A new way to colour code calendars in SharePoint

As we know, Microsoft Lists and SharePoint Lists can be displayed as a calendar view if it has columns that include date fields. 

In the past, in order to colour code a calendar in SharePoint, you had to use calendar overlays, which allowed you to merge multiple calendars or multiple views into one calendar view. It was quite time consuming to set up and only allowed a maximum of 10 overlays, which can be limiting.

However, it can now be accomplished in an easier and better way by using view formatting!            

How to do it:

In this example I have a list that displays leave requests. I want to display it as a calendar and colour code according to what type of leave it is e.g., annual leave, unpaid leave, sick leave.

1.       Create a calendar view of your list by clicking the View drop-down at the top right of your list. Click Create new View.

2.       Once created, edit your calendar view by going into the list settings and selecting the view you just created. Select your column that you want to use for colour coding, e.g. Type of leave / category.

3.       Back on your calendar view, click your view drop down and select “Format current view”.

4.       Under conditional formatting, click “Manage rules”.

5.       There is an existing rule there that displays all values as grey. Click the ellipses to delete this rule.

6.       Click add rule.

7.       Choose your colour coding column, e.g. type of leave then fill in the rest of the logic. In my example, if the type of leave is annual leave, I’ll show it as blue:

8.       Click Save to save your rule. You can then use the back arrow to go back and continue to create rules to display all your categories as different colours.

9.       Click save on each of your rules, then “Close” when you’re finished creating rules.

10.       You will now see your calendar view displays all your categories as different colours – easy!