When you view Outlook's day or week calendar using a time scale larger than the appointment time (such as 30 minute appointments in a one hour time scale) the appointments will fill the entire time period and at first glance, are longer than they should be and may overlap.
However if you look closer you'll see a small "pan handle" that indicates the true length of the appointment. The free busy status is shown in the pan handle, which may make it harder to judge the appointment length, especially when the appointment is marked Free or Tentative.
With a 30 minute scale, only appointments less than 30 minutes use pan handles.
With a 15 minute scale, few appointments will have the pan handles.
Published May 28, 2012. Last updated on May 28, 2012.