Four Easy Steps to Customized Color Code Calendars in SharePoint

Editor’s note: While this blog contains relevant information for customizing your SharePoint calendar, we know the platform has undergone upgrades in the past few years. Take a look at our new 2020 blog for updated instructions and key information for setting up your color-coded calendar overlays with SharePoint.

Looking for a way to customize your SharePoint 2010 or SharePoint 2013 for a friendlier user experience? Color-coding events categories can help users easily identify and prioritize information, increase adoption and usage, and can also help SharePoint administrators indicate which events are assigned to certain groups. And, best of all, it’s not difficult to do. (Prefer a video walk-through instead?)

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To get this done efficiently, SharePoint’s built-in calendar overlays are the way to go. There is a small amount of configuration up front, but the process doesn’t require a great deal of time or expert knowledge – all you need is a basic understanding of lists, columns, and custom views.

Detailed instructions follow, but more or less the color coding process just takes four steps.

Establish your basic information structure – decide on your event categories, then customize the category column in the calendar list.
Filter the events and create views filtered by those category values.
Create a blank view where the category filters for a NULL value, set this as the default view.
Add the calendar overlays.

If you run into any problems, see the troubleshooting tips at the end.

Step 1: Customize category column in the calendar list

First, make sure to set up your event categories correctly. By default, SharePoint provides you with standard categories such as meeting, work hours, business, holiday, etc. You can edit these, adding your own categories and removing unnecessary ones.

Navigate to the site where the calendar is located.
Choose “list settings” from the “calendar” tab in the ribbon at the top of the page – you’ll see the standard list setting options, currently in-use content types, columns, and views.
Find the category column and click. You’ll see the default options above listed in the field entry box, with each value on its own line.
Add, edit, and delete as necessary to set up your calendar category values.
Click the save button at the bottom of the page.

Step 2. Create views filtered by category column

Once you have created and saved your event categories, the next step is using them to create custom calendar views. You carry out this step for each category, and you complete it from the same list settings location that you used to access the category column. Scroll down to see the list of existing views for the calendar you’re editing – by default, SharePoint will give you All Items, Calendar and Upcoming Events. (For the purposes of color-coding the calendar, you’ll want to create new views using the calendar view. This seems obvious, but you’d be surprised at how often a different starting view is used.)

When you click the link to create a view, select “calendar” option from “start from an existing view” list.
Give your new view a name – naming them by event category is typically the best approach.
Leave the default settings as they are, but in the filter section add a filter to show items when “category” is equal to those you have created.
Show items when column “category” is equal to “enter your category value here.”
Click “save” to create the view. If you have calendar events entered already, you’ll see them filtered on the calendar after clicking save.
Repeat process for each category you’ve created.

If you want to be sure your filters are set up correctly, make sure you’ve created one event for each category. It makes the testing as simple as a quick visual check on the displayed events.

Step 3. Create blank view where the category filters for NULL value

Because of how calendar overlays work in SharePoint, before you can start color coding, you must create one more calendar view.

Follow the same process for creating your filtered category views, but for this one, leave the category blank.
Name this view something similar to “All Events,” as you’ll use this view when applying the overlays. (The end result includes all categories.)
For the filter section, set it up to read “Category – is equal to – “, where the final field is simply left empty.
Make sure this view is set to be the “default” view. Alternately, you could just modify the original default calendar view with the category settings.

Step 4. Add the calendar overlays

Now you have all your categories established and all your views set up, including an “All Events” view that filters for a null value. To add the calendar overlays, first open the view you just created, where the category filter is empty. (Ultimately, you will create an overlay for each calendar view).

In the “calendar” tab of the ribbon, click on the button that says “calendar overlays.”
Click the link for “new calendar” and fill out the available fields. Give your overlay a name (most likely the category) and description, and choose the color.
Click the “resolve” button – this action searches for calendar views on the site you choose to be used for overlays.
After clicking the button to resolve the URL, you should see your calendar list and also your newly-created calendar views.
Repeat these steps to create an overlay for each calendar view.

Each time you create an overlay, you’ll see those events added in the selected color to the calendar. Once you’ve created all the overlays, you should see a nicely color-coded calendar.

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Troubleshooting

Yes, color-coding a calendar is easy – but you still might run into some issues. Here are a few common scenarios:

Too many event categories: SharePoint only allows you to create, apply, and color-code 10 calendar overlays.
URL won’t resolve: If you receive an error message when clicking the “resolve” button during overlay creation, it’s likely related to a missing list on the site, most often the Discussion Board list. The solution is to delete the nonexistent list, but this can’t be done through the normal SharePoint web interface. Instead, open up the site in SharePoint Designer and delete the list. (SPD is free – download here.)

Duplicate events on your calendar. This happens when you don’t create a calendar view with a filter where the category is blank (see Step Three). If you don’t use this blank calendar view, you are just adding the color-coded events on top of existing calendar events.

Have any questions or issues with the implementation? Leave a note in the comments.

By the way, DEG is one of America’s fastest growing companies and we’re looking for smart people who want to do important work in a great environment. Let’s start a conversation about your next chapter.

Comments

Stefano
5 years
Reply
Yes, good ,but How can i change a color when already set?
- Joe Preiner
  5 years
  You'd have to go back into the overlay you created and choose a different color, or remove the existing overlay and create a new one (with the same settings) but choose a new color.
Emma
5 years
Reply
Thank you for this! Excellent guide. Was able to follow it and get it right the first time.
Adam D
5 years
Reply
Good afternoon! Great site for SP help. Thanks for creating! We're seeing that w. the update to 2013 from 2010, the calendar overlay color options are minimal and duplicates. Would you happen to know how to access more colors for more use in categories? Appreciate your insight! Thanks.
- Joe Preiner
  5 years
  The colors available for use with calendar overlays typically depend on the theme your site is using. There isn't a great or easy way to get additional colors for categorization, you're kind of stuck with what SharePoint gives you.
Kim
5 years
Reply
Hi, I am still seeing duplicate events even after following step 3. At least I think I correctly followed step 3... :) Any suggestions?
- Joe Preiner
  5 years
  It might be easiest to walk through the steps I go through in this video: https://youtu.be/Af1mbJ6Znto. The steps are the same whether you're using SP2010 or SP2013. It should help you catch any differences. The duplicate events occur when your filtered view doesn't have the "value is equal to" field blank. When that happens your calendar loads all the events as regular events and then applies the overlays on top, which is where your duplicates come from.
- Keerthi
  5 years
  Hi Kim, I had the same problem initially. Make sure that you choose the correct option under Calendar Overlay Settings -> List View -> Dropdown with types of lists (calendar, meetings, holidays etc). The default option 'Calendar' will be selected when you click the resolve button. Make sure you change it. Hope this helps!
- Michael
  3 years
  The description of using a null view is a bit confusing. Basically you need to set the default view for your calendar to the NULL view, or modify the default view so it filters on category = nothing. Then you add views for each of the categories separately. I hope this helps.
Ronda
5 years
Reply
When I put in test events, one category does not show up on the calendar.
Allison White
5 years
Reply
Is it possible to assign a color to an event you're adding to a calendar via email?
Ricky L
5 years
Reply
Hi there. First of all, thank you for the guide! Everything is working as expected. I'd like to know if it's possible to modify it so that your overlay colors will also apply when you click into a specific calendar? Basically what you did at video 9:04, but instead of showing the "meetings" as blue, show them as green instead. Is this possible through setting up additional overlays? Please advice - thank you!
Mitch OH
5 years
Reply
Hi Joe. Great tutorial! It looks like this shows how to give a single user the overlay views on their personal calendar, but how would I push these overlay views to everyone that is sharing the calendar? Does that make sense/is that possible? Thanks!
Jeannie Dixon
5 years
Reply
I followed the steps and am still getting duplicates. Every event appears for every view. I did create the view as specified in step 3.
- Michael B.
  4 years
  Go to Calendar Overlay Settings and unchecked the option 'Visible in View' for the calendar that you've created in Step 3.
Chelsea
5 years
Reply
I followed the steps, but my list views are not showing up when I go to overlay the views. The only option is the generic "Calendar" view, rather than the category views that I created.
- Joe Preiner
  5 years
  Chelsea, Try following along with the walkthrough in this quick video how-to if you haven't already. https://youtu.be/Af1mbJ6Znto
AJG
5 years
Reply
Amazing! Thank you for taking the time to put this together.
Elizabeth
5 years
Reply
This was very helpful, thank you!
judie
5 years
Reply
I have a category for holidays on my calendar. The holiday in May showed up as typed and color coded but is blank when i add the July holiday? This cant be the settings as it is working as expected for 1 month, please help.
- Joe Preiner
  5 years
  Judie, Try updating the June holiday (just temporarily) to fall in July and see if it displays on your calendar. If it does, check the item values between the two (working June and not working July) and make sure they are consistent.
Craig
5 years
Reply
I can only enter a category once. When I try to enter the second event under the same category, the Category drop down message in red reads "This value already exists in the list"
- Craig
  5 years
  Fixed. I had unique values checked in list settings.
  - Joe Preiner
    5 years
    Glad you got that figured out!
Stacey Thorkildsen
5 years
Reply
On my main team SharePoint page I have my calendar visible by adding the Calendar app I created. The color coding I did does not show up on the main page but is visible once I click on the calendar itself. Is there a way to make the main page show the color coding as well?
- Joe Preiner
  5 years
  Hello Stacey, Do you mean you added a calendar web part and your color-coding isn't displaying? Or that the main calendar isn't showing your color-coded events? Is it showing events at all on the main calendar? Just trying to gather some details to help out.
- Stacey Thorkildsen
  5 years
  I am new to using SharePoint so sorry for not explaining well. I think it is the calendar Web part. When I enter the calendar itself, the colors show up. On the web part all the events are they, they are just all defaulted to blue. Does that make sense?
- Karis
  5 years
  I am having the same problem after following the steps in this tutorial. Is there a solution so that the main calendar on the landing page will display all of the overlay colours?
- Krister K
  5 years
  I have this same issue as Stacey. The color coding does show on the Sharepoint front page we have the app. When you go to the application it self, the color coding shows up fine.
S Dupree
5 years
Reply
Awesome! Thanks!
Diane
5 years
Reply
I created a calendar overlay with 3 different colors. It worked fine. I have internal, external and supplier. I want to put individual links also to each individual calendar, but for example internal is yellow, but when I click on the link the correct information shows up on the calendar but it is green not yellow. Can I get it to be yellow?
- Joe Preiner
  5 years
  Hello Diane, Probably have two options here. You can either add an overlay to the individual calendar views so that it keeps the original colors you set. Or you could create a separate view, something like "Internal Calendar" that filters just for those events from the main calendar.
Caroline Lalley
5 years
Reply
Any way to change the title within the calendar it self. The view titles do not display. How will your users know which is which. I tried setting the web part for each particular page to enable the title but it never applies after. Is this something on my back end (code) that is not allowing the title to display within the web part?
- Joe Preiner
  5 years
  Hello Caroline, You can change the name of the calendar through the calendar list settings. Otherwise if you add your color-coded views to the main calendar view, they will show what essentially amounts to a calendar event key down the left column.
Jamie
5 years
Reply
Difficult to understand why MS make such a simple functionality so time consuming to set up. Ouitlook categories have been colour coded for years - not clear why they didn't show some initiative..
Helen G
5 years
Reply
I am trying to have the color coding combined with having one of the "categories" to come from a calendar from outlook. I had some trouble with the event duplication... I had 5 duplicates in every color but I somehow got this resolved. However, now the event I transfer from outlook doesn't show up in the Calendar view with the "blank filter"... It does transfer but I am not sure how to get it to show up in the default view that holds the color coding.
George W
5 years
Reply
This is really a stupid way to add freaking colors on the calendar. Shouldn't take rocket science.
Krister Kalska
5 years
Reply
Worked great. However we've added the calendar view on the front page of our Sharepoint and on that view, that colours arent displayed. When I open the calendar app from that view, the colors are displayed. Is this a feature or something I missed?
- Krister Kalska
  5 years
  This is actually the same issue STACEY THORKILDSEN wrote 3 months ago.
- Joe Preiner
  5 years
  Krister, without being able to see the issue in action I can only give you a probable course of action. If the colors on the homepage aren't picking up the overlays, it could be that in the web part settings you'll need to specify the correct view for it to read. It could also be that the calendar web part doesn't support the overlays in the same way the normal calendar list does.
Eric Notestine
5 years
Reply
My calendar is mapped to my home site; I am getting a "specified view is invalid" error. Why can't I map the customized calendar to the Home site?
- Joe Preiner
  5 years
  Is the calendar on the same site as the homepage? Or is it trying to read a calendar view that doesn't exist on that site?
Bruce Henke
5 years
Reply
I have followed your instructions and I get to the point where I have the Calendars In View on the left show the calendars in the color coded option chosen. For example one calendar, named Staff Training, is set to brown. However when I go into the calendar Staff Training (supposed to be brown) and add an event two issues happen. First of all the event does not show up on Staff Training calendar but shows up on the All Items view of the main calendar. Secondly the event shows up in the main calendar but in the default color of the default calendar not the color selected for the Staff Training
- Joe Preiner
  5 years
  Just to check, are you doing this across multiple calendars or a single calendar with multiple views?
Jess
5 years
Reply
This worked, thank you! One thing I didn't realize when making it is that I'd like to change the order that these categories are listed on the left hand panel to move the less frequent categories to the bottom of the list. Is there a way to change the order?
Stephanie
5 years
Reply
Thank you! Is it possible for an item to change from one color to another? For example, a change to production code starts as requested (which would be blue), then when approved, could I change it to approved (which would be purple), then when executed, change to completed (which would be green)? I appreciate your help. Stephanie
- Joe Preiner
  4 years
  Hello Stephanie, You could probably accomplish this in a couple ways. You could create "categories" that represent the approval state, and associate different colors with each. That's probably the most straightforward approach, though the number of colors you'll have access to will be limited. You could also use a workflow, though that would be more involved and you'd still be limited in many ways by the number of colors available, as well as how those statuses are tied to the calendar list items.
Erin
5 years
Reply
How do I carry this overlay view over to a webpart of the calendar? For instance, I have the calendar on the back end of my SP site and then I created a webpart on the homepage of my site that holders the calendar. However, when looking at the calendar on the homepage, it's in the normal view - prior to me applying the overlay. When I go to the calendar on the backend, I see the overlay and it looks perfect. That overlay just doesn't carry over into my webpart on the homepage.
- Joe Preiner
  4 years
  Erin, You can try adjusting the displayed view on the web part, but my experience has been the web parts aren't able to carry the overlay color-coding from the base calendar.
Fausto
4 years
Reply
Hi! i'm getting duplicated lines even when I follow all the steps. My Categories contains spaces and special characters, like "Sick/Special Leave", "National Holiday". For those I get duplicated items on the overlay calendar. The only category where I don't get duplicates is for VACATIONS, which is the only category that is a single word. Could you provide a walk around for two-word categories? Thanks!
- Joe Preiner
  4 years
  Fausto, The duplication of events is directly tied to the filter values set on the views themselves. That's been the only way I've been able to get duplicates in testing and troubleshooting for others. Make sure your filter values are set up on your views to be blank.
Lucy
4 years
Reply
It worked. I've been trying to find simple instructions for awhile. Thanks heaps!!
TinyToons
4 years
Reply
Thank you this article helps me a lot !
Sandy Allen
4 years
Reply
I have created a color coded calendar has per your instructions, but the color codes do not show up on the landing page only when you open the calendar. How can I fix this
- Joe Preiner
  4 years
  Sandy, When you say "landing page" are you referring to a calendar web part on a different page? My experience so far is that calendar web parts aren't able to carry the color-coded overlays at this point. There's not a view available that seems to allow you to use the overlays from web part settings.
- Patrick Dickson
  4 years
  Hi Sandy, I went in to settings> edit web part> selected the miscellaneous bit >category colours > I then added the colour code for the missing event to the long line of codes for the other events. Once I did that my events showed up in the colour I chose on the main calendar.
Aarnout
4 years
Reply
Hello Joe, it looks good. In a normal Calendar-view, if I click on an event and go to the Events-menu, I have options to view the item, start a workflow, and so on. And if I click on the title, it opens in the same window However, in the view with overlays, if I click on an event and go to the Events-menu, options like "View event" are not available. Furthermore, if I doubleclick on an event, it opens in a new browser-window (or browser-tab, depends on browser) and if I save and close it, I have two windows (with different information if time or title is changed). This is very confusing for the user. Do you have a solution for this?
ELM
4 years
Reply
I think where people are having issues is with Step 3. You should put all the steps in. People are missing the filter part - I know I did. I just thought it meant to create a calendar to filter on everything, not select a filter, use the category, and leave the field blank. It wasn't until I watched the video that I saw my mistake.
Adam
4 years
Reply
This was really helpful. THANK YOU!
Rockie
4 years
Reply
Awesome, Joe! Thank You very very much! :) Best regards, Gennady
Chara
4 years
Reply
I'm getting duplicates despite following all steps exact. Could creating a separate view in the task list cause this? E.g. I have an active tasks and a completed tasks. My calendar is set to include only tasks when the task status "Completed", though completed tasks are still in the calendar as duplicates.
Tyree
4 years
Reply
My LIST and LIST VIEW are missing any options for the drop down menu. I have multiple calendars and multiple views. How to I resolve this issue? Thank you.
Ana Ruiz
4 years
Reply
when i am including a calendar with overlays as a web part, how can i get the color legend as part of that web part?
Mark Walters
4 years
Reply
Hi Joe this is such a great and easy to understand article. And the supporting video is a must watch to clarify and misunderstanding. I have one question, how do I set the colour for the default view of no category?
Yadin
4 years
Reply
Like every other tutorial on this, there is reference to and even in most tutorials a picture of this magical Overlay Calendar button. The problem is, it doesn't exist, and it's unclear why. Any clue why that's missing for us?
Irina
4 years
Reply
hi, how you customize to these light colors like on your picture. Default colors are terrible. Thank you.
Daniela
4 years
Reply
Hi Joe! Really good tutorial, especially the Youtube video. Thank you and keep up the good job! Daniela
Lynn Lavelle
4 years
Reply
I have Windows 2010. I have no categories set up and have tried setting up my views. But where you have above to set up the view by using: "Show the item when column "Category" is equal to: (whatever I set up.) The problem is, neither "Category" nor "Column" are options in that dropdown. Also: how do I designate an item to be in a specific category when they're being set up? Thank you!
- Joe Preiner
  4 years
  Hello Lynn, The "Category" field is a default column on SharePoint calendars. It should be there on any calendar on any site you have. Remember that the calendar in SharePoint is just a list, where the items are the events. In order to add color-coding to your calendar views, you'll need to have values in the Category column on the calendar list. If you don't have any values in that field, you won't be able to filter on it and create the color-coded views. To add values to the Category column, open the calendar list settings from the SharePoint ribbon. Once you've located the Category column, click on its title to edit it. From there you should see a text box where you can enter category values like "Birthday" or "All-company Events" etc, etc. Enter whatever values you'll need in that category column, using a separate line for each value. Then save the column. Now if you go back and try to create the various views and get to the filtering step where I have you set up the "Category is equal to ... " you should see the category values you entered in that column displayed. This will also solve your second question. When you create a new event, Category will be a field you can select from as long as you have values on the category column itself.
Terry
4 years
Reply
Hi Joe - I was wondering what the calendar keys off of when deciding to apply a color. I followed all instructions and my PTO and Holidays show up the correct color but my travel category does not.
- Joe Preiner
  4 years
  Terry, When you are configuring the calendar overlay options, you get to choose what color is applied to what event category. You should be able to go to the calendar and select "calendar overlays" from the ribbon and edit whatever you've got set up for the travel category. It's also possible you just don't have an overlay set up for the travel category yet.
- Terry
  4 years
  I checked and I do have the travel overlay set up correctly. I did however find what the problem is. The calendar item does not have the Category filled in. I guess I will change the Category to require to be populated. Thank you for your responses!
Terry
4 years
Reply
Also, how do I make the color coded calendar the Default? When I open the site, everything is one color until I change the view.
- Joe Preiner
  4 years
  To change the default view, you'll go into the calendar web part on the page and in the web part settings, adjust the selected view to be the one you've applied all the overlays to. Once you save that setting and publish the page, it should consistently load the color-coded view of the calendar.
Toby
4 years
Reply
We're using SharePoint 2013 and I just want the current day to be a different color, to make it easier to see. Recommendations on how to do this for a new site admin?
- Joe Preiner
  4 years
  Hello Toby, The styling for the active day on the calendar is controlled by the "ms-acal-today" class. If you have access to the environment's CSS, you could adjust/overwrite that class with your own custom styling. Nothing as easy as going to the page and editing a field though.
StephG
4 years
Reply
Joe, This was very helpful. Thank you! I would suggest modifying you Troubleshooting step for Duplicate events on your calendar to include something like: • Open Calendar • Click Calendar tab , select List Settings • Scroll to Views • Click Calendar link • Assign the Filter to Show only when Category = (leave field blank) • Click OK It wasn't until I watched your video that I realized you placed the blank filter on the default Calendar view.
- Tink Wilds
  4 years
  I agree. It wasn't until testing that I realized I had to make the default calendar the null option.
Tink Wilds
4 years
Reply
This was perfect! I always thought you had to create additional calendars to use the overlays. I didn't know you could just create views and get the same affect.
Linda McCurry
4 years
Reply
Is it possible to set a different field than category for the color coding? I would like to categorize by Person Responsible.
- Joe Preiner
  4 years
  Hello Linda, That should be possible. You'll just change the filter values in the calendar list views you create to say "show items when 'Person Responsible' equals 'person name'". You'd still have to set up the Person Responsible column to use values that you can filter on, but it would function the same way. Also important to remember there's a limit of 10 total calendar overlays (9 custom plus the default view).
Phil Thompson
4 years
Reply
Thank you Joe! This is an excellent addition to our SharePoint site, and very helpful for my office. I have the same question Ana Ruiz posed four months before this one: How can I get the color legend as part of the web part? If I open the "All Events" calendar in its own window, I see a kind of legend -- i.e. the individually categorized calendars, with pertinent & unique colors highlighting each of their names -- on a legend-like window to the left of the calendar itself. However, I have my "All Events" calendar as a web part on a page my office checks daily, and in that page I cannot figure out how to make a view that will show that legend as well. Instead of seeing a "training category" entry, my guys just see an entry that happens to be colored green, whereas most entries are cyan or orange, e.g. Thank you in advance.
- Joe Preiner
  4 years
  Hello Phil, That color-coded key isn't something you can grab with the regular list view web parts. It's part of the standard SharePoint page for a calendar list. Probably the easiest way to add a color-code key would be to 1) screenshot the key from the main calendar page and put it in a content editor web part near the calendar list view or 2) make a color-coded key with HTML and CSS in a content editor web part. It's a little annoying, but probably the quickest way to accomplish what you're going for.
Suzette
4 years
Reply
Great info. Helping me impress my boss. In next to last step for #4, need to select the view associated with that overlay. It may seem obvious, but I missed it. Your troubleshooting info helped me figure this out. Thanks!
Sofia
4 years
Reply
Thank you for your help. I'm having trouble when going to click on "Calendars Overlay" as this function figure disabled. How could I enable it to continue with procedure? Thank you!
EMELYC
4 years
Reply
Good Afternoon! I was able to add the colors and everything is looking good. Except when I go to the HOME page the calendar shows the events in the same color (blue) for everything. How can I fix this?
- Joe Preiner
  4 years
  Hello Emely, On the homepage, you should be able to edit the web part and choose "calendar" for the view that it's using. The web part usually defaults to "All Events" which shows everything without the color-coding. Your view where you set up to have it showing events when "category is equal to [blank]" might be named something else, but that's the view you want to set your homepage web part to use. Hope that helps!
Ryan Chau
4 years
Reply
Thanks Joe, Excellent tutorial. We connect SP Calendar to our Outlook so color really doesn't matter :) but it's really helpful for those who strictly use OWA and SP Online.
Alan Oliveira
4 years
Reply
Hi Joe, Nice post man! It helped me out here. Thanks a lot!
Kristina Kernick
4 years
Reply
I created a SharePoint calendar before color coding and added as one of the panels on a subsite. Now that calendar does not show the color coding unless I drill in to it. Suggestions?
- Joe Preiner
  4 years
  After you apply the calendar overlays, you should be able to adjust the calendar view used in your panel on the subsite, assuming that subsite can access the calendar list from the other site.
Andrea
4 years
Reply
Great write up. Easy to follow, and user friendly.
Rob Brant
4 years
Reply
Great HOW-TO Guide. Got it the first time. Is there a way to change the colors or add additional colors? Is there a way to force SP to display more than 10 overlays? Thanks a million.
- Joe Preiner
  4 years
  Hello Rob, Glad that was helpful. You can control the colors by targeting the CSS classes. There are actually two classes per color: 1) the actual event on the calendar 2) the label in the color-coded key on the left. Look for these classes: .ms-acal-color2 { background-color:teal; } .ms-acal-apanel-color2{ background-color:teal; } If you just edit all of those values, save the CSS file and then in site settings > master page > alternate CSS...just add the URL to your CSS file and when the calendar loads it'll override the default theme colors. I haven't figured out a way to add additional overlays by force, but if I ever figure that out I'll post an update.
Michelle Davidson
3 years
Reply
LOVE
Mark S
3 years
Reply
I was glad to find this article. It saved me a good half hour of figuring this out on my own, maybe hours. One question: I was trying to do this technique but using a Task List with calendar views. Does the underlying list HAVE to be a calendar list, or should this work from a non-calendar list where I create calendar views? (this is using SharePoint 2010...yep, we are way out of date)
Dale
3 years
Reply
I have created my overlays and can see them in the List. However, in my dashboard, only the first calendar is showing. Can I put the overlayed calendar view as my dashboard view? If so, how?
- Joe Preiner
  3 years
  Hello Dale, Assuming when you say dashboard view that you've got the calendar view web part sitting on a landing page somewhere. You can try to set the view to the same one the overlay calendar uses, which should usually be the default "calendar" view. If you've got the overlays set up correctly, the color coding should come across on any web part on any page on the site.
Lucy Tang
3 years
Reply
Thanks a lot. It really works. I met another problem after customized the color for calendar. When I export the calendar to excel, but get an empty table. Could you please help me? The export functionality works well before I customize the color for categories.
- Joe Preiner
  3 years
  Hello Lucy, Check to make sure you're not exporting the default view where the event filter is set to show events when category is blank. You probably have everything categorized and are exporting a legitimately blank calendar.
Michael
3 years
Reply
Very nice work. Thank you for posting this helpful information. Do you know of a way to sort the overlays? It seems they are sorted by order of creation. Thanks again.
- Joe Preiner
  3 years
  Yeah it's typically just the order in which you create the overlays. Like maybe too many things in SharePoint, it requires thinking through all the things up front and is not all that forgiving after the fact.
pat
3 years
Reply
Hello Joe, I have a calendar overlay for status of a task...Green, Orange, Red - meaning New, In process, Complete. We have multiple people using this as a team task minder and anyone could grab a task at any time and this way we know if something got done and who did it. The problem I run into is that if for any reason we need to edit a recurring task, note section or change the end date or recurrence it will revert all the old and remaining tasks to the default color (New in this case) or we could pick but again all occurrence's will be that color. The only way I have found to work around this is to end that task once completed for that date, then I have to create a new task going forward. Is that really my only option?
Helen G
3 years
Reply
I used this site over a year ago and created my calendar in SP2010. I was even able to change the available colors. We migrated to SP2013 but I have to recreate the calendar because we have a different hierarchy structure. Now, I cannot remember how to change the colors....although I still have the HTML code I used from my original calendar. What Steps would I need to follow to create the colors I need before I create the overlays?
Becky Walton
3 years
Reply
Can this be done with an existing calendar with events already added?
- Joe Preiner
  3 years
  Hi Becky, Yes, you can follow these same steps with an existing calendar and events. The only additional step you may have to take is re-selecting the category value for the existing events.
Mattie Toolsie
3 years
Reply
@Joe Preiner: Thank you for the awesome instructions. I spent an hours watching a video and creating a calendar that didn't work because the instructions on creating the category calendar views were wrong. I was able to create my calendar in about 30 minutes with your instructions.
Christina N
1 year
Reply
How can I customize the privacy levels on the various calendar views? For example, I want my team to be able to see our team vacations (from our "team calendar view", but, the rest of the organization doesn't need to see/know our immediate team/group reminders. Right now, the "public" view is for most of our calendar categories, except our team vacations, etc. But, I need to be able to translate my "private" view so that my immediate team members can see this view as well (right now, I've set it to my private view - the only other option seems to be the "public" view). Does that make sense?
Michael Nguyen
10 months
Reply
Hi there. Due to the setup of my sharepoint list, It doesn't have overlay option. It's a custom list not calendar app. Is there a way to enable overlay option or to transfer all the data to calendar app quickly Thank you

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Step 1: Customize category column in the calendar list

Step 2. Create views filtered by category column

Step 3. Create blank view where the category filters for NULL value

Step 4. Add the calendar overlays

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Troubleshooting

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