How to create a .ICS file with multiple VEVENTs to be imported into an existing Outlook Calendar

Question

I have a need to allow for a user to download an event that has multiple meeting dates. To do this I have created a memorystream to be downloaded which produces a .ics file. For example:

BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//Company//Product//EN
VERSION:2.0
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Subject of Event
LOCATION:Location of Event
UID:[email protected]
DESCRIPTION:Some description
DTEND:20081101T200000Z
DTSTART:20081101T200000Z
PRIORITY:3
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
  ...
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR

If I only include one VEVENT in this file it will save it to my existing Outlook calendar. However, when I have multiple VEVENTs it wants to open it as a new calendar and files it under "Other Calendars".

Is there a way (without using File - Import from within Outlook) to specify that the calendar should be imported automatically into the existing calendar when opened?

UPDATE: To clarify, each VEVENT is related to a single "Appointment". However there may or may not be a recurring pattern.

-Mike

Solution 1

I don't think this will work. Outlook is limited in importing those "open" specs. I had a similar problem trying to import a vCard file with multiple contacts. I ended up splitting the file and writing a script in Outlook to import all the files in a directory.

Solution 2

This is possible, using an Internet Calendar (like from Google). Outlook 2007 has the capabilities to subscribe to an Internet Calendar (under Account Settings) and Outlook 2003 has an open-source plug-in available. You could create an accessible feed that is "read-only". The format is like

BEGIN:VCALENDAR  
PRODID:-//XYZ Corp//My Product//EN  
VERSION:2.0  
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN  
METHOD:PUBLISH  
X-WR-CALNAME:My Calendar  
X-WR-TIMEZONE:(GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)  
BEGIN:VEVENT  
DTSTART:20061021T100000Z  
DTEND:20061021T130000Z  
DTSTAMP:20090211T175526Z  
UID:5f98dfd5-ac72-4ae1-b3c2-799a4e7c91f9  
CLASS:PUBLIC  
CREATED:20071104T183833Z  
DESCRIPTION: My description text.  
LAST-MODIFIED:20071104T183833Z  
LOCATION: 123 Anywhere Street\; Anyplace, NJ 12345\; US  
SEQUENCE:0  
STATUS:CONFIRMED  
SUMMARY: My summary text.  
TRANSP:OPAQUE  
END:VEVENT  
BEGIN:VEVENT  
DTSTART:20061101T170000Z  
DTEND:20061101T180000Z  
DTSTAMP:20090211T175526Z  
UID:6eaef015-eb90-4e94-8e6c-0003b928969a  
CLASS:PUBLIC  
CREATED:20071104T183833Z  
DESCRIPTION: My description for number 2.  
LAST-MODIFIED:20071104T183833Z  
LOCATION: 123 Anywhere Street\; Anyplace, NJ 12345\; US  
SEQUENCE:0  
STATUS:CONFIRMED  
SUMMARY: My summary for #2.  
TRANSP:OPAQUE  
END:VEVENT  
END:VCALENDAR

Solution 3

Make sure you are using a unique UID for every VEVENT. If you use the same UID for every VEVENT you would see exactly the behavior you are describing since only unique UID's are processed and added to the calendar.

HTH.

Solution 4

Make sure you have "X-MS-OLK-FORCEINSPECTOROPEN:TRUE" in the VCALENDAR part of your file. This allows an ICS file with multiple VEVENTs to import into your default calendar in Outlook. No new calendar created.

Solution 5

this is an example of three FIFA 2010 matches on outlook, I'm guessing that this is what you are looking for...

BEGIN:VCALENDAR

PRODID:-//Microsoft Corporation//Outlook 12.0 MIMEDIR//EN

VERSION:2.0

METHOD:PUBLISH

X-CALSTART:20100611T140000Z

X-CALEND:20100711T201500Z

X-WR-RELCALID:{0000002E-5A22-AA75-713B-5C3715764495}

X-WR-CALNAME: World Cup Football Complete Match Schedule 2010 South Africa

BEGIN:VEVENT

CATEGORIES:World Cup Football Complete Match Schedule 2010 South Africa

CLASS:PUBLIC

CREATED:20100608T231102Z

DESCRIPTION:Group A\nFollow MarkThisDate on Twitter

    markthisdate 

DTEND:20100611T154500Z

DTSTAMP:20100513T100200Z

DTSTART:20100611T140000Z

LAST-MODIFIED:20100608T231102Z

LOCATION:Johannesburg 

PRIORITY:5

SEQUENCE:0

SUMMARY:South Africa - Mexico

TRANSP:TRANSPARENT

UID:[email protected]

X-MICROSOFT-CDO-BUSYSTATUS:FREE

X-MICROSOFT-CDO-IMPORTANCE:1

END:VEVENT

BEGIN:VEVENT

CATEGORIES:World Cup Football Complete Match Schedule 2010 South Africa

CLASS:PUBLIC

CREATED:20100608T231102Z

DESCRIPTION:Group A\nFollow MarkThisDate on Twitter

    markthisdate 

DTEND:20100611T201500Z

DTSTAMP:20100513T100200Z

DTSTART:20100611T183000Z

LAST-MODIFIED:20100608T231102Z

LOCATION:Cape Town 

PRIORITY:5

SEQUENCE:0

SUMMARY:Uruguay - France

TRANSP:TRANSPARENT

UID:[email protected]

X-MICROSOFT-CDO-BUSYSTATUS:FREE

X-MICROSOFT-CDO-IMPORTANCE:1

END:VEVENT

BEGIN:VEVENT

CATEGORIES:World Cup Football Complete Match Schedule 2010 South Africa

CLASS:PUBLIC

CREATED:20100608T231102Z

DESCRIPTION:Group B\nFollow MarkThisDate on Twitter

    markthisdate 

DTEND:20100612T131500Z

DTSTAMP:20100513T100200Z

DTSTART:20100612T113000Z

LAST-MODIFIED:20100608T231102Z

LOCATION:Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth 

PRIORITY:5

SEQUENCE:0

SUMMARY:Korea Republic - Greece

TRANSP:TRANSPARENT

UID:[email protected]

X-MICROSOFT-CDO-BUSYSTATUS:FREE

X-MICROSOFT-CDO-IMPORTANCE:1

END:VEVENT

END:VCALENDAR

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Comments

[Tomalak]

Is it the same appointment, with a recurrence pattern or are the appointments not related to each other?

[mwilkes]

It is the same appointment...unfortunately there may or may not be a recurring pattern. For instance it meets on Tuesday this week and Wednesday the next week, etc..

[Tomalak]

I suppose the "VBEGIN" is a typo?

[matt b]

I believe the property X-MS-OLK-FORCEINSPECTOROPEN:TRUE is meant to fix this problem "when I have multiple VEVENTs it wants to open it as a new calendar and files it under "Other Calendars""

[masciugo]

@mattb that way my outlook 2013 ignores the other events importing only the first one

[Tomalak]

Yes, I was thinking the same thing. Multiple events work for a subscribed .ics calendar, though.

[cwd]

I am interested in checking this method. Looks like you can get more examples at markthisdate.com (which is where the source of this example seems to come from) although I'm not sure if it will work on Outlook or not (on a Mac right now)

[jcaruso]

No it's not because it doesn't import into the current calendar.

[jcaruso]

Tried using this and got an error that its not a valid ics file.

[Leniency]

Tested this and it doesn't appear to work fully, at least in O365 Outlook. It prompts to add only the first VEVENT in the file - any others are no added to the main calendar.

[miked]

X-MS-OLK-FORCEINSPECTOROPEN:TRUE only effects the outlook calendar the event is added to. If you are only processing the first VEVENT, the there is another issue with your ICS file. Issues relatred witrh the UID or start times/dates so the system can match the VEVENTS.

[jwmiller5]

@Bellu Try opening the ics from Outlook Web Access. According to this post it works in OWA, not in Outlook. answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/…