How to Change Meeting Organizer in Outlook?

With a simple right-click, you can begin the process of changing the meeting organizer in Outlook. No need to delete and recreate meetings just to get a new organizer for it. This year, Microsoft has finally launched the feature that allows users to easily modify the organizer for a single Outlook meeting instance or for a series of meetings.

In this guide, I will share everything with you, from the step-by-step process of changing the organizer to the limitations and common issues. Additionally, we will also discuss how to recover lost or inaccessible meetings from Outlook using an OST repair tool.

Things to Know Before You Change Meeting Organizer in Outlook

Microsoft has rolled out the service for changing the organizer with a few limitations, such as:

• Currently, users can only change the meeting organizer using the New Outlook and Outlook on the Web (OWA).
• Only the current organizer or someone with permission to edit the meeting organizers can send the request to the new organizer for the change.
• The new organizer has the option to approve or decline the request. If the user accidentally declines the request, the previous user has to send it again.
• The changes can only be made for non-online meetings and will only be applicable for meetings that are scheduled for the future.
• The new organizer must have a Work or School account. Also, encrypted meetings cannot be transferred.
• Access to the OneDrive attachments and links has to be manually shared by the previous organizer to the new organizer.
• Meetings stored in Group or Shared mailboxes are not supported.

Change Meeting Organizer in Outlook for a Single Meeting

For a meeting that is scheduled for the future, you can change the organizer with a few simple steps.

• Open Outlook and go to the meeting whose organizer you want to change.
• Right-click the meeting and select Change organizer.
• Enter the name or email address of the person who will be the new organizer and a message (optional).
• Click Send.

Outlook will send an email invitation to the person whom you want to make the new organizer of the meeting. Until that person accepts the invite, the current organizer remains unchanged.

A person can either approve the request to become the new meeting organizer in Outlook from the email or from the meeting if they were an attendee.

Change Meeting Organizer in Outlook for a Meeting Series

To change meeting organizer for a recurring meeting, follow the steps given below:

• In Outlook, open the recurring meeting.
• Click the more options button and select Change organizer.
• Enter the name or email address of the person who will be the new organizer. If required, provide a message.
• Click Send.

An invitation will be sent. Ask the person whom you want to make the new organizer to accept the invite.

Note: When you change meeting organizer in Outlook for a recurring series, the change is applied only to the upcoming meetings. All the meetings set for future dates will become visible to the new organizer's calendar. However, the meetings that are already completed will only be visible in the calendar of the previous organizer.

How to Change Meeting Organizer in Classic Outlook?

If Outlook on the Web and the New Outlook are not available, you can also use the classic Outlook. However, in this method, you have to delete the meetings from the current organizer's Outlook and create them again in the calendar of the new Outlook. Follow these steps to change meeting organizer Outlook for a single meeting instance or a series using classic Outlook:

Step 1: Cancel the old meeting in Outlook

1. Open Outlook and go to the Calendar view in Outlook.

2. Select the meeting for which you want to change the organizer. Right-click the meeting, go to Cancel Meeting, and select Cancel Occurrence or Cancel Series.

3. If asked, click Send Cancellation.

Step 2: Create New Meetings from the User Account that will be the New Organizer

1. In the Calendar, right-click a date and select the type of event.

2. Now, add the necessary meeting details and create a meeting.

The above steps also work for changing organizer for a meeting series. One thing to note is that using the classic Outlook involves more steps than using the New Outlook and Outlook on the Web. Therefore, whenever possible, use the other two versions of Outlook. Also, be careful when deleting meetings, and do not accidentally delete other calendar items.

What is the Impact of Changing Meeting Organizer on the Attendees?

The impact depends on whether the attendees are in the same Exchange Online organization or an external/on-premises server.

Same Exchange Online Organization: The changes will be updated automatically. No need to respond to the invitations again.

External or On-Premises Exchange Attendees: They receive a message/email about cancelling the previous meetings. After that, the attendees will receive a new invitation to accept the meeting under the new organizer.

How to Move Old Meeting Entries to New Organizer?

As I said above, when you change meeting organizer in Outlook, only the new, upcoming meetings will be moved to the new organizer. If you want the new organizer to have access to old, completed, or missed meetings as well, then you have two options.

1. Recreate each entry. This works best if you only have a few meetings.
2. For a large number of meetings, export all the meetings from the calendar to a PST file and then import the PST into the new organizer's Outlook.

Note: Make sure to use filters to limit the exports only to meetings. Otherwise, all the items from the calendar will be exported to PST, including events, reminders, online meetings, and more.

How to Recover Lost, Inaccessible Meetings from Outlook?

Sometimes, Outlook fails to show calendar entries due to corruption. In such a case, you will not be able to open a meeting and change meeting organizer in Outlook. To fix corruption and regain access to data items, Microsoft recommends deleting and rebuilding the OST file. However, deleting the OST file may lead to loss of data items that were not synchronized with the email server.

Another option to fix a corrupted OST file without the risk of data loss is to use a professional OST repair tool like the Kernel OST File Repair Tool. This tool allows you to recover all the mailbox data, including emails, calendar items, contacts, etc., from an inaccessible orphaned OST file. After recovery, you can extract the meetings and save them to either an offline PST or directly import them to an Office 365 account.

• Download Free
• Buy Now

Common Issues When Changing Meeting Organizer in Outlook

When you try to change meeting organizer Outlook, you may face the following issues:

Issue	Solution
No option to change organizer	Feature is disabled, or you are not using the New Outlook or Outlook on the Web
Cannot change meeting organizer for an online meeting in New Outlook or OWA	Currently, you can only change the organizer for non-online meetings. For online meetings, the new organizer has to manually create them in his/her Outlook.
Cannot open the OneDrive link	The new organizer does not get access to attachments and the OneDrive link automatically. The previous organizer must grant them access.
Accidentally declined the request to become the new organizer	You have to ask the current organizer to send a fresh request.
Completed meetings are not visible in the calendar of the new organizer	This is expected. After you change meeting organizer in Outlook, only the new meetings that have not started yet will be transferred. Old and completed meetings stay in the previous organizer's calendar.
Cannot find the new organizer	Make sure the user who will be the new organizer exists in your organization and has a school or work account.
Meetings are not visible in the new organizer's calendar.	Verify whether the person who will be the new organizer has accepted the invitation. If they have, check back after some time.

Start Managing Your Outlook Meetings

Following the methods we discussed in this guide, you will be able to change meeting organizer in Outlook. If you are using the New Outlook or Outlook on the Web, the process is short and quick. Classic Outlook users should also use New Outlook to manage the meeting organizer to save time.

However, if you cannot access a meeting or any other mailbox item due to corruption, use the Kernel for OST File Repair tool. After recovery, the tool allows you to preview and select what you want to save.