Outlook not correctly importing .vcs file

[tpro]

Outlook's support of "floating time" format in vcalendar files (.vcs) is not
working.

Outlook always interprets the DTSTART and DTEND fields of the .vcs as UTC,
whether or not the DATE-TIME string is terminated with the "Z".

According to RCF 2445, the "Z" indicates UTC, and the absence of the "Z"
indicates local ("floating") time.

Example:
DTSTART:20090822T080000
should be imported as "8:00 am" local; instead, it's being imported as 01:00
am local (PDT) time.
Compare to
DTSTART:20090822T080000Z (this is 01:00 am PDT)
and
DTSTART:20090822T150000Z (this is equivalent to 08:00 am PDT)

 

[webgurupc]

BUMP

 

[webgurupc]

By the way it works OK Outlook 2000.

Sometime after then Microsoft must have had an office party

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]]

BUMP

Someone must have an idea of what? You posted this as a new message. No one
knows what you mean.

 

[webgurupc]

this is where i posted...

http://forums.slipstick.com/showthread.php?p=13936

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Most of us read this group in a newsreader and we only see the last 3 months
of posts. For this reason, that forum is configured to always quote the post
you are replying to - so replies to older messages are included for those of
us who read the forum with an NNTP client.


--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]

Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center: http://www.slipstick.com/

Outlook Tips by email:
mailto:[email protected]

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
mailto:[email protected]

New Poll: What type of email account is your main account?
http://forums.slipstick.com/showthread.php?t=42402

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

Outlook has never supported 'floating' appointments - they are always pinned
to a specific UTC time and if you change the time zone, the appointment time
changes. Even all day appointments change to 24 hrs over 2 days (ie, 11 pm -
11 pm or 1 am - 1 am) when the time zone is changed.

Outlook 2010 now supports all day even that stick to the date but timed
appointments will move with the time zone changes (you can select a time
zone for appointments so you don't have to think about the correct time in
that zone while in a different zone)
Outlook's support of "floating time" format in vcalendar files (.vcs) is not
working.

Outlook always interprets the DTSTART and DTEND fields of the .vcs as UTC,
whether or not the DATE-TIME string is terminated with the "Z".

According to RCF 2445, the "Z" indicates UTC, and the absence of the "Z"
indicates local ("floating") time.

Example:
DTSTART:20090822T080000
should be imported as "8:00 am" local; instead, it's being imported as 01:00
am local (PDT) time.
Compare to
DTSTART:20090822T080000Z (this is 01:00 am PDT)
and
DTSTART:20090822T150000Z (this is equivalent to 08:00 am PDT)
--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]

Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center: http://www.slipstick.com/

Outlook Tips by email:
mailto:[email protected]

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
mailto:[email protected]

New Poll: What type of email account is your main account?
http://forums.slipstick.com/showthread.php?t=42402

 

[webgurupc]

;140230']Outlook has never supported 'floating' appointments - they ar
always pinned
to a specific UTC time

Many Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately it is not correct.

I run outlook 2002. The VCS file below works as a floating time, a
their is no "Z" after the DSTART & DEND fields. This appt comes up on m
computer as 9am to 11am, no mater what timezone I set OUTLOOK to.

Code
-------------------
BEGIN: VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//Microsoft Corporation//Outlook 9.0 MIMEDIR//EN
VERSION:1.0
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:20100504T090000
DTEND:20100504T11000
UID: Cars.PoolBooking.
SUMMARY;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Meeting
PRIORITY:3
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR:

-------------------



This Appointment is linked to UTC as there is a "Z" after the DSTART
DEND fields.

Code
-------------------
BEGIN: VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//Microsoft Corporation//Outlook 9.0 MIMEDIR//EN
VERSION:1.0
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:20100504T090000Z
DTEND:20100504T11000Z
UID: Cars.PoolBooking.
SUMMARY;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:meeting
PRIORITY:3
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR:

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

When its first opened, it will be on 9 -11, but when you change the
computer's time zone, it will stay on 9-11 in the time zone you used when
you added it to the calendar. It will not float to 9 -11 in every time
zone - but it will be added to 9 -11 if you reopen it from the hard drive.
(http://slipstick.me/jing/time.png) That is not how Outlook works. It
works as expected in Outlook 2010 and 2003 - those are the only 2 versions I
have accessible at the moment. You said it works like this in 2000 also but
not 2002?

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]

Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center: http://www.slipstick.com/

Outlook Tips by email:
mailto:[email protected]

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
mailto:[email protected]

New Poll: What type of email account is your main account?
http://forums.slipstick.com/showthread.php?t=42402

;140230']Outlook has never supported 'floating' appointments - they are
always pinned
to a specific UTC time

Many Thanks for your reply. Unfortunately it is not correct.

I run outlook 2002. The VCS file below works as a floating time, as
their is no "Z" after the DSTART & DEND fields. This appt comes up on my
computer as 9am to 11am, no mater what timezone I set OUTLOOK to.

Code:
--------------------
BEGIN: VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//Microsoft Corporation//Outlook 9.0 MIMEDIR//EN
VERSION:1.0
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:20100504T090000
DTEND:20100504T11000
UID: Cars.PoolBooking.
SUMMARY;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Meeting
PRIORITY:3
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR:

--------------------



This Appointment is linked to UTC as there is a "Z" after the DSTART &
DEND fields.

Code:
--------------------
BEGIN: VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//Microsoft Corporation//Outlook 9.0 MIMEDIR//EN
VERSION:1.0
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:20100504T090000Z
DTEND:20100504T11000Z
UID: Cars.PoolBooking.
SUMMARY;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:meeting
PRIORITY:3
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR:

--------------------


So I think my office party theory stills stands, but I am very happy
to be corrected.

 

[webgurupc]

So many thanks for your reply. This thread is really getting interestin
now.

I have read & reread your reply and am hoping I have made sense of it
Please forgive me if I interperated your reply incorrectly.

When its first opened, it will be on 9 -11, but when you change the
computer's time zone, it will stay on 9-11 in the time zone you use
when
you added it to the calendar. It will not float to 9 -11 in every time
zone - but it will be added to 9 -11 if you reopen it from the har
drive.

Correct - this is what is happening in Outlook 2002 & 2000

Once the apointment is made in outlook it will move as per timezone
but this part doesn't interest me. Just the part that one cannot add
NEW appointment with a floating timezone (without the "z" ) to outloo
as one used to be able to do.

It works as expected in Outlook 2010 and 2003

I don't understand your "as expected"? Do you mean it floats withou
the Z?

Here it works correctly. (real sorry about the video quality
somewhere between me and utube it went fuzzy)
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie
value="

"></param><para
name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><para
name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embe
src="

type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always
allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

As expected means that opening the vcs from my hard drive opens it with the
time of 9 -11. When I save it to the calendar and change the time zone to
PT, the 9 -11 appointment moves to 6 -8. This is all expected.
http://slipstick.me/jing/tz.png - this is Outlook 2003. I pasted the vcs
code into notepad and saved, then opened it. Changed the time zone, reopened
the vcs. It's 9 am in the current time zone.

This worked in both Outlook 2003 and 2010 the other day.

However, today its acting weird in outlook 2010/Win 7. When I change the
time zone and reopen the vcs, the time adjusts - based on the differential
between the old time zone and the new one. It is not opening based on the
UTC - I'm in ET (-4 right now) and the first appointment is for 9 am.
Saving it and changing the time zone then reopening the vcs from my hard
drive - and the vcs has adjusted so its still on 9 AM ET.

Because of this weirdness, I decided to bring up Outlook 2007. It uses UTC
time - the appointment is 5am. This is what you see in 2000 and 2002,
correct?



--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]

Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center: http://www.slipstick.com/

Outlook Tips by email:
mailto:[email protected]

EMO - a weekly newsletter about Outlook and Exchange:
mailto:[email protected]

New Poll: What type of email account is your main account?
http://forums.slipstick.com/showthread.php?t=42402

 

[webgurupc]

So many thanks for giving this your attention.

First up just to clarify I am not interested in saving the appointmen
or what happens once it is saved in outlook. Forget save at all. Do no
save the appointment.

My only interst is in opening it as a NEW appointment off the har
drive as a vcs file.

In outlook 2000 & 2002, without the z the appointment floats, that i
it always opens at 9am to 11 am, no matter what timezone outlook is se
to (WHEN IT IS OPENED AS A NEW APPONTMENT). See the video.

Later versions of Outlook convert the appointment to UTC when it i
opened off the hard drive as per your picture a
http://slipstick.me/jing/tz.png

So to sum up there is a difference between the behaviour of Outloo
versions 2000-2003 and those Outlook versions released after that

 

[webgurupc]

So to sum up there is a difference between the behaviour of Outlook
versions 2000-2003 and those Outlook versions released after that.

Oops. That should read Outlook versions 2000-2002