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Getting started with the Calendar Overlay

Add the Calendar Overlay for your organization

  1. Find the Cloudwell Calendar Overlay app in the SharePoint Store or find us in Microsoft AppSource.
  2. In the SharePoint admin center, click Advanced > API access in the left navigation. Select each of the pending requests from the Cloudwell Calendar Overlay package and click Approve.

Make the Calendar Overlay app available in Microsoft Teams

To make your web part available in Microsoft Teams, you’ll have to synchronize your solution with teams.

  1. Select the app in the SharePoint tenant App Catalog and select the Sync to Teams button in the ribbon on the Files tab.
  2. Confirm that you can see the status message in the top-right corner.
  3. Move to the Microsoft Teams side and check the App Catalog status by selecting Apps from the left navigation.
  4. Wait until your tenant-specific apps selection is visible:
  5. Confirm that you can see the Calendar Overlay app in the Teams app catalog.

When Calendar Overlay is used in Microsoft Teams, it applies the Teams theme settings.

Add the Calendar Overlay to a SharePoint page

  1. Go to the page where you want to add the Calendar Overlay.
  2. Click edit at the top right of the page.
  3. Hover your mouse above or below an existing web part and you’ll see a line with a circled +.
  4. Click + and you’ll see a list of web parts to choose from. To easily find the Calendar Overlay web part, start typing in the Search box and then select Calendar Overlay in the search results.

Add the Calendar Overlay to Teams as a channel tab

  1. Select a channel in a team where you want to add the Calendar Overlay.
  2. Select + to add a new tab on the channel.
  3. Find the Calendar Overlay app in the list. If needed, you can use the search capability to find the app.
  4. Select Add to confirm the tab to be selected.
  5. Select Save to confirm the tab to be installed on the channel.

Configure the Calendar Overlay

  1. The Calendar Overlay uses the native settings dialogs in SharePoint and Teams to configure settings for the app.
    • To edit the settings in SharePoint, while in edit mode on a page, select the Edit web part icon on the Calendar Overlay web part.
    • To edit the settings in Teams, select the dropdown of the Calendar Overlay tab you would like to edit and click settings.
  2. The Settings panel will become visible on the right side of the screen.

Data source settings

The Data Source Settings allow a user to define the sources, colors, icons, and order of calendars in view.

SharePoint calendars

The Calendar Overlay supports adding SharePoint lists and document libraries as a source. The only requirement is the list/library must have columns that can map to the Title, Start Date, and End Date settings in the configuration dialog.

  1. To add a new calendar or edit an existing calendar source to the Calendar Overlay, select Manage Calendars under the SharePoint Calendars heading.
  2. Click Add to define a new calendar source, or select a row in the table below and click Edit to modify the settings of an existing calendar source, Delete the calendar source, or the Up and Down arrows to change the order in the legend.
  3. To add/edit a calendar source fill in the following properties:
  • Display As – This is the title of the calendar source as displayed in the legend.
  • Legend Icon – You can select the icon displayed next to the title in the legend.
  • Event Colors – You can set the calendar source font, background, and border colors with the color picker.
  • Site – This is the source site for your list. Select the site scope, then your site, if necessary.
  • Calendar List – This is the source for your list.
  • View – The view of items from your source as defined by your SharePoint list/library view.
  • Event Title Column – The display title of your event mapping to a string column from your list/library.
  • Event Start Date Column – The start date of your event mapping to a date column from your list/library.
  • Event End Date Column – The end date of your event mapping to a date column from your list/library.
  • Event Details Column – The column from your list/library that is displayed in the over card details section.

SharePoint field names in the calendar configuration follow the site’s language.

Exchange calendars

The Calendar Overlay supports adding Exchange Online and on-premises calendars as a source. This allows a user to define any source with an email address associated to it, such as a User, Microsoft 365 Group, Shared Mailbox, or Resource Account.

  1. To add a new calendar or edit an existing calendar source to the Calendar Overlay, select Manage Calendars under the Exchange Calendars heading.
  2. Click Add to define a new calendar source, or select a row in the table below and click Edit to modify the settings of an existing calendar source, Delete the calendar source, or the Up and Down arrows to change the order in the legend.
  3. To add/edit a calendar source fill in the following properties:
  • Email Address – This is the email address associated with the Exchange calendar.
  • Group Calendar – If set to true, the icon in the legend for this calendar displays a group of users.
  • Calendar Name – This is the title of the calendar source as displayed in the legend.
  • Event Colors – You can set the calendar source font, background, and border colors with the color picker.

For a Microsoft 365 Group, room, or other resource calendar, use its associated email address when configuring the Exchange source. Room and resource booking is supported; your organization’s permissions and booking policies still apply.

Use Exchange category filtering to control which events from an Exchange calendar appear.

Planner plans

The Calendar Overlay supports adding Microsoft Planner Plans as a data source.

  1. To add a new calendar or edit an existing calendar source to the Calendar Overlay, select Manage Plans under the Planner Calendars heading.
  2. Click Add to define a new calendar source, or select a row in the table below and click Edit to modify the settings of an existing calendar source, Delete the calendar source, or the Up and Down arrows to change the order in the legend.
  3. To add/edit a calendar source fill in the following properties:
  • Calendar Name – This is the title of the calendar source as displayed in the legend.
  • Event Colors – You can set the calendar source font, background, and border colors with the color picker.

iCal feeds

The Calendar Overlay offers seamless integration with various enterprise platforms beyond Microsoft 365, allowing organizations to extend its benefits to a wider range of systems. By obtaining the iCal URL from the external platform, you can add it as a data source in the Calendar Overlay iCal data source settings. This allows you to import and overlay calendars from external platforms within the Calendar Overlay, providing a unified view of events and tasks.

  1. To add a new calendar or edit an existing calendar source to the Calendar Overlay, select Manage iCal Feeds in the Data source settings under the iCal feeds heading.
  2. Click + Add to define a new calendar source, select a row in the table below and click Edit to modify the settings of an existing calendar source, Delete the calendar source, or the Up and Down arrows to change the order in the legend.
  3. To add/edit a calendar source fill in the following properties:
  • Display name – This is the title of the calendar source as displayed in the legend.
  • Icon – Pick an icon from the icon library to go along with the feed in the legend.
  • Event Colors – You can set the calendar source font, background, and border colors with the color picker.
  • iCal feed URL – The iCal URL feed from your external platform. For a list of known integrations, visit our Frequently Asked Questions.

iCalendar (ICS) feeds support timed and all-day events. All-day events appear as all-day entries in the calendar.

Advanced filtering

Use filters to control which events appear in Calendar Overlay. From version 4.3.0, the following exclusion operators provide additional ways to filter values:

  • Does not contain — excludes values containing the specified text.
  • Does not equal — excludes values matching the specified value.
  • Does not start with — excludes values beginning with the specified text.
  • Does not end with — excludes values ending with the specified text.

Export/import configuration

The Configuration button allows a user to export and import the current data source configuration. When exporting the data source, a configuration file is downloaded to your local computer. To import the configuration file, select the destination web part in edit mode, select your Data Source type (SharePoint or Exchange), and then select the Import option and pick the local configuration file to upload. The import function does an append action only and will not overwite the existing connections configured.

Calendar display settings

Default view

The Default View setting controls which view loads when Calendar Overlay opens. Users can switch views with the view selector. Choose List to open with a list of events, or select another available view. The default setting is Month.

Available views

The Available Views setting allows a user to configure which calendar views are available for all users of the Calendar Overlay to select. The default settings are Month, Week, Day, and List. Additionally, you can select Week Summary and Day Summary.

When using a custom calendar view, save the selected view with your calendar configuration.

Start date relative to today

From version 4.2.0, you can configure Calendar Overlay to open at a date relative to today using day, week, month, or year offsets. Use an offset to initially show a date in the future or past, such as several weeks ahead for upcoming schedules. This changes the initial date shown, rather than the dates of your events.

Display calendar legend

The Display Calendar Legend setting allows a user to toggle the visibility of the legend of configured calendar sources displayed above the calendar. The default setting is On.

Grouped calendars

From version 4.4.0, you can organize calendar entries into groups in the legend. Use groups to make larger collections of calendars easier to navigate, such as calendars for different teams or locations. Legend groups organize entries in Calendar Overlay.

Enable legend dropdowns

The Enable Legend Dropdowns settings allows a user toggle the visibility of the calendar legend menus for configured calendars. The legend dropdown allows all users of the Calendar Overlay to add new events to the associated calendar (if permissions allow), navigate to the calendar source, and toggle the visibility of the calendar in their view. The default setting is On.

Events per day

The Events Per Day setting allows a user to define the number of events per day to show on the calendar. Additional events are displayed when clicking on the + more text on the date. The default value is 4 events per day.

Calendar height mode

The Calendar Height Mode setting allows a user to set the scaling of height for the Calendar Overlay. The following options are:

  • Auto – Auto sets the height based on width of the parent element.
  • Parent (default) – Auto-scales to the height and width of the parent element.
  • Ratio – Allows a user to size based on aspect ratio in relationship to width.
  • Manual – Allows a user to define a height in pixels.

Event display settings

Display event start and end times

These settings allow users to toggle the visibility of event start and end times on the Calendar Overlay. The default setting is On.

Categories and regional settings

Event categories can be displayed with the calendar legend in different positions. For Exchange sources, category filtering controls which events appear.

Calendar dates and times respect the SharePoint site’s regional settings. If the date or time format differs from what you expect, review the site’s regional settings. SharePoint field names in the calendar configuration also follow the site’s language.

Upgrade the Calendar Overlay

Upgrading to the most recent version of the Cloudwell Calendar Overlay is simple.

  1. In your organization’s App Catalog, find the Calendar Overlay app and select the checkbox on the left.
  2. In the Files ribbon, select Upgrade Store App.
  3. Once updated, you will notice the updated App Version number in the app catalog. Additionally, you can view the app version in the web part settings panel on a SharePoint page.

When troubleshooting calendar loading, resource booking, ICS event times, or view selection, check your installed version against the latest release notes.

Uninstall the Calendar Overlay

  1. Go to your tenant’s SharePoint App Catalog and click the “Apps for SharePoint” link in the quick launch navigation.
  2. Select “Cloudwell Calendar Overlay” in the list of apps and click delete from the menu.
  3. In Microsoft Teams, select Apps in the app bar, then navigate to “Built for organization”, find the Calendar Overlay app, click the ellipsis, and then Delete.

Limitations and known issues

None at this time

Release notes

You can find the latest release notes and build version information here.

Frequently asked questions

You will need to contact an IT administrator within your organization to review and approve the app request. Complete details can be found here: Manage app requests – SharePoint in Microsoft 365 | Microsoft Learn

The Calendar Overlay offers seamless integration with various enterprise platforms beyond Microsoft 365, allowing organizations to extend its benefits to a wider range of systems. By obtaining the iCal URL from the external platform, you can add it as a data source in the Calendar Overlay iCal data source settings. This allows you to import and overlay calendars from external platforms within the Calendar Overlay, providing a unified view of events and tasks. Some known integrations include:

Please make sure to toggle the Show All List Types setting to Yes. This will allow you to select any list or library in selected site. By default, the app looks at Calendar list types, but is easily configured to look at All list types with this setting.
Configuring a SharePoint data source is powered by the native search in SharePoint. This ensures security and additional organizational information protection policies are accounted for. If you do not see the site you are looking for in the list, please ensure the following:
  1. Ensure you have read permissions, at a minimum, to the site and calendar source you are trying to configure.
  2. Verify with a site administrator that the Indexing Site Content setting is set to Yes. A site administrator can find this in Site Settings > Search > Search and offline availability > Indexing Site Content.

This is related to your current permissions set on a calendar and organization defaults. To manage calendar permissions in Exchange Online, you can use the Exchange PowerShell module. If you have administrator access to the Exchange environment, follow these steps:

  1. Connect to Exchange Online: Run the command: Connect-ExchangeOnline -UserPrincipalName <yourusername>

  2. To check permissions on a calendar: Use the command: Get-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity user@domain.com:\Calendar Replace user@domain.com with the email address of the user whose calendar you want to check.

  3. To add a new permission to the room calendar: Execute the following command: Add-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity user@domain.com:\Calendar -User user@domain.com -AccessRights LimitedDetails Replace -User user@domain.com with the email address of the user you want to grant access to.

  4. To update an existing permission: Use the command: Set-MailboxFolderPermission -Identity user@domain.com:\Calendar -User Default -AccessRights LimitedDetails In the above case, “Default” is used to set the permission for all users. Modify -User Default if you want to target a specific user.

Note: For the AccessRights options, you can refer to the relevant documentation. Generally, if you only want to grant read permissions to a calendar, using “LimitedDetails” will allow users to see the event’s title, time, and location. If you also want users to view the event description, you can consider using “Reviewer” as the access right.

Deploying a SharePoint application to a single site collection, rather than to the whole tenant, is achievable with SharePoint Online through Site Collection App Catalogs. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it:

Before you proceed, make sure you have the necessary SharePoint Admin role or greater in your Microsoft 365 tenant and that the Calendar Overlay app has already been added to the tenant app catalog.

Step 1: Enable Site Collection App Catalog

First, you need to enable the Site Collection App Catalog for the specific site. To do this, you can use SharePoint Online Management Shell or PowerShell with the SharePoint Online Management Shell module loaded.

Here is an example using PowerShell:

# Connect to SharePoint Online
Connect-SPOService -url https://your-domain-admin.sharepoint.com

# Enable the Site Collection App Catalog
Add-SPOSiteCollectionAppCatalog -Site https://your-domain.sharepoint.com/sites/YourSiteCollection

Step 2: Upload the App to the App Catalog

  1. Navigate to your Tenant App Catalog, select the Calendar Overlay app in the list of apps, and click Download to download the app to your computer.
    Tenant app catalog
  2. Click on ‘Site Contents’ from the gear icon in the top right, then select ‘Apps for SharePoint’ in the list.
    Apps for SharePoint
  3. Select ‘Upload’ and choose the .cab file you downloaded in Step 1, then select ‘OK’.
  4. Once the app is uploaded, the deployment dialog will load. Make sure to deselect the ‘Make this solution available to all sites in the organization’ option and then select ‘Deploy’.
    Deploy the app
  5. Now select the settings gear in the top right and select ‘Add an app’.
  6. You will see the Calendar Overlay app in the list of available apps you can add. Select ‘Add’ from the app card.
    Add the Calendar Overlay app.
  7. The app is now available for use in this site collection. You can now edit any page to add the web part from the gallery.

Please note that deploying an application to a specific site collection restricts its availability to that specific site collection only. Users from other site collections won’t be able to see or use the application.

Yes, our app is compliant with FedRAMP standards as it operates within the Microsoft 365 (M365) Tenant, which is already FedRAMP compliant. This setup ensures that our app meets the necessary security and compliance requirements set by the Federal Government. For more detailed information on M365 Tenant’s FedRAMP compliance, please visit Microsoft 365 Tenant on FedRAMP Marketplace. Please contact us if you have any additional questions.

Yes. Configure them as Exchange calendar sources using the associated email address. Your organization’s permissions and booking policies still apply. Version 4.4.1 improves room detection and resource booking; version 4.4.2 improves Microsoft 365 Group calendar loading.

Yes. From version 4.4.0, you can group calendar entries in the legend to make larger collections easier to navigate. These legend groups are separate from Microsoft 365 Group calendar data sources.

Yes. From version 4.2.0, start date controls support day, week, month, or year offsets relative to today. For example, you can initially show a date several weeks in the future. The offset changes the initial date shown; it does not change event dates.

Yes. From version 4.3.0, advanced filtering includes Does not contain, Does not equal, Does not start with, and Does not end with.

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