
2. Instead of an individual email, type the name or address of the relevant Google Group.
3. Choose the permission level that should apply to everyone in that group.
4. Click Send.

Everyone currently in the group gains the specified access, and as people are added to or removed from the group later, their calendar access updates automatically along with it — no need to manually re-share each time your team changes.

How to Make Your Calendar Public

If you want anyone with the link (not just specific people you’ve added) to be able to view your calendar, you can make it fully public instead:

1. Go to Settings and sharing for the calendar, as described above.
2. Find the Access permissions section (sometimes labeled General access).
3. Toggle on Make available to public.
4. Choose whether public visitors see only free/busy times or full event details.
5. Save your changes.

Be cautious with this setting, especially if your calendar contains personal appointments, since a public calendar can technically be found and viewed by anyone with the link, not just people you’ve intentionally shared it with.

How to Share a Calendar Link for Subscribing (Without Requiring a Google Account)

If you want to share your schedule with someone who doesn’t have a Google account, the “specific people” sharing method won’t work, since it requires the recipient to sign in. Instead:

1. Make the calendar public, as described above, or keep it private and generate a secret address instead (found in the same Settings and sharing page, under Integrate calendar).
2. Copy the iCal (.ics) link provided.
3. Send this link to the other person, who can paste it into their own calendar app (Apple Calendar, Outlook, or another Google account) to subscribe to your schedule.

This method lets someone view your events without needing a Google account of their own, though it typically only supports read-only viewing, not editing.

Important Limitation: You Can’t Share From the Mobile App

Here’s the detail that catches a lot of people off guard: the Google Calendar mobile app does not support calendar sharing. This is one of the platform’s most significant limitations, and it applies to both iOS and Android apps. If you’re trying to share your calendar directly from your phone or tablet, the option simply isn’t there in the native app interface.

Workaround 1: Use a Computer

The most straightforward solution is to access a desktop or laptop computer and follow the standard sharing steps described earlier in this guide.

Workaround 2: Use “Desktop Site” Mode in Your Mobile Browser

If a computer isn’t available, you can trick your phone’s browser into showing the full desktop interface:

1. Open calendar.google.com in your phone’s browser (Chrome, Safari, or similar).
2. Open your browser’s menu and select Desktop Site or Request Desktop Site.
3. The page will reload showing the full web interface, letting you follow the same steps as the desktop method above, even though you’re technically still on your phone.

This workaround is a bit fiddly on a small screen, but it does successfully unlock the full sharing settings that the native app simply doesn’t expose.

How to Share Your Calendar in Google Workspace (Business/Organization Accounts)

If you’re using a Google Workspace account (a company or organization’s managed Google account), the process is nearly identical, with a couple of additional considerations:

1. Navigate to Google Calendar and log in with your Workspace credentials.
2. Find the calendar you want to share under My calendars.
3. Hover over its name, click the three-dot menu, and select Settings and sharing.
4. Under Share with specific people or groups, add the relevant person’s email address (they’ll typically also need a Google Workspace account within the same organization, depending on your organization’s external sharing settings).
5. Choose their permission level and click Send.

If you’re trying to share with someone outside your organization and the option seems restricted or unavailable, this is often because your organization’s admin has limited external calendar sharing. In that case, you’d need to contact your IT administrator to enable external sharing through the Google Workspace Admin Console, under Apps > Google Workspace > Calendar.

How to Stop Sharing or Change Someone’s Access

If you want to revoke access or adjust someone’s permission level after the fact:

1. Go to Settings and sharing for the relevant calendar.
2. Under Share with specific people or groups, find the person’s name or email in the list.
3. To change their permission level, click the dropdown next to their name and select a new level.
4. To remove their access entirely, click the trash or X icon next to their name.

Changes here take effect immediately — there’s no need to re-send an invitation to update or revoke access.

Sharing Individual Events Instead of Your Whole Calendar

If you don’t want to share your entire calendar but just need to loop someone in on a single event:

1. Open the specific event you want to share.
2. Click Edit event.
3. Under Guests, add the person’s email address.
4. Choose whether they can see the full guest list, invite others, or modify the event.
5. Save the event — the person will receive an invitation for that specific event alone, without gaining any visibility into the rest of your calendar.

This is a useful middle ground when full calendar sharing feels like more access than the situation actually calls for.

Privacy Tips for Sharing Your Calendar

• People with access to your calendar will still see a “Busy” block for that event but won’t see its title or details, giving you fine-grained control over specific sensitive appointments.
• Give people the lowest permission level they need. You can always upgrade someone’s access later, but it’s much easier to grant more access than to notice, after the fact, that someone had more visibility or control than intended.
• Periodically review who has access. Every few months, it’s worth checking your calendar’s sharing settings and removing anyone who no longer needs access, especially after a job change, project wrap-up, or shift in team structure.
• Be extra cautious with public sharing. A calendar set to public can be viewed by anyone with the link, so avoid this setting for anything containing personal appointments or sensitive details.

Troubleshooting Common Sharing Problems

The share option won’t load or seems stuck:

1. Refresh the page and try again.
2. Clear your browser cache.
3. Try a different browser.
4. Confirm you actually have “Make changes and manage sharing” permission on that calendar, since a lower permission level won’t let you adjust sharing settings at all.

The person I shared with can’t find the calendar:

1. Ask them to check the original email invitation and click the link directly.
2. Have them look under the Other calendars section in their own Google Calendar sidebar.
3. Ask them to refresh their Google Calendar page or app.
4. As a last resort, remove their access and re-share the calendar from scratch.

External sharing seems blocked entirely: This usually means your organization restricts sharing with accounts outside the company. Contact your administrator to enable it, use a personal Google account instead if appropriate, or fall back to sharing individual events rather than the whole calendar.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can I share my Google Calendar from my phone? Not directly — the native Google Calendar mobile app doesn’t support calendar sharing at all. You’ll need to either use a computer or switch your mobile browser to “Desktop Site” mode to access the full sharing settings.

2. What’s the difference between “See only free/busy” and “See all event details”? Free/busy shows only whether you’re available or not, displaying blocks as simply “Busy” with no further information. See all event details additionally reveals titles, locations, descriptions, and guest lists for each event.

3. Can I share my calendar with someone who doesn’t have a Google account? Yes, but not through the standard “specific people” method, which requires a Google account. Instead, make the calendar public or generate a secret address, then share the iCal (.ics) link so they can subscribe using their own calendar app.

4. How do I stop sharing my calendar with someone? Go to Settings and sharing for that calendar, find the person under “Share with specific people or groups,” and click the remove or X icon next to their name. This takes effect immediately.

5. Does sharing my calendar copy events onto the other person’s calendar? No. Sharing only grants viewing or editing permission on your existing calendar — it doesn’t duplicate or merge your events onto a separate calendar or account. That would require a dedicated calendar sync tool instead.

6. Can I mark specific events as private even after sharing my whole calendar? Yes. Marking an individual event as Private hides its title and details from people you’ve shared the calendar with, while still showing them as “Busy” during that time.

7. Why can’t I share my calendar with someone outside my company? This is usually because your organization’s Google Workspace settings restrict external sharing. An administrator would need to enable this through the Admin Console under Apps > Google Workspace > Calendar.

8. Is there a limit to how many people I can share a calendar with? Yes, Google Calendar sharing is generally limited to a set number of accounts per day (commonly cited around 75).

Conclusion

Sharing a Google Calendar is a genuinely powerful feature once you find where it’s hiding — full control over exactly what each person sees, from a simple busy/free status all the way up to full editing rights, plus the option to go fully public or subscribe-only for people without a Google account. The one detail worth remembering above all else: this all happens through a desktop browser, not the mobile app, so if you’re trying to share on the go, either grab a laptop or switch your phone’s browser into desktop mode to get there.