How to add week numbers in Microsoft Outlook 2010

I didn’t realise until recently that week numbers are a bit of a European obsession, which is why US-created software such as Microsoft Office tends to ignore them.

You had to jump through three or four hoops in Office 2003 and Office 2007 to add them (clicking Tools | Options | Calendar Options and then tickboxing “Show week numbers in the Month View and Date Navigator”), but fortunately Outlook 2010 makes it much easier.

Or at least, easier to explain. So, here are the three steps you need to add week numbers in Outlook 2010.

First, click File to bring up the Backstage View.

Second, click the Options button and then the Calendar button, third from top.

Third, scroll down until you see the checkbox option “Show week numbers in the month view and in the Date Navigator”. Check the checkbox.

Lo and behold, the numberless view you had before (below left) is now basking in the full glory of week numbers.

Easy? Yes indeed. But it took me about 20 minutes to find this option hiding away, because I was foolishly hunting around the Ribbon looking for the right setting.

UPDATE: The first commenter to this post, Chris, pointed out that Outlook determines the first week of the year by default as the first week that includes January 1.

But you can change this. In Calendar Options (see the second step above), you can choose between three different ways to determine the first week. See the screenshot below. However, there’s no way I know of to force Outlook into tying week 1 into your company’s financial year.