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How do I copy a meeting in Outlook on Mac? On PC you just use Copy/Paste. On Mac, all the Edit commands are disabled when you select a meeting in the Outlook calendar.

I spend time setting up a meeting with participants, location, attachments, categories, etc etc etc and I want to create a copy of it or a variation of it without starting from scratch. Is this just one of those "on our to do list" features of Outlook on Mac?

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  • Please consider accepting DerekC's answer as it is (by far) the least complicated way to simply copy an appointment
    – stevec
    Commented Nov 10, 2020 at 6:38
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    @stevec you're right. Option-Drag. I wasn't aware I had accepted a more complicated answer ... I've been using DerekC's suggestion since he made it. Changed, and thank you.
    – jay613
    Commented Nov 10, 2020 at 13:37
  • I removed "2016" from the question. If you're still using Outlook 2016 in 2022, the formerly accepted answer is still there, but I'm accepting a new answer that I believe is more relevant today, for "Outlook for Mac" with an Office 365 subscription.
    – jay613
    Commented Oct 25, 2022 at 18:22
  • Shift + Cmd + C. Then, choose the destination calendar. I think this might only be possible if the Event doesn't have any attendees.
    – rinogo
    Commented Nov 8, 2022 at 21:18

8 Answers 8

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A workaround option is to do this through Office 365 Outlook web app (https://outlook.office365.com) since none of the Mac Outlook options worked for me. When you've logged in, right click the event you want to duplicate, and you should be able to click on the option to duplicate it.

Duplicate Event Option on O365 Outlook

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  • At this time, December 2 2020, this is the best answer for those who have "New Outlook". Hoping this situation is temporary, I'll wait until a suitable feature is re-introduced into New Outlook before changing the best answer checked here.
    – jay613
    Commented Dec 2, 2020 at 22:20
  • Well another two years have passed and you still can't do this in Mac Outlook, and I think Outlook 2016 is now of far less interest. I have accepted this answer, which is appropriate for the current version of Outlook on Mac with an Office 365 subscription. Without 365 I believe there is no way to do it. :(
    – jay613
    Commented Oct 25, 2022 at 18:25
  • The question is about working in Outlook for Mac. I don't see how this is the accepted solution
    – DerekC
    Commented Nov 1, 2022 at 21:10
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    @DerekC If you apply a reasonable interpretation of the question, ie, "How can a user of Outlook for Mac accomplish task X" this answer is the best and only one. If you apply an unreasonably precise interpretation of the question, I'll counter with a suitable answer: Accepted means OP accepts it. It means no more and no less than that. You can have accepted answers with downvotes. (I'm not encouraging you to do that!)
    – jay613
    Commented Nov 8, 2022 at 21:58
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    @DerekC if it makes you feel any better, the check mark has a tinge of bitterness and irony. Look carefully. :)
    – jay613
    Commented Nov 8, 2022 at 21:59
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I have Outlook for Mac [16.29]

I am able to [alt/option]+[click]+drag an appointment. The result is a copy of the appointment in a new location / timeslot...! Yay!

I must admit, I never tried this before - it could work in older versions.

enter image description here

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  • 9
    Does not work in 2020 with any other buttons, if it shows the dotted lines it moves the meeting instead of copying it
    – blub
    Commented Jun 16, 2020 at 12:50
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    @blub same issue here. Seems Microsoft wants to make Mac users' experience worse and worse.
    – Lee Chee Kiam
    Commented Jul 19, 2020 at 2:38
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    Note, this solution "Option-Drag" does not work in "New Outlook". If you have MacOs 10.14+, Outlook 16.42+, and choose the available (and default) "New Outlook" mode, Option-Drag will move rather than copy the event. I've filed this as a bug report with Microsoft.
    – jay613
    Commented Nov 17, 2020 at 13:38
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    Still works for me on Outlook 16.43
    – DerekC
    Commented Dec 7, 2020 at 18:13
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    I can't see a way to make this work when I want to copy the event to a different week (it doesn't drag and drop onto the month view.). I wish Microsoft would support the "duplicate" function they have in the web client. My company requires me to use the desktop client.
    – Joshua Richardson
    Commented Sep 13, 2021 at 17:40
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This is also a workaround but maybe a little quicker.

  • In calendar view, select original meeting
  • Click on the Reply All button in the ribbon -> this creates an email to all attendees
  • Save this
  • In drafts folder select the email you just created
  • Click on the meeting button in the ribbon -> this creates a new meeting request for all attendees of the original with the same basic content (notable exception being the location)
  • Edit the meeting request as desired, perhaps replacing 'RE:' in the subject line with 'Follow-up', adding a time, location or online meeting details and any new text.
  • Send it once ready
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    I'm not sure that's easier than Option-Drag but this might come in handy sometimes. Tx.
    – jay613
    Commented Oct 25, 2019 at 14:30
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    This (unfortunately) is actually the only working solution
    – Brigo
    Commented Nov 5, 2020 at 9:20
  • This worked for me (version 16.52), but caution, I forgot to update the date before sending the invite initially, and every time I opened the meeting and resent it with the correct date, it would just revert to the old date. So make sure you get the date correct the first time.
    – Joshua Richardson
    Commented Sep 13, 2021 at 17:59
  • Ugh! This works. What a pain. If you can't find the meeting button (step 4), don't open the email. Just select it.
    – ScottWelker
    Commented Aug 25, 2022 at 17:00
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    Didnt work for me, there's no meeting button :(
    – Cyberwiz
    Commented Jan 9, 2023 at 10:05
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I haven't been able to get this to work in any shipping version of Office 2016 and the pre-release / Insider builds of Office 2019 for Mac.

I've had good luck using the built in app support to ask if I'm missing some feature and they suggested user voice feedback - and I've seen some good movement and communication from the management of Office for Mac on the user voice site showing what features they are working on, which ship, which are known but not actively being worked.

Here's the one (of several) asking for this feature and it has a lot of votes, but more votes could help it rise to the top.

tl;dr - A lot of people can't figure out how this works and want the feature added.

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    Thanks for the answer. Now that I've been a Mac user for about 6 months I feel compelled to add here that Outlook for Mac is far and away the worst part of the Mac experience. For the most part, there are things I miss about Windows and things I like about Mac, it's not really that exciting but Outlook for Mac just blows it all away, it's such a terrible experience and ruins any benefits the Mac might bring to my life.
    – jay613
    Commented Feb 15, 2019 at 14:47
  • Imagine how bad outlook for Mac was in the past for us to like this version better than the others. @jay613 thanks for sharing your experience. I don’t doubt it’s frustrating
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Feb 15, 2019 at 21:36
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I know this is an old question, but I came here looking for an answer, so this may help someone...

Option + Click/Drag doesn't seem to work for newer Outlooks/MacOS's, however I did find that the following works well enough:

  1. Control + Click the Event
  2. Expand the Move menu item
  3. Select Copy to Folder...
  4. Select your own current Calendar (usually default)
  5. Click OK
  6. Drag the copied Event to wherever you wanted to copy it to

OK, sounds long winded, but it's relatively easy and since I thought there wasn't even a way of doing it 10 minutes ago, I'm pretty happy with it!

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  • Thanks @Daz Butterworth, I came on to say I found the same solution and it just works (not exactly intuitive - but works!)
    – Andrew Bickerton
    Commented Feb 8, 2023 at 10:10
  • Nice find. Can confirm it works in v16.70
    – Jay Cummins
    Commented Feb 21, 2023 at 14:28
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This is a bit kludgy, I admit. You need to be linked to a second calendar account for this to work.

Note: This only works when you display calendar events as a list. (View->List, or Ctrl-Command-0)

  1. Copy your calendar event from the original calendar to the second calendar (using Option+Click)
  2. Move the event back from the second calendar to the original calendar. You now have to identical events in your calendar.
  3. If you need multiple copies, copy the event from the second calendar instead of moving it.

Works on my Mac with Outlook 16.27. YMMV

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  • Thanks but I'm not sure what you are referring to here. Option-Click usually reveals hidden menu entries. Which menu should I Option-Click on? I tried some obvious ones (The calendar entry's right-button menu, and all Outlook's application menus) but nothing reveals "copy to a different calendar". I do have another calendar to try this if I can understand it. Thanks.
    – jay613
    Commented Jun 17, 2019 at 18:42
  • @jay613 I forgot to mention that this only works in list view. My apologies! I updated my answer.
    – Phoebus
    Commented Jun 18, 2019 at 16:23
  • Wow, this works. It is deeply disturbing :) But it works, and it's actually quite easy. May I suggest a couple of edits to your answer: 1) Instead of Option-Click say Option-Drag (I had to figure that out). 2) My primary calendar is employer's Exchange, secondary is personal Outlook Online. The nice thing there is it retains ALL the Outlook-specific attributes. You should recommend using Outlook Online (free) as the vehicle for this. Thanks! (Edit: Actually I can edit your answer, do you mind?)
    – jay613
    Commented Jun 18, 2019 at 21:12
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I found this: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook_com/forum/all/copy-and-paste-events-in-outlook-for-mac/ea147b82-ae7e-4182-8a47-098a66ffbbc6

They explain that there is a workaround to this bug: There's a workaround to duplicate the appointments in New Outlook that you can try. The steps are mentioned below.

  • On the affected account, create a subfolder for Calendar on sidebar or you may use an existing subfolder for copying events.

  • Check ✔ the calendar on the sidebar for the event which you want to duplicate.

  • Hold Option key and drag and drop the event to the newly created folder, or any other Calendar folder on the sidebar.

  • Now you have a duplicate on the other calendar folder; check ✔ the other calendar folder on sidebar, and drag and drop the event to whichever day you want the event copied.

  • You can now move this copied event back to the main calendar by a simple drag and drop or use it on any calendar subfolder.

I tested and it works BR

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This is a ridiculous answer but is the simplest. Use Fantastical. You just right click and choose duplicate event. Why the option+drag feature is not working in Outlook is a disgrace so as usual you have to use a 3rd party app to get the functionality that Windows users don't even have to worry about.

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    Outlook is a 3rd party application as well…
    – nohillside ♦
    Commented Nov 22, 2021 at 11:36
  • Most people, and I think it is probably safe to say all people (though I have no proof) who use Outlook on Mac are required to use Outlook by their employer, school, etc. Sometimes I appreciate this kind of "avoid the problem" answer but here it is useless.
    – jay613
    Commented Nov 22, 2021 at 12:18
  • Fantastical is the opposite of useless and well worth a look when Apple or Microsoft won’t do things like making it easy to duplicate a meeting. +1 in my book as it hits the nail @jay613 wants to hammer squarely and efficiently.
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Jul 18 at 11:42

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