iCloud - Outlook integration - Preparing calendar for first use

Question

iCloud - Outlook integration - Preparing calendar for first use

Current system setup:

MacBook Pro with OSx Lion

VMWare Fusion 3+

Windows 7 64 bit

Office 2010 32bit SP1 MSO

Outlook 2010 32 bit SP1 MSO

iCloud 1.0.1.29

iCloud Outlook Addin

I have installed the iCloud Outlook Addin and noticed the following so far:

1.) One thing that I see all the time when starting up Outlook (and clicking on my Calendar) is the following message:

2.) I was thinking of copying my private contacts and some private appointments to the iCloud server. I'm ending up seeing my 'work' and 'home' calender next to my current MSExchange Calendar in Outlook 2010. Synchronization seems to work fine : at least it syncs all the data to my other Macbook and iPhone but it keeps everything seperate from the Exchange Calendar and contacts.

I'm have some questions about the following:

Is there a way to get rid of that "Preparing calendar ...." message (screenshot above)?
Is Outlook able to remember its last state (ie. the tabs that I was opening when leaving the program)?
Is there a way to sync my Exchange appointments to iCloud as well or am I forced to use two seperate calendars?

I'm not sure yet if I will keep on using the iCloud Outlook addin but I will give it a try. For now I'm more curious to know more about other people's experiences...

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Oct 19, 2011 7:00 AM

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Answer 1

Oct 20, 2011 7:49 AM in response to thomasfromrotterdam

This might be a useful tip for people who would like to combine a 'private' calendar next to their 'exchange' calendar in Outlook https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3404844?answerId=16461118022#16461118022

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Answer 2

felciano

Level 1

11 points

Mar 10, 2012 1:48 PM in response to thomasfromrotterdam

Hi Thomas --

Looks like I'm running into some of the same issues you did (see my recent post). Did you ever figure out how to get rid of the perpetual "Preparing calendar..." message?

Ramon

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Answer 3

Mar 10, 2012 3:20 PM in response to felciano

Hi Ramon,

Nope, it's not solved yet. I have submitted a bug report a long long time ago and haven't heard anything yet from the dev team.

https://bugreport.apple.com/

This is the text content. Yoiu might want to submit one yourself and refer to the Problem ID # 10407486

07-Nov-2011 03:53 PM Thomas Wesseling:

'icloud-sync-options-windows.zip' was successfully uploaded

07-Nov-2011 03:53 PM Thomas Wesseling:

* Summary:

Current system setup:

MacBook Pro with OSx Lion

VMWare Fusion 3+

Windows 7 64 bit

Office 2010 32bit SP1 MSO

Outlook 2010 32 bit SP1 MSO

iCloud 1.0.1.29

iCloud Outlook Addin

Synchonization with Ms Exchange 2003 (default calendar) and separate Calendar for private appointments (as overlay) synchronized with iCloud.

I have installed the iCloud Outlook Addin and noticed the following so far:

1.) One thing that I see all the time when starting up Outlook (and clicking on my Calendar) is the following message:

See Capture1.PNG

2.) I was thinking of copying my private contacts and some private appointments to the iCloud server. I'm ending up seeing my 'work' and 'home' calender next to my current MSExchange Calendar in Outlook 2010. Synchronization seems to work fine : at least it syncs all the private data to my other Macbook and iPhone.

3.) Outlook has become unstable since I'm using the iCloud addin.

I'm have some questions about the following:

1) Is there a way to get rid of that "Preparing calendar ...." message (screenshot above)?

2) Is Outlook able to remember its last state (ie. the tabs that I was opening when leaving the program)?

3) Why is Outlook becoming unstable (it's not crashing all the time but it does a few times a week).

My eventvwr shows the following when Outlook has crashed:

The program OUTLOOK.EXE version 14.0.6025.1000 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Action Center control panel.

Process ID: 1184

Start Time: 01cc9cde7a9a052a

Termination Time: 0

Application Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\OUTLOOK.EXE

Report Id: 4a0da79b-0969-11e1-b824-00059a3c7a00

* Steps to Reproduce:

Install the software in the following environment:

MacBook Pro with OSx Lion

VMWare Fusion 3+

Windows 7 64 bit

Office 2010 32bit SP1 MSO

Outlook 2010 32 bit SP1 MSO

iCloud 1.0.1.29

iCloud Outlook Addin

Synchonization with Ms Exchange 2003

* Expected Results:

- Outlook is not showing "Preparing calendar ...." message every time when starting Outlook

- iCloud Outlook addin is not making Outlook 2010 unstable.

* Actual Results:

Outlook 2010 becomes unstable when using the iCloud addin. It crashed sometimes when switching between email and calendar view in Outlook 2010.

* Regression:

Notes:

I have found some info on the error:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-office_install/outlo ok-2010-64bit-crashes-on-win7-ultmt-64bit/9ad2e352-9703-4b5f-b857-8c9f57db38ca

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Answer 4

spaten

Level 1

14 points

May 1, 2012 7:42 AM in response to thomasfromrotterdam

I think I'm facing the same issue

(made a post here - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3917927)

maybe with enough input from each other we can nail this down. I'm getting the message as well, more than annoying, it takes ages for my calendar to launch...

=================================================================

I've been working on integrating iCloud (contacts and calendar) into outlook (tried 2007 & 2010). With 3 kids I have to integrate our home and work calendars if we expect to have any chance of remembering anything.

I thought I had found a solution, using the basic windows iCloud control panel and then using a free piece of software from CodeTwo - http://www.codetwo.com/sync-for-icloud/ - which essentially just keeps any of your outlook folders (contacts, calendar, etc) in sync with one of the iCloud generated folders. One way either direction or Two way.

This all worked just fine... except...through process of elimination I found that once the iCloud control panel has generated it's iCloud 'pst' and Outlook is opening it; that Outlook takes an excruciatingly long time (minutes) to switch into the Calendar. I don't see this behavior when switching to Contacts or back to Mail. This persists even if I turn syncing for anything outlook related off at the iCloud control panel, presumably because the iCloud folders are still present in outlook. It isn't until I remove them, that things go back to normal.

Curiously, I'm doing this on two different pc's. One has normal Outlook (local files) and all works fine, while the other has an Exchange Server account, it's the one that's hanging.

windows 7 64bit

outlook 2007 & 2010 (with an exchange account)

iCloud control panel 1.1 (64 bit)

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