Description of common scenarios in which Calendar information may be removed from the Calendar or may be inaccurate

This article describes common scenarios in which Calendar information may be removed from the Calendar or may become out of date. This article describes a workaround for the issue that is described in each scenario. This article also describes best practices to create recurring meetings, to add new attendees to meetings, and to share your Calendar with delegates. For more information about Calendar best practices, see the following white paper: 

Scenarios in which items may be removed from the Calendar

Multiple users receive meeting requests for a mailbox owner

Symptoms

This scenario involves a meeting organizer, a recipient who is the manager, and a delegate who has Editor rights to the manager's Calendar folder and to the manager's Tasks folder. The delegate receives copies of all the manager's meeting requests, but the manager has also elected to see the meeting requests. Therefore, both the manager and the delegate receive every meeting request that is sent to the manager.

Consider the following scenario:

1. The meeting organizer creates and sends a new meeting request to the manager. The meeting is a single instance. The meeting does not include any Recurrence settings.
2. The manager opens the meeting request but does not accept or decline the request.
   
   Important In this scenario, the manager leaves the request open during the next steps.
3. The delegate opens the meeting request. Then, the delegate accepts the meeting request and sends a response.
4. After the delegate accepts the meeting request, the manager deletes the meeting request without closing the meeting request.
5. When the manager examines the Calendar, the manager observes that the meeting has been deleted from the Calendar.
6. When the delegate opens the manager's Calendar, the delegate observes that the meeting that the delegate accepted does not appear on the manager’s Calendar.

If the manager has the meeting request open at the same time that the delegate accepts the meeting request, the meeting request in the manager's Inbox has a response status of "Not Accepted". When the delegate processes the meeting request in the delegate's Inbox, the free-and-busy information is updated. However, the response status of the meeting request that is currently open in the manager's Inbox is not updated. In this scenario, when the manager deletes the meeting request, the corresponding meeting item is deleted from the Calendar.

If the manager opens the meeting request after the delegate accepts the meeting request, the response status of the meeting request is "Accepted". Therefore, when the meeting request is deleted, the corresponding meeting item is also deleted from the Calendar.

Resolution

To resolve this problem, obtain and install Office 2003 Service Pack 2. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Status

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

Workaround

To work around this issue, use one of the following methods:

• Method 1: Make sure that only one user for each mailbox receives and processes meeting requests. This means that you assign a maximum of one delegate with Editor permissions. The mailbox owner and the delegate must decide who will be processing all the meetings requests.
• Method 2: Do not delete a meeting request from the Inbox until you are sure that the meeting has been processed. The following text appears in the InfoBar of the meeting request when the meeting request has been processed:
  Accepted by username on date,time

Microsoft has found several different variations on this scenario. For example, this problem may occur if two or more delegates receive meeting requests on behalf of a manager.

You delete a meeting request on one computer after you accept the same meeting request on another computer

Symptoms

This scenario involves two computers that connect to the same Exchange Server mailbox. For example, this scenario may include a desktop computer that is using Online mode and a portable computer that is using Cached Exchange Mode.

Consider the following scenario:

1. You receive a meeting request.
2. You confirm that this meeting request exists in the Inbox on both computers.
3. On the portable computer, you start Outlook.
4. On the File menu, you click Work Offline.
5. On the desktop computer that is using Cached Exchange Mode or Online mode, you open the meeting request. Then, you click Accept.
6. When you are still offline on the portable computer, you delete the meeting request from the Inbox. Then, you click Send and Receive to update the changes to the Exchange Server mailbox.
7. The meeting is deleted from your Calendar.

The meeting request that you accepted on the Desktop computer is immediately processed. The meeting request that you deleted on the portable computer is synchronized later. After synchronization, the meeting on the desktop computer is also deleted.

Resolution

To resolve this problem, obtain and install Office 2003 Service Pack 2. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:



Note The solution may require more that just an update to your Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 client installation. For example, if you are using a BlackBerry device as one of the clients in the above scenarios, you will require an update to the CDO.DLL version on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server to which the BlackBerry device wirelessly connects, as well as an update to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server.

Additionally, if you use Outlook Web Access as one of the clients in the above scenario, you will need to obtain the latest service pack for Exchange Server 2003. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Status

This behavior is by design.

Workaround

We recommend that you process meeting requests on only one computer.

You cancel or delete a meeting without sending an update

If you cancel or delete a meeting, but you do not send the update, the meeting is only removed from your calendar. If you are the organizer, no one is notified that you are canceling the meeting. If you are an attendee, no one is notified that you are not attending.

Workaround

To work around this issue, send a cancellation notice. To correctly cancel a meeting that you organized or that you do not want to attend, follow these steps.

1. In the Folder list, click Calendar.
2. Click the meeting on the Calendar.
3. On the File menu, point to Open, and then click Selected Items.
4. On the Actions menu, click Cancel Meeting.
5. Click Send cancellation and delete meeting when you receive the following message:
   The attendees have not been notified that this meeting has been canceled. Choose one of the following:
   
   Send cancellation and delete meeting
   
   Delete without sending a cancellation
6. Click OK.
7. Click Send to complete the cancellation.

You frequently change recurring meetings

A frequently updated meeting can create confusion for attendees. For example, if you make frequent changes to the recurrence pattern of the meeting, many updates are sent to the attendees. The recipients may be confused and may incorrectly remove the meeting from the Calendar.

Additional updates may be sent in the following scenario. The attendees list has two instances of the same person's name. You delete one of the names. If you click Send updates only to added or deleted attendees when you send the update, the person whose name you deleted receives a cancellation notice. Similarly, if you click Send update to all attendees when you send the meeting update, the person whose name you deleted receives both a cancellation notice and an update. In this scenario, the recipients may be confused and may incorrectly remove the meeting from the Calendar.

Workaround

If you must make any changes that will potentially cause confusion for any attendees, we recommend that you cancel the meeting for all attendees. After the meeting is removed from the attendees' Calendars, you can send a new meeting request that includes all the changes that you want to make.

If you have to schedule a weekly meeting that you must change each week, you may want to send a single instance of the meeting request each week.

Scenarios in which Calendar items may become inaccurate

Forwarded meetings lead to inaccurate information in the calendar

The meeting organizer should not forward meeting requests. Consider the following scenario:

1. As meeting organizer, you forward a meeting request to a recipient not in the original attendee list.
2. The recipient does not automatically get added to the attendee list.
3. As meeting organizer, you change the time and send an update to the attendees.
4. The recipient who received the forwarded meeting request does not receive the update.

To include a new meeting attendee in an existing meeting request, the organizer can add the name to the meeting attendee list and send an update to the original meeting.

You forward a meeting request as a meeting attendee

When you forward a meeting (recurring or single-instance) to a new attendee, the new attendee is not added to the original meeting unless the attendee sends a meeting response. All updates to the meeting are not sent to the attendee, resulting in out-of-date information in that attendee's calendar.

When you use Microsoft Outlook to accept a recurring meeting request that was forwarded to you by an organizer of attendee, you may not be added to the meeting attendee list. When the organizer of the attendee views the list in Outlook or Outlook Web Access, your name does not appear in the list.

You use Outlook Web Access to accept a meeting

If you use Outlook Web Access to accept a meeting request, data loss may occur if the meeting has been modified in Outlook. Consider the following scenario:

1. You are sent a meeting request.
2. You start Outlook. You open the meeting request that appears in the Inbox. However, you do not accept or decline the request.
   
   Outlook is forced to include a tentative item in the attendee's Calendar.
3. You open the Outlook-generated Calendar item for the meeting.
4. You add information such as directions to the item. Then, you click Accept.
   
   Note The original meeting request remains in the Inbox.
5. You log on to Outlook Web Access.
6. You open the meeting request that remains in the Inbox. Then, you click Accept.
   
   All the changes that you made earlier in Outlook are lost.

Workaround

To work around this issue, accept the meeting request in the Inbox in Outlook before you change the meeting item in the Calendar.

You do not click Send Update when you change a meeting that you organize

When you change a meeting that you organize, you must click Send Update to make sure that the changes are sent to everyone that you invited to the meeting. For example, you modify the date or the time of a meeting. If you do not send an update, invitees will not be informed of the new meeting time. To send an update, follow these steps:

1. In Outlook, open a meeting that you organized.
2. Change the meeting time to one hour later than the originally scheduled time.
3. Click Send Update to send an updated meeting request to the invitees.

You do not process a meeting request in the Inbox

We recommend that you always accept or decline a meeting request from the Inbox. If you accept or decline a meeting by using the meeting item in the Calendar in Outlook, the meeting request remains in the Inbox. If you do not process the meeting request in the Inbox, the following issues may occur:

• You may be confused when you see this request later.
• If you appointed a delegate, the delegate may not know if you accepted the meeting request.
• If the organizer updates the meeting, the original meeting item in your Calendar may not be updated because the original meeting request was not processed. If you do not process meeting requests that are related to the same meeting in the order that they are received, the meeting item in your Calendar may be incorrect.

Your personal notes are lost after a meeting update is received

We recommend that you do not take personal notes in the body of a meeting item in the calendar. If you are an attendee of this meeting, your notes will be lost if a meeting update is received. If you are the organizer, your personal notes will be sent to everyone on the attendee list. Consider the following scenario:

1. You receive a meeting request.
2. You start Outlook and open the meeting request that appears in your Inbox and click Accept
3. You open the Calendar item for the meeting and add some text to the body of the item.
4. You click Save and Close.
5. The meeting organizer sends an update to the meeting and you receive it.
6. You open the item to force the sniffer to update your Calendar, but do not click Accept.
7. You open the calendar item again. All the notes you entered earlier are gone.

Status

This behavior is by design.

Workaround

Microsoft recommends taking personal notes using the Notes feature in Outlook or another product, such as Microsoft Office Work or Microsoft Office OneNote.

Best practices for working with meeting information

Convert an existing appointment to a meeting request

Sometimes you may have to convert an existing appointment in your Outlook Calendar to a meeting request. Follow these steps to correctly convert the appointment to a meeting request:

1. In the Folder list, click Calendar.
2. Double-click the appointment that you want to convert.
3. On the meeting toolbar, click Invite Attendees.
   
   The To box and the Send button are added to the appointment item. The appointment item becomes a meeting request.
4. Type the e-mail address of the attendee in the To box, and then click Send.

Limit the number of delegates who have access to your Calendar

Outlook does not have a defined limit for the number of delegates that you can add to your mailbox. Even though Outlook does not have a defined limit for delegates, other resource limitations will eventually limit the number of delegates you can add to your mailbox. For example, if you add many delegates to your mailbox, the 32-KB limit for rules data prevents you from saving delegate rules to the mailbox. This 32-KB limit is imposed by the server. When you reach this limit, you receive the following error message when you try to add a new delegate: This resource limitation does not affect you if you add a small number of delegates. You must consider all resource limitations when you plan or troubleshoot delegate scenarios.

When we developed and tested Outlook, we tested a maximum of four delegates. To prevent incorrect or missing meeting information, we recommend that you use only one delegate with Editor permissions. Make sure to decide whether the delegate or the mailbox owner will process all the meeting requests. See the "Multiple users receive meeting requests for a mailbox owner" section for more information.

If more than one user must have access to your mailbox, carefully consider whether these users have to be delegates. You may want to give the user Review permissions to your folder instead. To give another user Reviewer permissions, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Calendar folder, and then click Properties.
2. Click the Permissions tab.
3. Click Add.
4. Click the name of the user who you want to give Reviewer permissions to, click Add, and then click OK.
5. In the Name box, click the user name, and then click Reviewer in the Permission Level box.
6. Click Apply, and then click OK.

For more information about the limitations of server-side rules, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Schedule end dates on recurring meetings

We recommend that add a definite end date when you schedule a recurring meeting. When you add a definite end date, you may prevent issues that may occur if you have to update the meeting several times. If you schedule an end date on meetings, you can create a new meeting if you realize that the meeting has to be frequently modified.

Turn on Calendar logging for executives and for other frequent users

You can turn on Outlook 2003 Calendar logging for executives and for other frequent users. Calendar logging has a minimal effect on the performance of most computers. When you use Calendar logging, a log file is created. You can use this log file to help troubleshoot meeting issues if one of these users reports a problem.

For more information about the Calendar logging feature in Outlook 2003 Service Pack 1, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: