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iCal Invites Unacceptable in Outlook

We have mixed workgroups; Mac/Win. Mac users who send meeting invites from iCal or BusyCal show up as .ics attachments for Outlook users. Clicking on the .ics files does not create a calendar event in Outlook. Clicking on the BusyCal .ics produces an item which has the comment: “As the meeting organizer, you do not need to respond to the meeting.” No options are available. iCal .ics invitations show grayed out option buttons and no calendar event.

If Outlook is open and OWA is opened in a browser, the .ics invitation can be clicked in OWA and a calendar event is created in Outlook.

Outlook is up-to-date with SP3 and all hotfixes that relate to iCal/IMAP. Outlook is served by an Exchange 2003 server.

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Felix Grushevsky

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GrCtch

ASKER

Thanks fgrushevsky.
I applied the hotfix and made the registry edit on the server as advised in the KB. Exchange 2003 is SP2 as required.
Now the iCal and BusyCal invites are identical. The .ics file is attached but when it is opened, the message, “As the meeting organizer, you do not need to respond to the meeting” still appears. The option buttons are gray and not accessible (see attached screen shot).
The problem is not resolved but the fix you suggested perhaps got us part way there. Helpful but no solution. Thanks.
iCal02.jpg

GrCtch

ASKER

The Microsoft KB said the server did NOT need to be rebooted. The hotfix and registry edit did not work until the server was rebooted. Once the server was restarted, Outlook interpreted the invites correctly.

Felix Grushevsky

are your Exchange server is up to day with all the patching? the problem with ics files is that exchange server does not process them properly when it converts it from mime for outlook (and when it not converted - for owa, it works fine). i believe one of the exchange patches fixed it a litle while ago

GrCtch

ASKER

Thanks for the help, fgrushevsky. The Exchange server was up to date. It just needed a reboot after I applied the KB that you suggested. Solution accepted. Points awarded.