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Level 1

8 points

.ics files - outlook meeting.ics attachment won't open

My Iphone can't open outlook meeting invitations. It shows up in email as a meeting.ics attachment that will not open.

The old blackberry did it perfectly, was sent as meeting info with no meeting.ics folder to open (in this case not open)

This is an extremely basic yet important function that should be elementary to any business enterprise phone.

What am I doing wrong?

Posted on Aug 7, 2008 9:59 AM

Top-ranking reply

neuroanatomist

Level 9

50,023 points

Posted on Aug 7, 2008 10:07 AM

.ics attachments aren't supported by the iphone's mail app. Submit feedback to Apple:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/iphone.html

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84 replies

Nov 29, 2010 12:17 PM in response to RichieBBB

I am running iOS 4.2.1 on both my iPad and iPhone3G, and both still can not open an iCal calendar reminder from Safari into the Calendar app. An example would be when clicking on the "Add to my calendar" link on the Eventbrite.com website and choosing the "iCal Calendar" link (which of course works fine in MacOS). Error received is "Safari cannot download this file". Still very disappointed in this condition.

Nov 29, 2010 1:28 PM in response to RichieBBB

Ditto. Was ecstatic we'd finally be able to view/import/accept .ics attachments, however, it merely adds a tentative event to the calendar app, it does not allow you to accept/decline the proposed event 😟

NDOpus

Level 1

8 points

Dec 2, 2010 1:52 PM in response to bripab007

I was excited to be able to do something with .ics files -- my wife cannot see on her iPhone the Outlook calendar invitations I send her from my work computer and it was causing serious family dis-harmony! Unfortunately, you cannot edit (or for that matter delete) the calendar entries once put on your iPhone calendar, and for some reason when the invitation shows up on her calendar it is always 3 hours off (Eastern zone, instead of Pacific zone where we live) and it even makes no difference if you specify Pacific time zone in the calendar entry itself (perhaps that has something to do with my firm's HQ being in Pennsylvania, but it does not make any sense all things considered). Really disappointed that this wasn't done right!

Jan 5, 2011 2:10 PM in response to NDOpus

Quite a number of problems with .ics support here as well. When I add the invitation to the calendar, it is added without correct time zone support. No option to accept or deny the invitation. Even though I have set my google calendar as default calendar, when adding the invitation I am being asked to which calendar I want to add and finally the default calendar is changed to the iPad local calendar. This happens on both the iPad and the iPhone. With these bugs and short comings the ics support in 4.2.1 is still useless. Hope Apple will fix this in the next release.

johninsj

Level 1

70 points

Jan 5, 2011 2:15 PM in response to Chris@ipad

It you're syncing with exchange, exchange invites are fully functional on iOS4. You can accept/decline/tenative an invite and the date/time is correct (based on your timezone and the tz the meeting is set for.)

kkweng

Level 1

8 points

Jan 16, 2011 11:17 PM in response to Chris@ipad

And after you add the event to your calendar, in the wrong timezone, the calendar UI on the iphone iOS 4.2.1 gives you no way to remove it ... (the Edit button does not appear, unlike for events manually added on through the iPhone UI)...

Between this, and the fact that you can't set a default reminder for new events, and the fact that when notifications appear there is no way to "snooze" them or otherwise get them to reappear (eg if a phone call comes in while you're glancing at the notification which just beeped, it's gone, good luck figuring out what you were supposed to be reminded of) ... I find it hard to believe that apple folks actually find the calendar usable for professional work.

Jan 21, 2011 5:43 AM in response to kkweng

I find the response that "this works fine with Exchange" to be beside the point. My bottom rung Blackberry could open these files with no issue years ago. I have a very small business and don't need exchange but I do need real time calendar functionality on my phone.

I just started a Mobileme trial and I am flabbergasted that 1. invitees to meeting have to go to the mac.me website and DOWNLOAD a file to accept a meeting. This takes less than two seconds when using Google (phone to phone)--no websites and no downloads required. And 2. iPhone can't even open invites from Mobileme!

I always get defensive when my husband calls my iPhone a "toy," versus his work machine Droid, but I have to give him points on this one. The whole point of having a phone is so you can perform functions AWAY from home or office and deal with anything that comes up--in real time. Truly *silly* that you have to remember you have to accept an appointment when you get back to your home or office or wherever you have access to a desktop machine on what is supposed to be this prime example of current technology.

My jaw was stuck open last night when I realized I could not open these .ics files on my phone.

mcdani

Level 1

0 points

Feb 11, 2011 10:46 AM in response to johninsj

So, can't we use the calendar with ICS files?

Message was edited by: mcdani

atramos

Level 1

0 points

Apr 3, 2011 12:50 PM in response to jjtd

I have an iPhone 4. It had the same issue. NOW FINALLY THIS PROBLEM HAS BEEN FIXED AS OF iOS VERSION 4.3. Allelluyah

I guess Apple has been listening to user feedback, although it took 4 years.

Apr 29, 2011 8:04 PM in response to jjtd

Hello jjtd,

In order to get the iphone to process ics attachments you have to configure a calDAV account in Settings > Mail, Contacts and Calendars > Add Account.

There are several presets and other ways to configure calendaring services after that choice, Exchange, mobileme, gMail, Yahoo, AOL and Other.

Other is going to give you the option for a calDAV account and that is what you need to get the iOS native mail app to process to ics files and add them to your calendar on the phone.

You will need the server name of the server running the calDAV service. For gMail it's m.google.com (along with everything else Google provides for mobile devices.) For Exchange it's whatever your company's Exchange server is called if it allows external connections. (Ex: servername.domain.com)

You will probably need to work with your IT department to get the names if it's a corporate Exchange server and/or vpn services configured if that is the policy. The consumer providers tend to be simple and you can find the required information with your friend, Google.

A recent comment says that the latest iOS update just adds event to your calendar even if you just have mail configured on the device. I cannnot confirm but maybe this is now resolved.

Cheers.

Aug 1, 2011 10:33 AM in response to Alex Lysso

I just ran into this problem this morning. What fixed it for me was that the user didn't have Calendars turned on in her Exchange account settings (Settings, Mail Contacts Calendars, Exchange, Calendars ON)

Aug 3, 2011 6:06 PM in response to ronfromorange

I think we're part of the way there. I can "process" the .ics attachment, but it simply adds the inviation to my Calendar as tentative, and I still can't see a way to "Accept" or "Decline".

I'm using a GMail CalDAV account synced to an iPhone 4 (with the latest software) and an iMac with OS X Lion....I can process the attachment on the iMac and selecting "Add to iMail", but still no luck accepting invitations on the iPhone.

Very annoying Apple.....

Sep 5, 2011 10:39 PM in response to jjtd

So it's been since 2008 when this thread began. Still no correct answer given. That is disappointing.

I have a macbook pro purchased Aug 2011 with OSX Lion 10.7.1. My company has a lead management system. When I call someone and make an appointment, I save the appointment in the system and get an email. The email has an attachment. The attachment is the .ics file. The file is usless. So now I have to re-enter the appointment. Rediculous.

Any developers want to partner up with me to create an app for that? Let's try and get it done in 45 days from drawing board to launched on the app store.I bet it could be done.

Sep 8, 2011 10:44 AM in response to williamfromsnoqualmie

Hi williamfromsnoqualmie, We are the developers of Calendar Happy. If you would like us to help you troubleshoot the problem for the lead management system you are using with the email/ics file problem, we'd be happy to look at it.

Please send us the following:

1) Are you having problem reading the ics file from your iPhone or your Mac computer?

2) Forward the .ics file you can't read.

3) Tell us about your setup. Mail server, OS, phone model etc. More details the better.

If the problem is on your phone and you're on iOS 4.3, it is likely that it is something unusual about the ics file that the lead generation software has created. Send it to us and we should be able to tell you what's going on.

Thanks,

--Liz & Eric

contact@calendarhappy.com

p.s. We recently have been focused on our newest app, Wedding Happy. Coming soon in Chinese. 🙂

Sep 8, 2011 12:04 PM in response to elizabeth101

1) having problems from my mac computer.

2) i have forwarded the ics file to contact@calendarhappy.com

3) my mail server shouldn't matter, mail servers usually don't change attachments, however, my mail server is ipower, my comoputer is a macbook pro mid 2011 OSX 10.7.1, I have no iPhone

thanks for all your help, i really do appreciate it

.ics files - outlook meeting.ics attachment won't open