How-To

How To Add Week Numbers to Microsoft Outlook Calendar

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Microsoft Outlook || groovyPost.comAt work, I interact with Europeans on a daily basis.  When building schedules they often refer to “Week Numbers.”  Before I found this calendar option in Outlook, it was a little annoying.  However now I’ve been converted…..  I love it, and I use week numbers for all kinds of things.

Update 3/2/2010: Article updated to include Outlook 2010 Steps at the bottom of Tutorial.

Update 10/13/2015: If you’re using the latest versions of Outlook, here’s a list of our Tutorials for Outlook 2013 and 2016.

Below is a SIMPLE step-by-step for adding week numbers to your Outlook 2003 or Outlook 2007 calendar.  If you’re looking for the Outlook 2010 instructions, scroll to the bottom.  I just added those steps.

How To Add Week Numbers to Microsoft Outlook 2003 and 2007 Calendar

1. Click Tools, Options

add week numbers to outlook

2. On the Preferences tab, Click Calendar Options

add week numbers to outlook

3. Check the box “Show week numbers in the Month View and Date Navigator.”

add week numbers to outlook

4. Click OK a few times and YOU’RE DONE!!! GROOVY!!!

BEFORE                                  AFTER

add week numbers to outlook   add week numbers to outlook

Snips taken from Microsoft Outlook 2007

The steps for Outlook 2010 are a little different since Microsoft moved things around a little with Office 2010.  Again, pretty straight forward.

How To Add Week Numbers to Microsoft Outlook 2010 Calendar

5. Open Outlook 2010 and Click File, Options

Outlook 2010 File, Options Menu

6. Click Calendar Tab then Scroll down to Display options as shown below.  Check the box “Show week numbers in the month view and in the Date Navigator.”  Click OK to Save

Add Week Numbers to Outlook 2010 Calendar

Tags: calendar, , howto, outlook 2003, , outlook 2010

122 Comments

122 Comments

  1. OscarJJ

    Never actually knew this existed. Excellent quick tip!

  2. Jelena

    Thanks,

    I spent a lot of time looking for this option.

  3. MrGroove

    Welcome to the site Jelena!

    It’s excellent to see we were able to help.

    • DAve

      @MrGroove,
      What can I do if the line in step 3 are “grayed out?”
      It won’t let me select it.

      • MrGroove

        @DAve,

        Is this a work computer? I’m guessing your system administrator might have blocked it with Group Policy. Let me know if this isn’t a company pc.

  4. Alnoor

    On Outlook 2003, there is a bug as January 1st 2008 up to January 6th 2008 is considered as Week 53 by Microsoft.
    How can I solve this issue?
    Thanks
    Regards
    Alnoor

    • onceinalifetime

      In Outlook 2010 this is easy…In europe we donn’t start from jan 1st. Go to Outlook, File, Options, Working Time section, then change teh drop down for when the year starts. Doesn’t allow complete freedom (e.g. for university year) but does suit variations of year start.

  5. MrGroove

    @Alnoor – Welcome to the site!

    That’s very odd. I’m looking at one of my machines running Microsoft Outlook 2003 and I don’t have a week 53. Week 1 starts as normal (12/30/07 – 01/05/08). Please start a thread in the FORUM and explain how your calendar is setup, specifically: What timezone are you in? What does did you set the Week to begin? What OS? Etc…

  6. Stormin

    fantastic, excellent

  7. MrGroove

    @Stormin – Welcome to the site and Thank you for the feedback!

  8. Goddammit

    I have Outlook 2003. When I go to Calendar Options, I only have the option to show week numbers in the Date Navigator. The text doesn’t match what you have in the screen shot. Is there some place is the system registry that I could go to enable the option to show it in the Month View as well?

  9. MrGroove

    @Goddammit – The screenshot was taken from Outlook 2007 so you are correct, your options WILL look a little different in Outlook 2003.

    Additionally, Outlook 2003 does not support the Week number in the Month view. Only Outlook 2007 does this hence the difference in the “Check” box Language. If you enable the Check box in Outlook 2003 however, you will have the week numbers in the date navigator (the little calendar on the left side of your calendar views) as shown in the screenshots at the END of my article.

    Sorry for the confusion. When I get a chance I’ll update the article to reflect this information.

    BTW – Welcome to the site! Nice name btw… ;)

  10. Big Rich

    This is very useful.

    However, I work in a University and week 1 is the 1st September, and I would like to display these week numbers

    Any suggestions?? I use outlook 2007
    Big Rich

  11. MrGroove

    @Big Rich – Welcome to the site!
    You ask an interesting question. I did some quick searching and what I’ve found “so far” is that Microsoft doesn’t support changing when in the year Week 1 Starts. Take a look here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/196567

    I keep digging but it doesn’t look very promising. Perhaps one of our readers has move info?

    Thanks!

  12. Jussi

    Wish iCal could do the same..

  13. Tunc

    Thank you very much! It simplified my work and cease the confusions of work schedules.

  14. Leendert

    Thanks for the very clear how to.

  15. YankiStar

    Thank you so much. Such a simple thing. Go figure. Appreciate the help.

  16. ishu

    I’ve been looking for this option in the Outlook help forever. This is a lifesaver for me as otherwise I’ve to always refer to my desk calendar.

  17. Priya

    Thanks a lot!!! I’ve been trying to display the week numbers for ages. Couldn’t find the topic on the help (F1) and was quite annoying as I work in Europe where people use these all the time. Great tip!

  18. MrGroove

    @Priya – Excellent! Thank you for the feedback and welcome to the site! If you ever have an IT question, feel free to use of Community Forum – https://www.groovypost.com/forum/

  19. Avshi

    Thanks! That’s very helpful

  20. Matt

    Thanks! Very useful feature I didn’t know about.

  21. Thomas

    Does anyone know of a way to automatically change this setting on a great number of pc’s? Ie. a registry setting I can import, a script I can run or some Group Policy setting?

    Thanks in advance!

    • MrGroove

      @Thomas – You can do it via the registry or GPO. I would reccomend the GPO of course.

      First you need to grab the 2007 Office system Administrative Template files. You can find that here:

      http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=92d8519a-e143-4aee-8f7a-e4bbaeba13e7&displaylang=en

      One you have those just set the GPO.

      GPO Path
      User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office Outlook 2007\Tools | Options\Preferences\Calendar Options\Calendar week numbers

      Once you set it to enabled and assign it to the Group or OU, you should be golden.

      If you want to roll it out a script and registry, here’s the corresponding key however if you had AD and your rolling this out to domain joined systems, use the GPO.

      Registry Key
      HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Options\Calendar\WeekNum – 1 Enabled, 0 Disabled

  22. Karl

    Thanks for the tip – been wondering for weeks how to do it!

  23. Jimbob

    Excellent little tip. Stumbled across your site while Googling for ‘week number’ solutions. :-)

    • MrGroove

      @Jimbob,
      Excellent and Welcome to the site!

  24. Carl

    Thanks Mr. Groove. Grooooooovy!

    • MrGroove

      @Carl,
      Excellent! Glad it helped you out. Welcome to the site!

  25. Isaac

    Thank you very much! :)

  26. Erich

    Hey man!

    REALLY helpful! I was so in need of it!

    Thanks!

    • MrGroove

      @Erich,
      Anytime! If you need help with anything else, feel free to post your question in our Free Tech Support Community

      See you around!

  27. bill

    thank you thank you thank you

  28. Karen

    Thanks! You should rewrite Microsoft helps site, I couldn’t find this anywhere!

    • MrGroove

      Thanks for the compliment Karen!

  29. Kate

    Thanks for this. I too searched the Outlook help – I knew this feature had to be available – but couldn’t find it. You gave me the answer and in very clear steps. I’m a tech writer; I appreciate well-written instructions. Hello, Microsoft! Are you listening?

  30. Sheen

    Excellent Tip :-)

    Thank you.

    • MrGroove

      Thanks Sheen! Welcome to the site.

  31. Mac

    One problem here is the Microsoft doesn't seem to follow the ISO standard when it comes to week numbering. At the moment (6th jan 2010) MS thinks this is week 2 when according to the ISO standard it should be week 1. I haven't figured out how to get around this yet.

  32. Jeff

    A work around for the ISO week number is to change the day the week starts on to Friday.

  33. Mac

    Jeff, where would you set that? I checked under Regional Settings but didn't spot it. I can solve it in Outlook but changing the “first week of year” but it's wrong in Excel too.

  34. Jeff

    Mac, I ended up changing the “first week of year” as well, instead of changing “first day of week”. Location
    Tools -> Options -> Preferences -> Calendar Options -> Calendar work week (Outlook 2003).

    as for Excel ??

  35. Mac

    I changed it the same way (Outlook 2007) but couldn't find any setting in Excel. It can be done in Excel using some formulas but using only “Weeknum” returns the incorrect week.

    You'd think it should be possible to change it via the control panel and let it apply to all programs. :(
    I can't find any such setting under “Date & Time” or “Regional & language Settings”.

  36. Gideon

    problem is that if you change the 'first week of year' to 'first full week' then 2009 is incorrect as according to ISO the week beginning 28 Dec 2009 is week 53.

    • MrGroove

      And the bad news….. Outlook 2010 works exactly like Outlook 2007 so no fix there.

  37. Mac

    It's about time certain companies tried to understand what the letters “IS” in ISO mean.

  38. Jamil

    thanks man really needed this for university in netherlands

  39. Kari

    All Outlook 2007 settings could be adjusted from outlook:
    tools-options-calendar options.

    Like said earlier, based on ISO first week of the year is: First 4-day week!

    From the same page you could also set outlook to “Show week numbers…”

    Restart outlook, and problems are solved :)

    • MrGroove

      Thanks for the tip Kari. Knowledge in crowds!!!

  40. Kari

    By the way, it is the same page shown on top here.
    Simply adjust “First week of the year” to “First 4-day week”

  41. Henri Hamende

    Thank you god !!!!!

    • MrGroove

      @Henri

      I’m guessing the article helped out? Thanks for the feedback!

  42. Derek

    Thank you!

  43. Kam

    Thanks for this – found this via google and its perfect!
    Best to all.

  44. lola

    this is quite helpful. thank you very much!

  45. Cor

    Thanks for the excellent and clear explanation.
    Incredible why this cannot be found in Outlook Help.

    Cor

    • MrGroove

      @Cor – I also added the steps (starting on step 5 I think???) regarding how-to add the week numbers to the outlook calendar for outlook 2010 so hopefully that helps you out once you upgrade!

  46. d

    THANKS!

  47. Sembygg

    Thank you so much! I’ve been looking for this :)

  48. Molly

    Thanks – you rock!!!

  49. JAC

    do you know how to change the first week of year date? i.e. to tie in with our financial year not the calender year? (all options seem to be for 1st jan, 1st full week in jan etc..)

    thanks

    • MrGroove

      Yeah…. I think the features are defiantly tied to the Week numbers of calendar year rather than fiscal year. Sorry…

  50. Vivi

    Hi, thanks for the great tool look up shared. For year 2010, I find that I can align the outlook week with the ISO week by choosing the option to have the first week start at the First 4-day week. Does anyone know if this option would always make the outlook calendar align with the ISO weeks for future years?

    • MrGroove

      I’m going to guess yes since the option is not year specific. ???

  51. fooristal

    Thanks,
    This is really good tip for me.

  52. sg3707

    Thanks

  53. Kapil Kapoor

    Thankyou, it was very useful. :-)

  54. Richard

    Thank you, really usefull tip!

    • MrGroove

      Your welcome Richard! Glad it worked out for ya.

  55. Avire

    Amazing, years on and this info is still not easely available on the outlook help file, but a google search on the exact same terms gives this site as #1 :)

    • MrGroove

      And you would be shocked how popular this article is…. Not easy to find but once you find it, simple to configure!

  56. sikander shaikh

    Thank you for this blog..
    It really helped me.

  57. Mr. Dk

    Anybody knows how to solve the problem with showing week numbers in Outlook in Office 2011 for MAC?

  58. TeamLeyner

    Awesome! Thanks for the easy to follow tip. 20 minutes to hunt this down in 2010 with no success. Gotta start here in the future!

  59. Magnus

    Would like to know how to do it in Office for MAC 2011. It does not seem to have this feature. Will there be any patch for this anyone?

    • Carsten

      Yes, please … anybody???
      I would like to see week numbers in office:mac 2011’s Outlook!

      • MrGroove

        Ah! Very good idea. My MAC is at work tonight so I’ll take a look in the morning and post a brand new How-To for ya ok Carsten!

      • MrGroove

        Bad News – MAC Office 2011 does NOT support the ability to add week numbers to your calendar. This is as of 5/23/2011. I’ll keep everyone updated if they add it in a future release… sorry

  60. m

    Thanks.. :)

  61. liquid84

    Thank you sooooo much!!!! :D

  62. Jesal

    Thanks…. :)

  63. Maria

    This just made my life soooo much easier! Thank you!

  64. Newton

    THANK YOU !!!

  65. Adam

    Just wanted to say thanks for the great post. Big, big help. Nicely done.

  66. Murthy

    Thanks a million. Very very useful

    • MrGroove

      You’re welcome and thank you for the feedback.

  67. giulia

    fantastic! u made my day

  68. Rowena

    Thanks for saving me time!!

  69. Valentin

    Perfect help! Thank you!

  70. Aidan

    Very Helpful. Liked the simple way you presented the instructions. Wish all tech advice was so clearly and cleanly deliver.

  71. Martin

    What fries my tits is, I cannot see what day it is when scrolling through week view in Calendar, I cannot see what day it is. I rarely know the date so I’ve research to do before i can add an appointment.

    Mart

  72. Benoit

    Thanks!

  73. Leslie Roach

    Is there a way to add “week number” as a column in the Calendar All Appointments view ??

  74. syed

    Superb thanks for the quick tip

  75. João

    Thank you! very useful help.

  76. Crystalline1

    My work heavily uses week # – your tip increased my productivity. Thank you so much!!

  77. Paolo Cruz

    Hello, cai you help me to find out how to enable this feature on Outlook for Mac 2011? Cheers!

    • Paolo Cruz

      *can you…

    • Steve Krause

      Hi Pablo,

      Unfortunately the feature is not available yet on Mac Office 2011. I’ve been waiting for it and will write about it once it is added.

  78. lala

    Awesoome!

  79. Wesley Bakker

    Just a thanks. Was looking in view settings and couldn’t find it. A quick google search showed me your post and now I’ve got my week numbers.

  80. Paris

    Thanks! avoid me spending a hour looking for it :)

  81. Gary

    Thanks. This is helpful. Wondering why this is not in the MS Outlook Help though…

  82. Chuck

    Thanks, good information

  83. Shai

    Thank you! Nice, quick, concise response. Truly appreciate your help with this.

    • Steve Krause

      Yeah you bet! Glad it helped you out and welcome to groovyPost!

  84. E

    Thanks a lot for the quick tip!

  85. Thijs ten Raa

    Got it, very clear. Thank you.

  86. mitesh

    Thanks, very helpful steps.

  87. Fadhli

    Thanks a lot, really helpful.

  88. Gro Baanrud

    Thanks a lot for the help.

    • Austin Krause

      Anytime! We’re glad to help out!

  89. Sri

    Thank u so much :D

  90. Eran

    DANKE !!!!

  91. Bonnie Dasher-Andersen

    Is it possible to suppress the week number and the week dates? I’d prefer not to have either displayed. Thanks.

  92. Maz

    many thanks for this tip, very useful.

  93. Mandy

    This year 2015, i need to show my calendar with week 53 starting 28Dec and Week 1 starting 4Jan16… Can anyone help me to do this in Outlook 2010. Thanks

  94. Jon

    Awesome, a post from 2007 just helped me out!

    Top job. I really should have known how to add the week number, but I didn’t!

    Cheers

  95. Matt

    Yes!

  96. Chris McBean

    Thanks – just found out I already had it switched on. What an idiot!

  97. Ally

    any way we can have these weeks display when our year starts on 1st August?

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