Automatic tentative appointment insertion in Calendar
I have Outlook 2002 SP3, and recently received a meeting announcement via email from an outside source which was
automatically inserted into my Calendar as a tentative item. I have read in another post in this topic area that this is a
default function of Outlook 2K and above. I also read on Microsoft's Office forum that a piece of code dubbed "sniffer"
is responsible for this function. However, I do not want any unauthorized entries like this to appear in my Calendar unless
I choose to put them there by either accepting the meeting from another source or entering them manually myself. Does
anyone know of a setting in either Exchange (I have 2K3) or Outlook, or a registry hack, or third-party utility that will block
such automatic entries?
automatically inserted into my Calendar as a tentative item. I have read in another post in this topic area that this is a
default function of Outlook 2K and above. I also read on Microsoft's Office forum that a piece of code dubbed "sniffer"
is responsible for this function. However, I do not want any unauthorized entries like this to appear in my Calendar unless
I choose to put them there by either accepting the meeting from another source or entering them manually myself. Does
anyone know of a setting in either Exchange (I have 2K3) or Outlook, or a registry hack, or third-party utility that will block
such automatic entries?
ASKER
Sirbounty, that is a good idea. However, I do not see a "which is a meeting invitation" condition (is it possibly in Outlook2003
and not 2002?) in the Rules Wizard in Outlook. If it is not in 2002, then any other ideas on how to accomplish this?
and not 2002?) in the Rules Wizard in Outlook. If it is not in 2002, then any other ideas on how to accomplish this?
Doh! I saw the sp3 and misread it as 2003...sorry.
Hmm... I don't recall a way of accomplishing this in 2002 - I'll see what else I can find...
Hmm... I don't recall a way of accomplishing this in 2002 - I'll see what else I can find...
I'm coming up empty ks157...
Maybe someone else will happen by with a work around, but I don't see a way of accomplishing this... : (
Maybe someone else will happen by with a work around, but I don't see a way of accomplishing this... : (
ASKER
Thanks for trying. I hope someone else does have some tip/trick to do it.
ks157
This is what Microsoft have to say on the subject:
"Don't move a meeting request from your Inbox to a different folder before you accept or decline the request or before the meeting appears in your calendar. Soon after a meeting request arrives in your Inbox, a piece of Outlook code — nicknamed the "sniffer" — automatically adds the meeting to your calendar and marks it as tentative. This is a fail-safe to keep you from missing the meeting in case you don't see the request in your Inbox. However, the sniffer doesn't reply to the meeting organizer. You still need to do that by accepting, accepting as tentative, or declining the request.
If you or a rule that you create moves an incoming meeting request from your Inbox before the sniffer can process the request, the meeting never appears in your calendar, and you might miss the meeting."
(I guess this is the bit you read)
Full text here:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011276781033.aspx
This implies that you can set a rule to do something with incoming meeting requests. Unfortunately, I don't have OL2002 to play with at the moment so I can't help you identify the rule(s) to use.
This is what Microsoft have to say on the subject:
"Don't move a meeting request from your Inbox to a different folder before you accept or decline the request or before the meeting appears in your calendar. Soon after a meeting request arrives in your Inbox, a piece of Outlook code — nicknamed the "sniffer" — automatically adds the meeting to your calendar and marks it as tentative. This is a fail-safe to keep you from missing the meeting in case you don't see the request in your Inbox. However, the sniffer doesn't reply to the meeting organizer. You still need to do that by accepting, accepting as tentative, or declining the request.
If you or a rule that you create moves an incoming meeting request from your Inbox before the sniffer can process the request, the meeting never appears in your calendar, and you might miss the meeting."
(I guess this is the bit you read)
Full text here:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011276781033.aspx
This implies that you can set a rule to do something with incoming meeting requests. Unfortunately, I don't have OL2002 to play with at the moment so I can't help you identify the rule(s) to use.
Just remembered I have OL2k on my wife's pc...let me do some playing... :^ )
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ASKER
Good suggestion sirbounty. I did as you prescribed and it worked as advertised. However....when I click on the
"Appointments" subfolder to view it's contents the diverted meeting request is by default selected (preview pane
below the request is visible too) and the meeting is inserted into the calendar as it would have been prior to the
addition of the rule. Should the view for the "Appointments" folder be changed so as to avoid an automatic preview?
"Appointments" subfolder to view it's contents the diverted meeting request is by default selected (preview pane
below the request is visible too) and the meeting is inserted into the calendar as it would have been prior to the
addition of the rule. Should the view for the "Appointments" folder be changed so as to avoid an automatic preview?
I'm on the road, so I won't be able to test this until I get back on Tuesday, but would presume you are correct - simply disabling auto preview - have you tried it yet?
Anyone knows how to accomplish this in Outlook 2003? I set up the rule as above. The appointments are re-routed to another folder, but the appointment still shows up as tentative on the calendar.
See if this resolves your issue.
Let's say you have your Inbox and another folder called review.
Set up a rule (check messages when receiving, which is a meeting invitation - any other options you want - move it to specified folder - in this case Review).
Now that this rule is established, the sniffer won't get the chance to add the item to the calendar since it doesn't reside in your inbox.
Hope that helps..