Can't add attachments to iCal events

Re: Can't add attachments to iCal events

Oct 1, 2011 7:19 PM (in response to uffez)

Earlier in my blog I posted a work around to the iCal 5.0 issue of not being able to add attachments when setting up a new event. After a visit to the apple store for another product (Apple TV) I had a thought just before walking out the store. With my MBP in hand I showed, explained rationalized the issue to two (2) Apple Store employees. About an hour later we figured it out together. Long story short... you need to make sure when you create the new event that you do so on one of your "On My Mac" calenders and the option to add an attachment will be there. I had my default calendar set to my mobile me calendar. So i quickly took this one step further and jumped to iCal preferences and set my Home "On my Mac" calendar to the default. Presto! Fixed...Resolved... Solution. No need for the work around now. Thanks for reading. Hope it helped.

Video Tutorials on my youtube channel and blog.

Work Around alternative: http://http://www.retiredarmyranger.com/2011/09/ical-50-lion-os-mac-cant-add-att achment.html

The Real Solution: http://www.retiredarmyranger.com/2011/10/cant-add-attachment-in-ical-50-lion-os. html

RetiredArmyRanger

LOL – just back up a few words and you'll see that big acronym of CALDAV.

oh, and some might be surprised by this URL too... and just for RARanger, these links (like my above comment) has nothing to do with ical, just so we're clear 😉

nuf said.

Mmmm,

Having performed some testing with Google's CALDAV service, it would appear that Google could be the culprit.

I used their web interface to attach a file to an event using Google's CALDAV service, e.g. the file was called: demo.jpg

I then went back to iCal (configured to use the same Google CALDAV service) and noticed that the filename is not the same as what is diplayed via the web interface.

In iCal, a very long string appears like: "URQ56HtcQ4Qnf0.... "

Does this suggest that when uploading a file via Google's web interface, it obfuscates the process to include additional information associated with the CALDAV account?

I can completely understand why Google have done this.

When I open up the actual google created event and look at the raw syntax (simply drag the event from iCal to the desktop), it appears the attachment tag is denoted by "ATTACH;VALUE=URI:" where the info after URI: is a post/get http string that gets executed by Google's servers.

However, a local iCal event's attachment tag uses: "ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg;VALUE=URI:file:/<path>/<to>/<file>".

i.e. the latter is literal and does not need to be executed by Google's "backend" servers to retrieve/process the file.

So it would appear that iCal ignores the attachment capability associated with Google's CALDAV service, knowing that the string needs to be executed by a web server before the file can be sort.

Would this suggest that Google are not conforming to standards? I don't think so because "helper apps" are mentioned in the RFC4791 (section 8.5) standard. And I'm assuming that Apple now use this approach with iCloud.

In the meantime, could someone running CALDAV on OS X server possibly do an attachment test with iCal and see what happens? I'm guessing there's no "Helper App" in this equation.

Cheers,

RetiredArmyRANGER, stumbled across this as I was looking for a way to add attachments (or links to attachments at least) in Calendar on my Mac under Lion/iCloud.

Your links are broken, are they posted somewhere else please?

Sorry, I have no solution for this problem but at least the list gets bigger.

I've been using iCal 4.x for adding files to my events. I was also able to share those

events ( including attachment ) with my customers.

Today I was looking for an old event + attachment but there was no attachment and not even an information that there might have been any attachment. A link to the file would have been pretty helpful. 😟

Of course, I can find all files but it will take hours, days, weeks to fix everything.

I do not expect any message like " Dear Customer, The world's most advanced desktop OS & online storage service is now available! Oh, btw: you will not be able to add attachments to iCal events anymore using iCloud..."

But an information, somewhere inside iCal, about such issues helps preventing instead of fixing afterwards...

Kind Regards

I just found this out after talking to Apple support and then I searched the forum and found these posts. I was using iCloud to push everything to my iPad and keep my calenders in sync. Can't do it with iCloud calendar selected, it has to be on my Mac Calender for the "Attachment" option to appear. Note: you can logon to your account on iCloud and add attachments there but it won't push the attachments to the Mac nor iPad.

I asked the Apple Rep to bring this to Management's attention.

This is so disappointing - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4348 - no warning and no explanation.

Thanks for the idea Oscar, but add me to the list of disappointed folks!

Is there any alternative programs to cater for the calendar functionality when using Google Apps? This is a complete showstopper for me. Must say - I´m surprised.

Using ICal 5.0 on Lion.