Microsoft KB Archive/311849

= Description of some calendar problems with Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2002 =

PSS ID Number: 311849

Article Last Modified on 7/21/2004

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The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Office Outlook 2003
 * Microsoft Outlook 2002

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This article was previously published under Q311849





For a Microsoft Outlook 98 version of this article, see 228937.



For a Microsoft Outlook 2000 version of this article, see 276248.



SUMMARY
Users of the Microsoft Outlook Calendaring features may see one or more of the following issues:
 * Duplicate Calendar items
 * Missing Calendar items
 * Conflicting appointments



MORE INFORMATION
For example, if a manager's client is configured to use offline folder (.ost) file caching with Microsoft Outlook, and both the manager's client and the delegate clients are configured to process requests and responses on arrival, duplicate and conflicting meetings are likely to occur. This is expected behavior.

This behavior occurs because when the delegate computer receives a meeting request, the delegate computer checks the manager's calendar on the server. The delegate does not detect a meeting, so the delegate's client processes the meeting request and tentatively schedules the meeting.

When the manager's computer receives the meeting request, the manager's computer checks the cached copy of the calendar in the local .ost file. The manager's computer does not detect the meeting scheduled, so the manager's computer processes the meeting request and tentatively schedules the meeting. Later, when the .ost file is synchronized with the server, the meeting on the server is pulled into the .ost file and the appointment in the .ost file is pushed to the server.

This is how the duplicate meetings are created. Again, this is expected behavior for the given client configuration. If the manager's configuration is changed to not use offline folders or if the delegate turns off the Process requests and responses on arrival option, this behavior does not occur.

Microsoft recommends that you turn off the Process requests and responses on arrival option on the delegate's computer. The side effect of using this option is that the delegate does not automatically process meeting requests for itself. 