From: Paul on
Hi

1. When I have completed a commercial agreement for one of my clients, I
send them a list of the key dates and events arising out of it.

2. I'd like to email them a single file that – on double click – will
automatically import those dates into their Outlook calendars.

3. This must be easy! I have heard of two ways, but both have limits:

A. Send a .hol file – problem: the format is (I think) limited to TITLE,
DATE whereas I'd like to include quite a lot of narrative about the event.
Clearly I can add narrative to existing holiday entries in the calendar, so
why can this information not be bundled into the .hol file?

B. Send an .ics file – problem: they are hard to create, but looking at
notepad it seems as though I could manage it. But they need to be "imported"
(double-click will only add the first event) and this is too fiddly.

C. Send a .vcal file - problem: multiple-events not supported.

Can anyone help with this?
From: Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook] on
"Paul" <Paul(a)discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:8F86A1B3-624D-49C4-8380-A2D9A4894968(a)microsoft.com...

> 1. When I have completed a commercial agreement for one of my clients, I
> send them a list of the key dates and events arising out of it.
>
> 2. I'd like to email them a single file that – on double click – will
> automatically import those dates into their Outlook calendars.
>
> 3. This must be easy! I have heard of two ways, but both have limits:

What I'd do is create a new calendar folder, add the events to it, then export
that calendar to a CSV (Windows). I'd then mail that CSV to the others with
instructions on how to import it into Outlook. "Save the attachment to your
hard drive. In Outlook click File>Import and Export>Import from another
program or file>Next. Select "Comma Separated Values (Windows)" and click
Next. Browse to the CSV you saved, select it, and click OK. Click Next,
select your Calendar folder, click Next then click Finish." I'd even include
screen shots of the steps as I describe them.

You're not going to get a one-click (or one double-click) solution.
--
Brian Tillman [MVP-Outlook]

From: Sue Mosher [MVP] on
B. is the way I'd go, because that's supported by other calendar clients
besides Outlook. They're pretty easy to create in Outlook 2007, and I think
there are add-ins to help with earlier versions.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54



"Paul" wrote:

> Hi
>
> 1. When I have completed a commercial agreement for one of my clients, I
> send them a list of the key dates and events arising out of it.
>
> 2. I'd like to email them a single file that – on double click – will
> automatically import those dates into their Outlook calendars.
>
> 3. This must be easy! I have heard of two ways, but both have limits:
>
> A. Send a .hol file – problem: the format is (I think) limited to TITLE,
> DATE whereas I'd like to include quite a lot of narrative about the event.
> Clearly I can add narrative to existing holiday entries in the calendar, so
> why can this information not be bundled into the .hol file?
>
> B. Send an .ics file – problem: they are hard to create, but looking at
> notepad it seems as though I could manage it. But they need to be "imported"
> (double-click will only add the first event) and this is too fiddly.
>
> C. Send a .vcal file - problem: multiple-events not supported.
>
> Can anyone help with this?