Where is the "show as busy/free" setting for events in Mavericks calendar?

Hi Scott,

I've got a new MBP with clean Mavericks install and can confirm that unfortunately the show as busy/free option is missing.

How irritating.

Even the help file still suggests that it is possible.

Could it be that free/busy is really only applicable on group calendars to show others when you cannot be scheduled. Exchange and Google calendars can be set so folks can see each other's free/busy time for meetings. Can this also be done in iCloud? Isn't your iCloud calendar really just your own individual calendar where free/busy doesn't apply? Perhaps if the calendar was published for others to see and schedule then free/busy time would be visible. Mostly just speculating here.

Possibly Dennis but I use it to keep track of events that I'm not necessarily going to but like to know when they are, or for example to put some of my wife's events in without needing to share her entire calendar.

It could be that it is a bug, as SBeattie claims. I was just speculating it could also be intentional and might never have been intended to be there in the first place for calendars that aren't available for group scheduling. Apple has been simplifying things with their recent Mavericks and IOS7 releases and could have pulled it out deliberately.

Free/busy time indicators were added to calendering to allow others to see when you're available to be scheduled without having to check with you. For individual calendars, the assumption is that you should already be familiar with your own events to know if you will be attending or occupied.

If you want to add a subset of another person's events, consider using a separate calendar. It will be clearly obvious from the different color display whether it is your event or someone else's.

I do not see the free/busy option, even on an event that has travel time.

Note - this is on a CalDAV calendar to a corporate calendar that showed free/busy before my Mavericks install.

Dennis Fazio wrote:

If you want to add a subset of another person's events, consider using a separate calendar. It will be clearly obvious from the different color display whether it is your event or someone else's.

I already do this. My fiancee works 12-16 hr shifts on an ever-changing schedule, so I like to be aware of her availability when I'm planning my own time. However, in Week or Day view, that can leave me with an entire day during which I can't click on a time to create a new event becuase her work has occupied the entire thing.

It's not a great huge deal to toggle her calendar on and off and on and back off again... but it's a bit of hassle that seems entirely unneccesary.

OK, 2 other options:

1. Have her set her daily work events as all-day events and enter the actual hours on duty in the event title so they are visible without opening the event. That will get the event off the day and week display grid.

2. Create the event in any other free space on the calendar, enter all the data, close, then just drag it to the right time.

I was having this problem too, that's how I found this post. I use the caledar.app with an Exchange server.

Out of pure frustration, after entering an appointment and then double-clicking it to reveal the pop-out I clicked the time and date area and lo-and-behold but a panel with busy/free, travel time and some other options appeared.

I hope this helps.

I've read through the entire thread and cannot reproduce any free/busy option by clicking on the time/date area...or anything else. Unless it is an exchange server thing only...Can you be more specific?

Free/busy status seems to only be available on Exchange servers. If your calendar is attached to an Exchange server, you can see and set your own free/busy status by clicking on the date/time entry.

It does not seem to be available for other calendars, since they are not connected to a group calendering server. I think it will also work if your calendar is part of a Google Groups for Enterprise/Nonprofit/Education, but not for individual Google Apps accounts.

Free/busy status is only applicable in group calendaring with a central calendar server. With regular calendar sharing, it does not seem to be available. Nor does it seem necessary, since you can see all the events of anyone who shares a calendar with you.