en-US office user

Free/Busy options

Verified with Microsoft 365/Office 5568.1000 — updated on September 4, 2026

Microsoft 365/Office 5568.1000

Supported on: At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7

Path in the GPO console

User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Outlook 2016\Outlook Options\Preferences\Calendar Options\Free/Busy Options

Description

Sets the value in the option "Publish [] month(s) of Calendar free/busy information on the server".

Registry

HKCU software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\preferences

More options available

Options

Months of Free/Busy information published:
fbpublishrange decimal - range 0-12 - default: 2
Prevent users from changing Months of Free/Busy information being published
lock fb range boolean
Free/Busy updated on the server every xxx seconds:
fbupdatesecs decimal - range 0-86400 - default: 900

Export Builder

BETA

Configure the state, scope and options, then generate .reg, PowerShell, Intune and SCCM outputs — or add the setting to a multi-setting collection.

These exports write the registry — this is not a managed GPO.

.reg file

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Exported from gporais.com
; Policy: Free/Busy options
; State: Enabled
; Supported on: At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\preferences]
"fbpublishrange"=dword:00000002
"lock fb range"=dword:00000000
"fbupdatesecs"=dword:00000384
More formats (PowerShell, Intune, SCCM)

PowerShell

# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Free/Busy options
# State: Enabled
# Supported on: At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7
# Warning: In SYSTEM context (the Intune default), HKCU targets the SYSTEM profile. Run this script using the logged-on credentials.

$path = 'HKCU:\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\preferences'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'fbpublishrange' -Value 2 -Type DWord
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'lock fb range' -Value 0 -Type DWord
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'fbupdatesecs' -Value 900 -Type DWord

Building a multi-setting collection? Add this setting and generate combined .reg / PowerShell / GPO scripts.

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