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Level 1

1 points

iCloud disabled font functions in Outlook calendar

A few days ago I got a notification that there was an update available for iCloud, so I did the update. And then I discovered that the iCloud update had turned off some of the functionality in my Outlook Calendar. Some arrogant "Genius" apparently decided that the Notes section of the Calendar should be in a font that's so small that I have to strain my eyes to read it, and then the same "Genius" decided to turn off the ability to change the font size or type.

It was working fine as it was, so why did the "Genius" decide to screwed it up? I'm sure the answer is: to punish Windows users. I understand that Apple and Windows are competitors, but when Apple purposely screws up Windows functions, it's just plain wrong. And it certainly isn't going to make me more likely to buy more Apple products in the future.

There are also lots of other Outlook Calendar functions that were disabled by that iCloud update; it wasn't just the font settings that were disabled. The entire Insert tab (and all functionality therein) and the entire Format Text tab (and all the functionality therein) are GONE! And half of the functionality in the remaining Appointment tab is gone.

Is there any way to turn my font controls and other functions on again in Outlook?

iPad 2, iOS 6

Posted on Sep 22, 2012 11:15 PM

40 replies

Oct 23, 2012 8:03 AM in response to PeterLow

How did this miracle occur? The Apple Angel has bypassed my PC. I'm still stuck with the same %^&@# problem.

Oct 25, 2012 6:36 AM in response to TLPLA

The only work around I found was to open my outlook calendar from prior to changing over to "The Cloud" and enter the appointment there. You can do all the great stuff we used to be able to do like cut and paste aor change the font. Then Save and Close the appointment. Next drag and drop that appointmnet into the Cloud Calendar and you are ready to go. The other thing that stinks now that I've update to the new IOS5 is the quick refernece to an attendee in the cloud is disabled when trying to invite someone to an appointment. I used to be able to type just the 1st letter or two of the email or person's name and their email would pop up. Now i's gone. Another flaw that should have been Beta tested.

TLPLA Author

Level 1

1 points

Oct 25, 2012 10:49 AM in response to TLPLA

The AppleCare Support person called me back to tell me what the software engineers told him. They said they disabled the Outlook functionality on purpose, basically making it plain text with no formatting, to eliminate problems with formatting. That's total hogwash for several reasons:

IT WAS WORKING FINE BEFORE. I didn't have any formatting problems in any of my iPhones or iPads. So even if there were some minor formatting problems that I never experienced even with heavy use, were those problems really severe enough to justify turning off all of the Outlook Calendar formatting functions? NO is the clear answer.
What software developer in his right mind would say to himself (and his programming team): "Let's get rid of all formatting and just go back to plain text like we had in the '80s"? That's insane. Of course nobody is in favor of taking a huge step backwards and using only plain text rather than rich formatting. New development should provide enriched functionality, not reduced functionality. It's interesting that Apple isn't removing the text formatting from its own products; it's only attacking Microsoft's products. If there were any issues with sync’ing Outlook to Apple with rich text, then Apple should have just fixed those few issues rather than turning off rich text formatting completely. Again, it’s insane (or stupid, or a deliberate attack on Microsoft customers).
What if the roles were reversed? What if Microsoft programmers were able to turn off a large chunk of functionality in Apple’s iPads, like totally removing the notes field from the calendar entries. Would Apple think it’s OK for Microsoft to just turn off large parts of Apple’s functionality whenever it wants to? Of course not.

The real losers in Apple's arrogant attempt to hurt Microsoft are us, the customers. Apparently Apple forgot that we are Apple customers too, not just Microsoft customers.

BTW, in addition to the removed functionality, the new iCloud update also has several bugs, including:

Sometimes when a calendar entry is made in Outlook and then later the Notes section is edited in the iPhone, the edits don't transfer back to Outlook over iCloud.
If you create a Calendar entry in Outlook and "invite" someone to the meeting, the calendar entry cannot be edited; the only thing you can do is delete the entry and start over (which of course messes up the calendar of the invitee).
When text is typed into the Notes section of a Calendar entry in Outlook, when that entry is viewed in the iPhone it will often not contain the proper line breaks, so all the text is just jumbled together as one long sentence.

Next steps: take it to the newspapers. The headline should be something like “Apple attacks Microsoft users” or “Apple systematically disabling Microsoft’s functions”. If anyone has any newspaper contacts, please give them this story.

And if anyone knows where to find the older/previous version of iCloud, please share the link with us so we can install the old version again.

TLPLA Author

Level 1

1 points

Nov 1, 2012 10:17 AM in response to TLPLA

I have given up on iCloud. I turned off iCloud on my PC and iPhone, and uninstalled it completely from my PC.

The last straw was when I discovered that iCloud was failing to sync some of the data between the iPhone and the PC. There were several times when iCloud just wouldn't sync for some reason, so now iCloud is unreliable in addition to all the other problems Apple created recently, and that's the last straw for me. The syncronization has to be consistent and reliable or else it's not acceptable. The sync problems themselves were random. Sometimes I would create a new entry in the iPhone and it wouldn't sync to Outlook; I can see the entry in the iPhone but iCloud just refuses to sync it to Outlook. In another instance I had a Calendar entry that was sync'ing fine between Outlook and iPhone, but then when I added some text to the Notes section, the text didn't sync; I could see the new text in Outlook but iCloud wouldn't sync it to the iPhone. There were other similar instances as well, so finally I've had to just stop using iCloud altogether. It's a shame that Apple decided to mess up what was once a good thing.

On the bright side, my Outlook is fast again. When I installed iCloud the first time, the Outlook Calendar slowed down temendously, as did the calendar in the iPhone. But now that I've turned off iCloud in both, both are working fast again. But having to constantly plug in the iPhone to my laptop and click Sync is a pain. BTW, did anyone notice that Apple also got rid of the option in iTunes to make the iPhone start to sync as soon as you plug it in? Now I have to plug it in, wait for it to be recognized, and then click Sync. It's not a big deal but it is one more example of Apple going backwards rather than forwards. Why?

If someone finds the previous version of iCloud and can post a link to it in this Discussion then maybe I'll start using the older version iCloud again. So if anyone knows where to find the previous version of iCloud (the version before 2.0) then please post a link to it here.

tduff61

Level 1

0 points

Nov 1, 2012 6:29 PM in response to TLPLA

TLPLA

I am having basically the same issues as you, very random non-syncing with all the missing calendar functions etc. I can't believe this has happened and I'm not far from turning off iClound and moving on. I have heard that the older icloud version cannot be used if you have 6.0 on your phone. Not totally sure about that though.

Really frustrating with all this crap, I guess i'm glad i'm not alone in my dissapointment with Apple. Seems like something could be done to help all of us but I have no power or contacts. I willing to call someone or write someone of anyone knows who to contact.

rs9032

Level 1

4 points

Apr 8, 2013 1:15 PM in response to TLPLA

I remember back a few years ago when I just couldn’t wait for my phone contract to be done so that I could switch from a Droid phone to the Apple. Because of this Outlook Calendar Sync and formatting problem, now I can’t wait for my contract to be us so that I can switch back to a Droid.

Aug 29, 2013 6:00 PM in response to TLPLA

I am equally as frustrated with the changes that some "genius" made and have been trying various approaches to work through this. Other than font control I often try to copy & paste info into my notes, e.g. addresses, phone numbers, web links, etc. Now the paste function is grayed out....very frustrating.

So here's the workaround: 1.) On your PC install the iCloud Control Panel. 2.) Once installed set up so that you have your normal items synching into Outlook. 3.) Confirm that the iCloud add-in is added to Outlook.

Now when you create a calendar entry work in your standard Outlook calendar. Once you're done there shold be a large tab at the top called "Move to iCloud". Click on that and it will move everything with all of your fonts and other features into the iCloud calendar.

If you need to further edit this then you will need to add another command to your standard calendar ribbon. I use Outlook 2010 so follow this route --> Open a new calendar event --> File--> Outlook Options --> Customize Ribbon--> Add a new group and give it any name --> In the "Choose Commands From" drop down box select All --> Scroll down and click on "Copy to My Calendar" and then add it to your new group.

Once you've added the Copy to My Calendar button things get easier. At this point go into the calendar entry that now resides on the iCloud calendar. Click on the "Copy to My Calendar" button and it will make a copy that you can edit in the main Outlook calendar. It will also leave a copy in the iCloud calendar that you should delete. Now make your changes and click on the "Move to iCloud" button to get it back in.

** Warning! Once you've copied into the iCloud calendar and then open that event a popup box will come up labeled "edit note" with a statement that the calendar doesn't support rich text text format blah blah blah..... Close this and don't do anything in the notes section, including clicking on your cursor in there, or it will revert back to plain text. To edit anything move it back to your Outlook Calendar.

I'm still trying to figure out all of the tendencies but this should work. All-in-all it's pretty easy once the above is all set up.

Good Luck!!

md131016

Level 1

15 points

Sep 25, 2013 10:17 PM in response to HeliDavid

I've had this problem with the last 2 icloud console updates. Luckily I have a copy of the 2.0 installer and was able to revert back to it to clean up the issues.

This time it didn't work.

One thing I did notice, if I turn off the cloud on my Ipad (running IOS 7) this issue goes away....HMMMMMM.

Tried your solution, didn't work for me. Items react fine if they are in the outlook calendar (outlook data file), but as soon as I move or copy over to the Icloud calendar all functionality goes away.

If anyone finds a fix please let us know.

Sep 26, 2013 7:01 AM in response to TLPLA

Yeah, once you move/copy over to the iCloud calendar you lose all functionality. It will maintain your original fonts until you view the contents from a device.

If you need to edit it then do a "Copy to my Calendar" function and make the changes in the standard Outlook calendar. Then move it back to the iCloud calendar.

These are the hoops that we have to jump through because said "genius" made their changes. Good luck!

Oct 4, 2014 8:23 AM in response to brandonh1xxx1

I just submitted this on Apple's comment page:

There have been many complaints for a few years regarding the tiny font size in the iCloud calendar viewed in the Outlook calendar on desktop computers, yet it has not been rectified. The current font size simply cannot be seen. This is an accessibility issue, which is covered by federal law. Why hasn't Apple fixed this so people can use and see their calendar notes?

Let's see what happens now......

Audrey

iCloud disabled font functions in Outlook calendar