If you’ve ever opened a SharePoint calendar and stared at a wall of events — all the same color, all blending together — you know how quickly it becomes a headache. Color coding your SharePoint calendar is one of those small changes that makes a surprisingly big difference in how you and your team actually use it.
In this tutorial, I’ll walk you through two ways to add color codes to your SharePoint calendar: the classic overlay method and the modern view formatting approach. I’ll also cover how to fix the annoying duplicate events issue that trips up a lot of people.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
- SharePoint calendar color code using Calendar Overlays (classic method)
- SharePoint calendar color code using View Formatting (modern method)
- SharePoint calendar color code without overlay
- How to fix SharePoint calendar overlay duplicate events
Why Color Code Your SharePoint Calendar?
Before we get into the steps, let me quickly explain why SharePoint color coding is important.
When you’re managing a team calendar with meetings, holidays, training sessions, and project deadlines all mixed in, it becomes impossible to get a quick read at a glance. Color coding lets you separate events by category — each type gets its own color — so you can spot what’s what within seconds.
It also helps with priority. If you want urgent deadlines to stand out in red and general team meetings to stay in blue, that’s exactly what color coding gives you.
Check out How to Use SharePoint Group Calendar Web Part?
Method 1: SharePoint Calendar Color Code Using Overlay (Classic Way)
This is the older approach, but it still works in SharePoint Online and it’s great if you’re using a classic Events list. The idea is simple: you create a separate calendar view for each event category, then overlay them all with different colors onto one default view.
Here’s how to do it step by step.
Step 1: Open your Events list
Go to your SharePoint site → Site Contents → open your Events list like in the screenshot below:
Step 2: Set up your Categories
Go to the CALENDAR tab → List Settings → click the Category column. You’ll see a set of default choices like Meeting, Holiday, and a few others. You can keep these or add your own — for example, Training, Client Call, Internal Review. Hit Save when you’re done. Here is the screenshot below for your reference.
Step 3: Create a Calendar View for each category
Now, for each category, you need a dedicated calendar view. Click Create View → choose Calendar View like the screenshot below:
- Name the view after the category (e.g., “Meetings View”)
- Set a filter: Category is equal to Meeting
- Save the view
Repeat this for every category you have. Yes, it takes a few minutes, but you only do it once.
Step 4: Create a “blank” default view
You also need a base calendar view that shows events with no category assigned. Create one more Calendar View and set the filter as Category is equal to (leave the value blank). This becomes your default overlay base. Below is the screenshot for your reference.
Step 5: Add Calendar Overlays
This is where the color magic actually happens.
- Go to the CALENDAR tab → click Calendars Overlay
- Click New Calendar, like in the screenshot below: