en-US office user

Shorten appointments and meetings

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

Description

This policy setting allows you to shorten the default duration of appointments and meetings by a specified number of minutes. If you enable this policy setting, you can choose between the following options: End Early, Start Late, None. If you select End Early, meetings and appointments will end early by the specified number of minutes. If you select Start Late, meetings and appointments will start late by the specified number of minutes. If you select None, the default meeting duration will not be shortened. In all cases, the settings for this feature will be disabled in the Outlook Options dialog. If you don’t configure this policy setting, users can modify these settings by going to File > Options > Calendar. Note: This policy setting only applies to subscription versions of Office, such as Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise.

Registry

HKCU software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\options\calendar

More options available

Options

Select the Shorten Events Type
shortenevents enum
  • None (default)
  • End Early -> End_Early
  • Start Late -> Start_Late

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: Shorten appointments and meetings
; State: Enabled
; Supported on: At least Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\policies\microsoft\office\16.0\outlook\options\calendar]
"shortenevents"="None"
More formats (PowerShell, Intune, SCCM)

PowerShell

# Exported from gporais.com
# Policy: Shorten appointments and meetings
# 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\options\calendar'
New-Item -Path $path -Force | Out-Null
Set-ItemProperty -Path $path -Name 'shortenevents' -Value 'None' -Type String

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

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