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When I change the meeting start time in an Outlook meeting invite or appointment it automatically adjusts the end time to keep the meeting duration constant.

For example

Start time: 2:00 pm   is changed to    Start time: 2:15 pm
End time:   2:30 pm   then becomes     End time:   2:45 pm

But what I wanted was:

Start time: 2:15 pm
End time:   2:30 pm

Is there a way to change this default behavior so that the times are sticky and the duration changes rather than the end time? I hate having to change two fields when I only need to change one. The default behavior is creating extra work for me.

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  • Something is wrong with your question ... I figure that you meant the end time in the "becomes" column to be 2:45 pm which is outlook's default behavior. This, however, cannot be changed, as this would mean changing the duration of the event; which Outlook undesrstands as "static"
    – akseli
    Aug 10, 2011 at 14:22
  • @akseli Yes, it was unclear how I wrote it. Hopefully my edit helps. Incidentally, if the answer is "it can't be done" go ahead and make that your answer so I can accept it. We might as well document Outlook's shortcomings on the interwebs for the benefit of others.
    – Adam Wuerl
    Aug 10, 2011 at 14:35

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
5

Yes, you can change the start or the end times which will in turn increase or decrease the meeting duration, but you have to do it in the calendar view.

Just click on the meeting, and start dragging from the corners:

Outlook screenshot 1



If you want more granularity while choosing the times (like 5 or 15 minutes), you can increase the time intervals shown on the calendar view by right clicking in the time line, and choosing an appropriate detail level BEFORE modifying your meeting:

Outlook screenshot 2



More reading here.

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  • I'm sorry, but this does not feel like a solution, but rather a workaround. I would also like to physically type in a different start time the event window that is separate from my calendar view, without it changing the end time to match the duration. This would make a great feature request to Microsoft.
    – aaiezza
    Nov 4, 2021 at 16:29
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If you change the start time in Appointment window, it will assume a set duration, and will adjust the end time accordingly.

However, if you click on the Scheduling Assistant, you will be able to drag the start time line backwards and forwards in 30 min intervals, which will leave the end time unaffected. Caveats: if you try to move the start time to within 30 mins of the end time, it will push the end time ahead by 30 mins; in addition, I can't see a means of adjusting this 30 min window (say to 15 mins).

In your scenario, this would not help you, but if you wanted to reduce a 2hr meeting to 90 mins by starting 30 minutes later, this technique would work.

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