Can a .ics import set the category for the event in Entourage?

[mlh78750]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel
Email Client: Exchange

I have been looking for a way to one way sync a calendar from iCal into my entourage/exchange setup. I would like to be able to have all of these imported events be set into another category.

I can export the iCal into a multi-event .ics file. I can then import that into entourage and everything works. However, the imported events look just like all the other events I had in my cal.

I have been playing with the format of the .ics file output from iCal and have found a way to mark the events Private. However, no matter what I try I cannot figure out a way to get the Category for the event to get set during the import. I have tried using CATEGORIES:Family and CATEGORIES:FAMILY but those do not work.

Is there any documentation as to what parts of the .ics file entourage parses? I am using VCALENDAR format.

I would like to understand both how to manipulate the category as well was the transparency for free/busy. Both of the methods shown in both the IMC standard as well as the iCal RFC do not work.

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

I have been looking for a way to one way sync a calendar from iCal
into my entourage/exchange setup. I would like to be able to have all
of these imported events be set into another category.

I can export the iCal into a multi-event .ics file. I can then import
that into entourage and everything works. However, the imported
events look just like all the other events I had in my cal.

You're trying to compare iCal's multiple "Calendars" with Entourage's
"Categories". While these both provide you the option to color code
events they are not implemented the same way. They aren't a one-to-one
equivalent.

Is there any documentation as to what parts of the .ics file
entourage parses? I am using VCALENDAR format.

I would like to understand both how to manipulate the category as
well was the transparency for free/busy. Both of the methods shown in
both the IMC standard as well as the iCal RFC do not work.

Start here: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICalendar>.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>

 

[mlh78750]

You're trying to compare iCal's multiple "Calendars" with Entourage's

"Categories". While these both provide you the option to color code
events they are not implemented the same way. They aren't a one-to-one
equivalent.

No I am not. Lots of others try to do that, but I am not one of them. I am specifically not interested in importing multiple calendars from iCal into Entourage. I think you missed the point of my question or perhaps I was not clear enough. My question still stands regardless of what the source of the .ics file was. Let us just pretend for the sake of argument that I have an app named foo that generates .ics files.

I am simply looking for information on how I might set a category for an event in a vCalendar formatted ics file. Is that possible? Does Entourage follow either the IMC or the RFC standards for vCalendar or iCalendar format?

I set "CATEGORIES:" to values that matched with the categories in Entourage with no joy.

I think this is a question that will likely need to be answered by someone that know about the how the import functions for .ics is implemented. Do Microsoft employees actually read the forum, or is this only going to get seen by independents. I have been able to find zero information about what parts of the ics entries entourage actually pays attention to.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

I have been playing with the format of the .ics file output from iCal
and have found a way to mark the events Private. However, no matter what
I try I cannot figure out a way to get the Category for the event to get
set during the import. I have tried using CATEGORIES:Family and
CATEGORIES:FAMILY but those do not work.

Well I fear that you can't really do it all that easily.
Since iCal doesn't support categories (it uses multiple calendas to
emulate the same idea), the export to an .ics doesn't really have any
field for what you are looking for,

There might be a way though.

If you add a tag in the last line of the notes of your events in the
format:
CATEGORIES: Family

You can use scripts to restore the category in Entourage:
http://www.cortig.net/wordpress/?p=113

Corentin

 

[mlh78750]

Well I fear that you can't really do it all that easily.

Since iCal doesn't support categories (it uses multiple calendas to
emulate the same idea), the export to an .ics doesn't really have any
field for what you are looking for,

I know iCal cannot output it. I was manipulating the file directly and adding the fields that are described in both the IMC vCal standard as well as the RFC for the iCal standard. Neither work for setting the category in Entourage.

There might be a way though.

If you add a tag in the last line of the notes of your events in the
format:
CATEGORIES: Family

You can use scripts to restore the category in Entourage:
<http://www.cortig.net/wordpress/?p=113>

Corentin

This is an interesting idea. I can write a script to modify the multi event .ics file and add text to the event. And then use your scripts to file them into the category after the fact. I would like to just get it done all in one go, but this will work as a backup plan. Thanks for the suggestion and the scripts!

Does anyone know of a key value pair that I can use in the vCal format that will add things to the proper categories without the second step?