How to fix Outlook calendar events showing as 'No response required' and not tracking attendee replies

When you send a meeting invitation in Microsoft Outlook, you normally expect to receive responses from attendees so you can track who is attending, who has declined, and who has not yet replied. If your invitations are being sent with No response required enabled, attendees will not see the Accept, Tentative, or Decline buttons, and you will not receive any tracking information. This article explains why this happens and how to fix it so you can properly track attendee replies.

Quick Fix Steps

1. Open a new meeting invitation in Outlook.
2. Click Response Options on the ribbon.
3. Ensure Request Responses is ticked.
4. If it is already ticked, disable and re-enable it, then save the meeting.
5. Check your default calendar settings in Outlook Options.

Detailed Instructions

Fix the Current Meeting Invitation

1. Open the meeting invitation that is showing No response required.
2. In the meeting window, go to the Meeting tab on the ribbon.
3. Click Response Options in the Attendees group.
4. In the drop-down menu, tick Request Responses.
5. Click Send Update to re-send the invitation with response tracking enabled.

Fix the Default Setting for All Future Meetings

If every meeting you create defaults to No response required, your Outlook calendar options have been changed. Follow these steps to restore the default behaviour.

1. In Outlook, click File in the top-left corner.
2. Select Options from the left-hand menu.
3. In the Outlook Options window, click Calendar in the left sidebar.
4. Scroll down to the Calendar options section.
5. Untick Use selected response when proposing new meeting times if it is enabled.
6. Ensure Default meeting response is set to Request responses.
7. Click OK to save your changes.

Check for Add-ins or Policies Overriding Response Settings

Some third-party Outlook add-ins or organisational group policies can force No response required on all meeting invitations. To identify whether this is the cause:

1. Close Outlook completely.
2. Press Windows + R to open the Run dialog.
3. Type outlook.exe /safe and press Enter.
4. Create a test meeting invitation and check whether Request Responses is available and ticked.
5. If the issue does not occur in Safe Mode, an add-in is responsible. Disable add-ins one by one via File > Options > Add-ins > Go next to COM Add-ins.

Verify the Meeting Was Not Created from a Shared or Delegated Calendar

Meetings created on a shared calendar or a calendar you have been delegated access to may inherit the calendar owner's response settings. If you are managing someone else's calendar, ask the calendar owner to check their Response Options settings using the steps above.

Troubleshooting

Attendees Still See "No response required" After Sending an Update

• Ask the attendee to delete the original invitation from their Inbox and Deleted Items folder, then accept the updated invitation.
• Check that the attendee is not using an older cached copy of the meeting. Ask them to press F9 in Outlook to refresh their mailbox.
• If the attendee is using Outlook on the web, ask them to log out and log back in to refresh their calendar view.

Response Tracking Is Not Updating in the Tracking Pane

• Open the meeting from your calendar and click Tracking on the ribbon to view the latest response status.
• Ensure you are viewing the meeting in the same mailbox that sent the invitation. Responses are delivered to the organiser's Inbox, not to a shared mailbox unless configured otherwise.
• Check your Junk Email folder. Responses from attendees can occasionally be filtered as spam.

Meeting Created on a Mobile Device Defaults to No Response Required

Outlook mobile apps sometimes default to No response required when creating a meeting from a shared calendar or when the account is configured with certain Exchange policies. To avoid this, create the meeting in Outlook on your desktop, or after creating it on mobile, open the meeting on your desktop and enable Request Responses before sending.

Preventing This Issue in the Future

• Regularly check your Outlook Options > Calendar settings to ensure Request responses is selected.
• Be cautious when installing third-party calendar or scheduling add-ins, as these can modify default response behaviour.
• If your organisation uses Group Policy to manage Outlook settings, contact your IT administrator to confirm that response tracking has not been disabled at the policy level.
• When creating meetings from a template, verify that the template does not have No response required baked into its saved settings.

If you continue to experience issues with meeting response tracking after following this guide, please Open a Ticket and our support team will assist you.