IBM Notes recurrent calendar events in MS Outlook - finally works with R8.5

Hi guys

Probably you met the issue: recurrent calendar event sent from IBM Lotus Notes to external mail systems (like MS Exchange/Outlook) sometimes cannot be opened, sometimes can be opened but displays only the first occurrence etc.

With iCalendar format for IBM Notes calendar events introduced in IBM Notes 8.5 this issue can be handled properly. Here is a re-post of how it can be done.

Taken from here: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/notes85-icalendar/index.html

iCalendar interoperability improvement

In Lotus Notes versions earlier than 8.5 , Lotus Notes calendar and scheduling functions have many features that other iCalendar vendors do not support well, causing some iCalendar interoperability issues between Lotus Notes and other calendar applications. In Lotus Notes 8.5, new features were implemented, such as compatibility mode and Lotus Notes registration as a calendar handler, to improve iCalendar interoperability between Lotus Notes and Microsoft® Outlook or between Lotus Notes and other mail clients.

Compatibility mode introduced

Some iCalendar interoperability limitations and issues exist between the versions earlier than 8.5 of Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook and the versions earlier than 8.5 of Lotus Notes and other mail clients. For example, when a Lotus Notes chair sends a repeating meeting invitation to non-Lotus Notes invitees who have mail programs other than Lotus Notes, some severe interoperability problems can arise. Because some mail programs such as Microsoft Outlook have calendars that don’t support all the Lotus Notes features for repeating meetings, severe interoperability issues, including the loss of repeat instances or of message fidelity, can occur in these situations:

• When updating more than one repeating meeting instance at a time
• When using custom repeating meetings
• When specifying weekend rules for repeating meetings

To avoid unnecessary trouble to users, Lotus Notes 8.5 introduced the concept of compatibility mode to improve iCalendar interoperability between Lotus Notes and the other calendar applications. The compatibility mode makes the calendaring features that are not supported by other mail clients, inclusing Microsoft Outlook and Exchange. unavailable on any meetings that have compatibility mode selected.

In Lotus Notes 8.5, a new option is available on the meeting form. The option "ome invitees use other mail programs displays with other response and workflow options. Figure 2 shows this option and the "i" that indicates that help is available. The meeting chair selects this option for best results when sending invitations to users of other mail programs.

Figure 2. Compatibility mode UI: New option added

The option Some invitees use other mail programs is not included on the meeting form by default because it is not intuitive to users. Administrators can push down an INI parameter ($CSCompatibilityMode) to the client and server router code using existing capabilities, which control whether the check boxes in which the user can enable or disable the compatibility mode on a meeting instance are visible. The INI parameter has four settings that support the option:

• The check box is not visible, and the compatibility mode is not set by default on the invitation. This setting is the default setting for the Lotus Notes 8.5
• The check box is visible, and the compatibility mode is set by default on the invitation.
• The check box is visible, and the compatibility mode is not set by default on the invitation.
• The check box is visible, and the compatibility mode is set and locked by default on the invitation.

By selecting the option Some invitees use other mail programs, users can send invitations to users of any of these mail programs:

• Outlook 2003/Exchange 2003
• Outlook 2007/Exchange 2007
• Outlook 2003/Exchange 2007
• Outlook 2003/Gmail (POP 3)
• Outlook 2007/Gmail (POP 3)

Lotus Notes registered as a calendar handler

Lotus Notes 8.5 gives users a chance to register Lotus Notes as a calendar handler during installation, so that they can double-click an ICS file from the operating system or from a memo to display the add calendar window, the import window, or an actionable calendar form.

When they install Lotus Notes 8.5, users see three options in the Ready to Install the Program page of the installation wizard. One of the options, Make Notes my default calendar program, shown in figure 3, is selected by default.

Figure 3. Setting to register Lotus Notes as a calendar handler

Selecting this option not only associates the ICS file with Lotus Notes, but also makes Lotus Notes the default calendar program used to process ICS files. Whether users double-click the ICS file saved from the operating system or saved in a Lotus Notes document (that is, an ICS file attached in a memo), Lotus Notes can recognize it and process it.

For the ICS file representing PUBLISH data, users can double-click the file to be opened from the operating system (that is, from the desktop) or from within a memo. Users have the option to import calendar entries into the calendar or to add the entries as a calendar overlay in the "Show Calendars" option.

For the ICS file representing WORKFLOW data, users can double-click the file to be opened from the operating system (that is, from the desktop) or from within a memo. The workflow then is opened for users to act upon. Especially for the ICS file containing a single workflow event, it is opened as a processable calendar invitation in the Lotus Notes 8.5 client.