New Outlook My Day Pane Calendar and Tasks Side-by-Side: Setup

The My Day pane in the new Outlook for Windows shows your upcoming calendar events and tasks in a compact side panel. This feature helps you manage your schedule without switching away from your current view, such as Mail or People. Many users want to see both their calendar and task list at the same time in this pane. This article explains how to enable, customize, and use the My Day pane to display calendar and tasks side by side.

What the My Day Pane Does and What You Need Before Setting It Up

The My Day pane is a dockable side panel that appears on the right side of the Outlook window. It displays your upcoming calendar events for the day or the work week, depending on your selection. When you enable the task view in the same pane, you see your flagged emails, to-do items, and tasks from Microsoft To Do listed below or beside the calendar events.

This feature works only in the new Outlook for Windows, which is the updated version that replaces the classic Outlook. You must be signed in to a Microsoft 365 work or school account, or a personal Microsoft account. The tasks you see come from the Microsoft To Do service, which syncs with Outlook tasks and flagged items. Calendar events come from your primary Exchange or Outlook.com calendar.

The My Day pane does not require any separate installation. It is built into the new Outlook client. You can access it from the View tab on the ribbon. If you are using classic Outlook, you will not see this feature. You must switch to the new Outlook to use the My Day pane.

Steps to Enable and Configure the My Day Pane for Calendar and Tasks

1. Open the new Outlook for Windows
   Launch the new Outlook application. If you are still using classic Outlook, click the toggle in the upper-right corner labeled Try the new Outlook and confirm the switch.
2. Go to the View tab
   Click the View tab on the ribbon at the top of the window. This tab contains all layout and pane options.
3. Turn on the My Day pane
   In the Layout group, click My Day. A checkmark appears next to the button, and the pane opens on the right side of the screen. By default, the pane shows your upcoming calendar events.
4. Switch the pane to show both calendar and tasks
   Inside the My Day pane, locate the three icons near the top: a calendar icon, a task list icon, and a gear icon. Click the calendar icon to toggle between three views. The first view shows events only. The second view shows events on the left and tasks on the right side by side. The third view shows tasks only. Keep clicking until you see the side-by-side layout.
5. Adjust the time range for calendar events
   Click the gear icon at the top of the My Day pane. In the settings panel that opens, choose the number of days to show. Options include Today, Next 3 days, Next 7 days, or Next 30 days. Select the option that fits your workflow. The calendar section updates immediately.
6. Customize which tasks appear
   In the same settings panel, under Tasks, select the task lists you want to display. You can choose All tasks, Today’s tasks, or only tasks from specific Microsoft To Do lists. The task section in the My Day pane updates to show only the tasks you selected.
7. Resize the My Day pane
   Hover your cursor over the left edge of the My Day pane until it becomes a double arrow. Click and drag left or right to make the pane wider or narrower. The side-by-side layout adjusts the space for events and tasks proportionally.
8. Use the task list icon to add tasks
   Click the task list icon at the top of the My Day pane. This opens the full Microsoft To Do view inside the pane. You can type a new task in the Add a task box at the top of the list. The task appears immediately in your Microsoft To Do lists and syncs to the My Day pane.
9. Pin the My Day pane open
   If you want the pane to stay open as you switch between Mail, Calendar, and People, click the pin icon at the top-right corner of the pane. When pinned, the pane remains visible in every module. When unpinned, the pane closes automatically when you click outside it.

Common Issues When Using the My Day Pane and How to Avoid Them

My Day pane does not show tasks even after enabling the side-by-side view

If the task section remains empty, check that you have at least one task list selected in the My Day settings. Open the gear icon and verify that the task lists you want are checked. Also confirm that you have tasks in Microsoft To Do. The pane pulls tasks from the cloud service. If you have no tasks created, the section stays blank. Create a test task in Microsoft To Do and wait a few seconds for the sync to complete.

Calendar events are missing from the My Day pane

The pane shows events only from your primary calendar. If you have multiple calendars, such as a shared calendar or a second Exchange account, those events do not appear by default. To include them, open the Calendar module in Outlook, right-click the secondary calendar in the left navigation pane, and select Add to My Day. The events from that calendar now appear in the My Day pane alongside your primary calendar.

My Day pane is not available in classic Outlook

The My Day pane is a feature of the new Outlook for Windows. If you are using classic Outlook, you will not find this option. You must switch to the new Outlook by clicking the Try the new Outlook toggle in the upper-right corner. After switching, the View tab and My Day button become available. Note that some classic Outlook add-ins may not work in the new Outlook.

Tasks from Microsoft To Do do not sync to the My Day pane

Sync issues can occur when your Microsoft 365 account is not properly connected to Microsoft To Do. Open Microsoft To Do from the Start menu or web app and verify that you are signed in with the same account you use in Outlook. If tasks appear in Microsoft To Do but not in the pane, sign out of Outlook and sign back in. This forces a full sync. If the problem persists, check your internet connection and firewall settings that may block the sync service.

My Day Pane View Options: Side-by-Side vs Events Only vs Tasks Only

Item	Side-by-Side View	Events Only View	Tasks Only View
Description	Shows calendar events on the left and tasks on the right in the same pane	Shows only calendar events in the pane with no task section	Shows only the Microsoft To Do task list in the pane
Best for	Users who need to see both appointments and to-do items simultaneously	Users focused on their schedule and who manage tasks separately	Users who want a quick task manager without calendar distractions
How to switch	Click the calendar icon repeatedly until both sections appear	Click the calendar icon until only events show	Click the calendar icon until only tasks show
Space usage	Splits the pane width evenly between events and tasks	Uses the full pane width for the event list	Uses the full pane width for the task list

You can switch between these three views at any time by clicking the calendar icon at the top of the My Day pane. The pane remembers the last view you selected for each Outlook session. When you close and reopen Outlook, the pane returns to the default events-only view. To keep the side-by-side view, you must click the calendar icon again after each restart.

The side-by-side view works best when the pane is at least 400 pixels wide. If the pane is too narrow, the task section may collapse into a single column below the events rather than beside them. Drag the pane edge to make it wider until both columns appear side by side.

You can now set up the My Day pane in new Outlook to show your calendar and tasks side by side. Try adjusting the time range to show the next 7 days for a broader view of your week. For quick task entry, use the Ctrl+Shift+K shortcut to add a task directly from any module in Outlook.