Can I set time as "Busy" in an Exchange calendar without creating an appointment/meeting?

Question

TL;DR, I'd like a configurable time on my calendar that shows me as "busy" that doesn't show up on calendars.

I want to ensure that nobody attempts to book meetings between 1pm and 2pm so that I can take my lunch break.

I've created a recurrent weekday appointment, but this shows up in Outlook and on my iPhone calendars as an event, which clutters up my daily views and gives a false impression that I have a meeting every day.

Ideally I'm looking for something like the start/end times for a work-day. Is this possible?

Answer 1

Unfortunately no.

The Exchange "Calendar" objects can have child objects that are "Appointment" objects.

Without an appointment there's nothing to signify the time is reserved, and there's no way to fully hide an appointment (just its contents).

Aside from your workday start-time and end-time options, the appointment objects are what Exchange looks for to determine your availability.

There may be some 3rd party utility to add this functionality, but I've never seen or heard of one, and a few quick Google searches uncovers nothing (other than instructions to add a recurring appointment, and mark it as Busy)

gives a false impression that I have a meeting every day

Actually, it gives the correct impression that you have a reserved appointment at that time -- lunch. ;)

Answer 2

You could turn off the reminder for it and set it as Private. There's also the option of having it display as "Out of Office", which may be closer to what you're after.