How to Set Up a Microsoft Teams Meeting on Behalf of Someone Else

If you’re an executive assistant, team coordinator, or anyone who helps manage another person’s calendar, you’ve probably been asked to set up a Teams meeting on behalf of someone else. It sounds simple, but without the right setup it quickly gets confusing.

This guide covers:

• How delegate access works and why it’s the recommended way.
• How to actually schedule the meeting so it shows as “You on behalf of Manager”.
• A Co‑organizer workaround when delegate access isn’t available.
• A quick link‑copy workaround for limited scenarios.

What Does “On Behalf Of” Mean in Teams?

When you schedule a Teams meeting on behalf of someone else, the meeting:

• Appears on their calendar.
• Shows them as the organizer.
• Typically displays something like:
  Your Name on behalf of Manager Name in the invite/header.

The person you’re scheduling for owns the meeting: organizer rights, recordings, lobby controls, and so on. You’re just the delegate doing the admin work. If you only need a meeting on your own calendar, here’s how to schedule a video call in Microsoft Teams.

This is not the same as:

• Creating a meeting from your own calendar and adding your boss as an attendee.
• Forwarding a random Teams link into their calendar.

There are two primary ways to do this correctly:

• Method 1: Delegate access in Outlook (recommended, “proper” way).
• Method 2: Co‑organizer workaround (when delegate isn’t available).

And one emergency‑style workaround:

• Method 3: Copy the Teams link into their calendar.

Set Up a Microsoft Teams Meeting on Behalf of Someone Else

Now I will tell you different ways to set up a Microsoft Teams meeting on behalf of someone else.

Method 1: Schedule a Teams Meeting Using Delegate Access (Recommended)

This is the most reliable and enterprise‑friendly way. It uses Outlook’s delegate and calendar sharing features, which Teams relies on.

Step 1: Manager Grants You Delegate/Editor Access in Outlook

The person you schedule for (your manager) must grant you permission in Outlook, not Teams.

There are two common ways they can do this:

A. Outlook on the web / new Outlook (calendar sharing)

1. Manager opens Calendar in Outlook on the web or new Outlook.
2. In the calendar list, they select their own calendar.
3. Select Share on the Home tab (or right-click the calendar and select Sharing and permissions).
4. Type your name or email address in the box and pick you from the suggestions.
5. In the permission dropdown next to your name, choose Delegate (or Can edit if you don’t need to handle meeting requests).
6. Select Share. Outlook emails you a sharing invitation.

Can edit lets you create, change and delete events. Delegate adds the right to send and respond to meeting requests on the manager’s behalf, and their meeting requests come to you too. Delegate access works only on the manager’s primary calendar and only for people inside the organization.

B. Classic Outlook desktop (Delegate Access dialog)

1. Manager opens classic Outlook desktop.
2. Go to File → Info → Account Settings → Delegate Access.
3. Click Add, search for your name, select it, then click Add → OK.
4. In Delegate Permissions, set Calendar to Editor (can read, create, and modify items).
5. If you need to manage meeting responses for them, check
   “Delegate receives copies of meeting-related messages sent to me.”
6. Confirm and close the dialog.

Once this is done, you’re officially a delegate and can manage their calendar.

Pro tip:

• Both you and your manager should be on supported Outlook versions (new Outlook or Outlook on the web, or both using classic) and have active Microsoft 365 licenses.
• Version mismatches and disabled add‑ins are common reasons delegate scheduling behaves oddly.

Step 2: Open the Manager’s Calendar in Your Outlook

Now you connect those permissions to your Outlook client.

In new Outlook / Outlook on the web

1. Open Calendar.
2. Select Accept in the sharing invitation email, or select Add calendar → Add from directory, type your manager’s name and select Save. Both work in new Outlook and Outlook on the web.
3. Add/select their calendar so it appears alongside yours.

You should now see their calendar entries and be able to create/edit items depending on the permission level.

In classic Outlook desktop

1. Open Calendar.
2. Use Home → Add Calendar → From Address Book or File → Open & Export → Other User’s Folder, choose your manager, and select Calendar.
3. Their calendar appears in Shared Calendars and can be toggled on/off.

Any meeting created while you’re in their calendar view will land on their calendar, not yours.

Step 3: Schedule the Teams Meeting From Their Calendar

This is the critical part: always schedule from the manager’s calendar.

From Outlook desktop (classic)

1. Make sure your manager’s calendar is selected.
2. Click New Teams Meeting (or New Meeting then click Teams Meeting on the ribbon).
3. Fill in:
   • Title.
   • Required/optional attendees.
   • Date and time.
   • Agenda or notes.
4. Click Send.

The invite goes out with your manager as organizer, showing that it was sent by you on their behalf.

From Outlook on the web / new Outlook

1. In Calendar, click New event.
2. In the calendar picker (the Save to calendar field), select your manager’s calendar. It only lists calendars you have editor or delegate access to.
3. Toggle on Teams meeting so the join link is added.
4. Add attendees, time, and details.
5. Send the invite.

Here’s the new event form in Outlook on the web with the Teams meeting toggle on. My test mailbox has no shared calendars, so the calendar picker doesn’t show up here; once you have delegate access to your manager’s calendar, it appears in this form.

Again, the meeting belongs to your manager’s calendar and account; they can host and control it even if you’re not present.

Important behavior:

• The Teams link is tied to your manager’s account.
• You can attend as a delegate only if you add yourself as an attendee.
• You can edit or cancel the meeting later from their calendar, and the update goes out on their behalf. Here’s how to reschedule or cancel a Teams meeting.

OWA fallback when Teams add‑in is missing

If the Teams Meeting button is missing or the add‑in is broken:

1. Use Outlook on the web.
2. Open your manager’s calendar (either via sharing or “Open another mailbox” if your org allows it).
3. Create a New event, turn on Teams meeting, and send.

This often works even when the desktop add‑in is problematic in hybrid environments.

Method 2: Use the Co‑Organizer Workaround (No Delegate Access)

If delegate access isn’t set up—or you need a quick solution—you can use Co‑organizer in Teams. Here, you remain the meeting organizer, but you give your manager powerful control.

How it works

• You schedule from your own calendar.
• Your manager is added as an attendee.
• You then mark them as a Co‑organizer in the meeting options.

Co‑organizers can:

• Admit people from the lobby.
• Start/stop recordings (depending on policy).
• Mute/remove participants.
• Change certain meeting options.

Steps

1. Open Teams or Outlook and create a New meeting from your calendar.
2. Add your manager as a required attendee, plus everyone else.
3. Save/send the invite.
4. Open the meeting from your Teams Calendar and select Options (or use the Meeting options link inside the invite).
5. Under Roles → Choose co-organizers, select your manager.
6. Select Apply.

Your manager receives notification and co‑organizer rights. You can add up to 10 co-organizers, and they must be in your organization (a guest account in your org also works); external participants can’t be co-organizers. You can also pick them before sending: turn on Teams meeting in the new event form and select Options → Roles.

Best use cases:

• One‑off meetings where you just need your manager to control the session.
• Delegate access isn’t configured, or there’s no time to request it.
• You’ll also attend and don’t mind being the technical organizer.

Limitation:

• You remain the organizer in Outlook/Teams. Responses, updates, and some organizer‑only settings route to your mailbox, not your manager’s. Co-organizers also can’t edit the invite, send updates or end the meeting for everyone. If that’s a problem, use Method 1.

Method 3: Copy the Teams Meeting Link Into Their Calendar (Last Resort)

This is a quick workaround when:

• You don’t have editor access to your manager’s calendar.
• They only shared the calendar with view permissions.

Idea

1. Create a Teams meeting from your calendar.
2. Copy the Teams join link from the meeting body (see how to create a Microsoft Teams meeting link).
3. Ask your manager (or anyone with editor rights) to create an event on their calendar and paste that link into the description.
4. Send invites from the manager’s calendar.

This keeps the join link usable but does not change the organizer identity behind the link; ownership is still tied to whoever created the original meeting. It’s fine for simple scenarios but not ideal for regular EA workflows.

Common Issues and Fixes

Teams Meeting button missing in Outlook

• Usually a Teams add‑in issue.
• In classic Outlook: File → Options → Add‑ins → COM Add‑ins, enable Microsoft Teams Meeting Add‑in for Microsoft Office.
• If it’s missing or keeps disabling itself, reinstall Teams or check org‑level policies with IT.
• New Outlook and Outlook on the web don’t use this add-in; the Teams meeting toggle is built into the event form. To turn it on for every event, set Microsoft Teams as the default meeting in Outlook.

Meeting lands on your calendar, not your manager’s

• You’re creating the meeting from your calendar view instead of theirs.
• Always confirm which calendar is selected before clicking New meeting / New Teams Meeting.

Attendees confused about who organized the meeting

• Outlook and modern clients show something like Manager (organized by You) or You on behalf of Manager.
• Some non‑Microsoft clients display only one name; that’s client behavior, not a misconfiguration.

Manager can’t start the meeting / stuck in lobby

• If the manager is added only as an attendee to your meeting, they might hit the lobby.
• Fix by:
  • Using Method 1 so they’re the organizer, or
  • Making them a co-organizer (co-organizers always bypass the lobby), or
  • In Meeting options, set Who can bypass the lobby? to People in my org (or a wider option such as Everyone).

Which Method Should You Use?

Situation	Best method
You regularly manage someone’s calendar (EA/delegate)	Method 1 – Delegate via Outlook
One‑off meeting, no delegate access set up	Method 2 – Co‑organizer
You only have view access to their calendar	Method 3 – Copy link
Hybrid / add‑in issues in desktop Outlook	Method 1 via Outlook on the web

Quick Recap

• Delegate access is configured in Outlook, not in Teams.
• Your manager should give you Editor/Delegate permissions on their calendar.
• Always create the meeting from their calendar, not yours, if you want true “on behalf of” scheduling.
• If delegate access isn’t possible, use Co‑organizer as a strong alternative.
• If the Teams Meeting button is missing, check and fix the Teams add‑in.

Once this is set up, scheduling Teams meetings for someone else becomes routine—it’s a few minutes to configure once, then just a couple of clicks each time.

A few more guides you might find useful:

• Manager away next week? Here’s how to set out of office in Microsoft Teams.
• Need a record of the call? Learn how to record a Microsoft Teams meeting.
• Tracking who showed up? See how to download the attendance list from a Teams meeting.