Outlook 2003/iCal Mac OS X can't share invites?

[Judi Sohn]

I am using Outlook 2003 in XP Home. My husband is using the latest
versions of Mail/iCal in OS X 10.3.2.

I have checked the box in Outlook to send invites via iCalendar format.

I can invite him to events and he receives the .ics file which when
double clicked in Mail is added to his iCal. No problem. However, I
can't do anything with either the invites he sends me or the responses
he sends me back from my invites. I get an error message in Outlook
when I try to open the attached file.

I have researched this online and I can find many references to the
problem but no solutions/workarounds. Is there anything either of us
can do to make this work?

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

What is the error message?

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. Due to
the (insert latest virus name here) virus, all mail sent to my personal
account will be deleted without reading.

After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer, Judi Sohn asked:

| I am using Outlook 2003 in XP Home. My husband is using the latest
| versions of Mail/iCal in OS X 10.3.2.
|
| I have checked the box in Outlook to send invites via iCalendar
| format.
|
| I can invite him to events and he receives the .ics file which when
| double clicked in Mail is added to his iCal. No problem. However, I
| can't do anything with either the invites he sends me or the responses
| he sends me back from my invites. I get an error message in Outlook
| when I try to open the attached file.
|
| I have researched this online and I can find many references to the
| problem but no solutions/workarounds. Is there anything either of us
| can do to make this work?

 

[Judi Sohn]

What is the error message?

The attachment comes with the invite as "iCal.ics" and when I double
click on it and open it the error is:

"Cannot import vCalendar file."

If I save it to the desktop and then try and open it, Outlook crashes.

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

If you drag it to the calendar in Outlook, what happens?

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. Due to
the (insert latest virus name here) virus, all mail sent to my personal
account will be deleted without reading.

After searching google.groups.com and finding no answer, Judi Sohn asked:

| In article <#OYhj4W#[email protected]>, Milly Staples [MVP
|
|| What is the error message?
|
| The attachment comes with the invite as "iCal.ics" and when I double
| click on it and open it the error is:
|
| "Cannot import vCalendar file."
|
| If I save it to the desktop and then try and open it, Outlook crashes.

 

[Judi Sohn]

If you drag it to the calendar in Outlook, what happens?

An error window comes up:

Can't copy the items. Cannot import vCalendar file.

This is from multiple computers and calendars. It doesn't matter what,
any Macintosh iCal created invitation has this problem.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Can you copy the text from the iCal file into your next response in this
thread, please?
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

If you drag it to the calendar in Outlook, what happens?

An error window comes up:

Can't copy the items. Cannot import vCalendar file.

This is from multiple computers and calendars. It doesn't matter what,
any Macintosh iCal created invitation has this problem.

 

[Judi Sohn]

Can you copy the text from the iCal file into your next response in this
thread, please?

Absolutely. Thank you. Here's a test event I created on my Mac and sent
to myself. Being that this is usenet, I "xxxx"ed out the email address
for obvious reasons.

If there is something that I can edit in the file to make Outlook
recognize it, that's fine. Anything's better than having to manually
manipulate the calendar.

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
METHOD:REQUEST
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:-//Apple Computer\, Inc//iCal 1.5//EN
VERSION:2.0
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
LAST-MODIFIED:20040229T141042Z
BEGIN:STANDARD
DTSTART:20031026T060000
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZNAME:EST
END:STANDARD
BEGINAYLIGHT
DTSTART:20040404T010000
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZNAME:EDT
ENDAYLIGHT
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
ATTENDEE;CN="Sohn Judi":mailto:[email protected]
DTSTAMP:20040229T141039Z
UID:FFF1FA98-6AC0-11D8-BB2D-000A95D79240
SEQUENCE:2
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20040301T120000
SUMMARY:test event
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20040301T133000
ORGANIZER;CN="Judi Sohn":mailto:[email protected]
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Curiouser and curiouser: This is the error message I get:

This error can appear if you have attempted to save a recurring Lunar
appointment in iCalendar format. To avoid this error, set the appointment
option to Gregorian instead of Lunar.

Your appointment, of course, *is* Gregorian.

The problem, I suspect, is the inclusion of a time zone definition in
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE <snip> END:VTIMEZONE. When I took out that section, the file
opened fine as a meeting request for an appointment on Monday Mar 1 7-8:30
a.m.

Do you have an option to omit the TZ definition?

FWIW, Outlook's iCal implementation is incomplete in many ways -- there's no
support for VTODO and VJOURNAL either.

 

[Judi Sohn]

Curiouser and curiouser: This is the error message I get:

This error can appear if you have attempted to save a recurring Lunar
appointment in iCalendar format. To avoid this error, set the appointment
option to Gregorian instead of Lunar.

Your appointment, of course, *is* Gregorian.

Yup, exactly.

The problem, I suspect, is the inclusion of a time zone definition in
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE <snip> END:VTIMEZONE. When I took out that section, the file
opened fine as a meeting request for an appointment on Monday Mar 1 7-8:30
a.m.

Excellent. Thank you. That is *exactly* what I wanted to know. I
figured I had to edit something by hand, but I didn't know where to
start. I only get a handful of appointments this way.

Do you have an option to omit the TZ definition?

Well, even if I did it would be tough to tell others to do it on their
end before they send the invite. And I highly doubt it's something that
can be done easily from within iCal.

FWIW, Outlook's iCal implementation is incomplete in many ways -- there's no
support for VTODO and VJOURNAL either.

Not exactly sure what that is.

 

[Judi Sohn]

The problem, I suspect, is the inclusion of a time zone definition in
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE <snip> END:VTIMEZONE. When I took out that section, the file
opened fine as a meeting request for an appointment on Monday Mar 1 7-8:30
a.m.

Hmm...on second thought...

It works, but the time is off.

For example, here's another test I just did. This should be scheduled
for tomorrow, 3/2 at 4 pm:

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
METHOD:REQUEST
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:-//Apple Computer\, Inc//iCal 1.5//EN
VERSION:2.0
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
LAST-MODIFIED:20040301T172727Z
BEGIN:STANDARD
DTSTART:20031026T060000
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZNAME:EST
END:STANDARD
BEGINAYLIGHT
DTSTART:20040404T010000
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZNAME:EDT
ENDAYLIGHT
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
ATTENDEE;CN="Sohn Judi":mailto:[email protected]
DTSTAMP:20040301T172724Z
UID:A79028D0-6BA5-11D8-BBE5-000A95D79240
SEQUENCE:2
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20040302T160000
SUMMARY:new test event
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20040302T180000
ORGANIZER;CN="Judi Sohn":mailto:[email protected]
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

I snipped the timezone info so it's now:

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
METHOD:REQUEST
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
PRODID:-//Apple Computer\, Inc//iCal 1.5//EN
VERSION:2.0
BEGIN:VEVENT
ATTENDEE;CN="Sohn Judi":mailto:[email protected]
DTSTAMP:20040301T172724Z
UID:A79028D0-6BA5-11D8-BBE5-000A95D79240
SEQUENCE:2
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20040302T160000
SUMMARY:new test event
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20040302T180000
ORGANIZER;CN="Judi Sohn":mailto:[email protected]
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

But when I drop this in Outlook it's scheduled for 11 am instead of 4
pm.

I tried adding back the part here (putting it before BEGIN:VEVENT):

BEGIN:STANDARD
DTSTART:20031026T060000
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZNAME:EST
END:STANDARD

but the meeting is still going in as 11 am.

Any other ideas?

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

That's what I was afraid of. I'll see if I can get someone to Microsoft to
confirm whether VTIMEZONE is supported.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers