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Bug 549997 - Evolution Calendar compatibility problem with MS Outlook 2002/2003.
Evolution Calendar compatibility problem with MS Outlook 2002/2003.
Status: RESOLVED OBSOLETE
Product: evolution
Classification: Applications
Component: Calendar
2.22.x (obsolete)
Other All
: Normal normal
: ---
Assigned To: evolution-calendar-maintainers
Evolution QA team
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
 
Reported: 2008-08-30 23:19 UTC by Eduardo Mendes
Modified: 2012-02-28 19:43 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: 2.21/2.22


Attachments
Evolution [Bug 549997] - Test Cases 20080901. (3.96 KB, application/x-gzip)
2008-09-01 14:32 UTC, Eduardo Mendes
Details
MS Outlook 2007 to MS Outlook 2002 - Internet headers as received - What MS Outlook 2002 shows (1.52 KB, text/plain)
2008-09-02 10:32 UTC, Eduardo Mendes
Details
test mails (7.08 KB, application/zip)
2008-09-03 14:08 UTC, Milan Crha
Details

Description Eduardo Mendes 2008-08-30 23:19:12 UTC
Please describe the problem:
When I send an invite to someone with MS Outlook 2002/2003, from Evolution, the person receives the email as plain text.

e.g. Delivered-To: an_email@gmail.com
Received: by 10.210.120.6 with SMTP id s6cs108219ebc;
        Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:58:56 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.86.82.16 with SMTP id f16mr3322990fgb.9.1220137136128;
        Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:58:56 -0700 (PDT)
Return-Path: <xxx@xx>
Received: from h1207233.stratoserver.net (ilg7.org [85.214.73.79])
        by mx.google.com with ESMTP id
l19si3922036fgb.7.2008.08.30.15.58.55;
        Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:58:56 -0700 (PDT)
Received-SPF: neutral (google.com: 85.214.73.79 is neither permitted nor
denied by best guess record for domain of xx@xx)

Steps to reproduce:
1. From the Evolution Calendar, send an invite to someone running MS Outlook 2002/2003
2. That person opens the email and sees a plain text message
3. 


Actual results:
When I send an invite to someone with MS Outlook 2002/2003, from Evolution, the person receives the email as plain text.

Expected results:
A proper calendar invite should show up to the invited person

Does this happen every time?
Yes.

Other information:
It works fine when sending it to users with MS Outlook 2007
Comment 1 André Klapper 2008-08-31 00:05:58 UTC
If it works fine with MS Outlook 2007, then it's a Microsoft bug.
Please file a bug against Microsoft.
Comment 2 Eduardo Mendes 2008-08-31 10:59:48 UTC
Sorry, but we all know if I tell Microsoft their product is not compatible with Evolution, this will go way down in their priority list. Also, are you sure this is an MS Outlook2002/2003 bug? After all e.g. they do interpret well MS Outlook 2007 invites, and from other tools like Salesforce? There must be some difference in how the VCalendar type is recognized?

Note that other persons have found the same problem. See at the end of this post:
http://geek.co.il/wp/2008/06/11/evolution-problems-with-ms-outlook-invitations

I love working with Ubuntu, and it would be a shame if, by not taking ownership at least to dig a bit deeper to try to understand these problems, Ubuntu start isolating itself. That is in the end what Microsoft does, even if with a commercial intention behind.

Would be great if you could at least tell me what lead you to think nothing can be done on the Evolution side to workaround this problem.

Thanks again.
Eduardo
Comment 3 Paul Bolle 2008-08-31 20:35:53 UTC
(In reply to comment #2) 
> Note that other persons have found the same problem. See at the end of this
> post:
> http://geek.co.il/wp/2008/06/11/evolution-problems-with-ms-outlook-invitations

Which looks a lot like bug #532384 (I saw no bugreport mentioned in the blogpost nor its comments). Note that that bug is about displaying invitations evolution receives. I would be surprised if the code from the plugin involved in that bug (which is used to display invitations and other mail evolution receives) interferes with the code that generates the invitations evolution sends.
Comment 4 Eduardo Mendes 2008-08-31 22:28:04 UTC
Hi,

indeed this bug is similar to bug #532384, only in the other way around. I receive well calendar invites from MS Outlook 2002/2003, but my calendar invites to the same users show as plain text.

Please, if anyone could look into this, I would be more than happy to support you with all the necessary testing. I have asked other colleagues using Ubuntu to make the same test. They used their own instalation of Ubuntu, and have sent it to their own MS Outlook 2002/2003 destinations, and consistently reproduced the same problem. So this must indeed represent some incompatibility between Evolution 2.22.3.x and those Outlook versions, unfortunately.

Thank you so much in advance for helping me get rid of XP!

Best wishes,
Eduardo
Comment 5 Milan Crha 2008-09-01 09:55:02 UTC
Do you sign messages with PGP when sending? There is an option in every account, in Security tab, "Do not sign meting requests (for Outlook compatibility)", maybe they improved the ability to read the meeting invites even when signed in Outlook 2007, but not patched older versions. Maybe not.

Can you attach here some sample messages sent by evo and by outlook, which works good and which bad in case you do not sign messages automatically? (Stripped of personal information of course). Thanks in advance.
Comment 6 Eduardo Mendes 2008-09-01 11:26:30 UTC
Hello,

no, I do not sign the messages. And I have just made the test of checking the box 'Do not sign meeting requests (for Outlook compatibility)', but with the same results.

I am just collecting the info you have asked, and will post that in here asap.

Thanks!:-)

Best wishes,
Eduardo
Comment 7 Eduardo Mendes 2008-09-01 14:32:34 UTC
Created attachment 117769 [details]
Evolution [Bug 549997] - Test Cases 20080901.

Hello,

please find attached the information you asked for.

I am sending you 6 files:
1) Evolution [Bug 549997] Test Case - 20080901. Invitation FROM Evolution TO MS Outlook 2002 - Result NOT OK.txt
Contains the result of 'View -> Message Source', of the calendar invite sent by Evolution. This message is properly interpreted by MS Outlook 2007, but shows as text only in MS Outlook 2002/2003

2) Evolution to MS Outlook 2002 - Calendar Message Body as received- Text Only displayed in Outlook 2002.txt
This is the text displayed in the body of MS Outlook 2002, when it receives an invitation from the Evolution Calendar.

3) Evolution to MS Outlook 2002 - Internet headers as received - What Outlook 2002 shows.txt
This is what I can see in MS Outlook 2002, when I do 'right-click on message' -> Options.

4) Evolution [Bug 549997] Test Case - 20080901. FROM MS Outlook 2002 TO Evolution - Result OK.txt
Contains the result of 'View -> Message Source', of the calendar invite sent by MS Outlook 2002 to Evolution. It is properly interpreted by Evolution.

5) Evolution [Bug 549997] Test Case - 20080901. Invitation FROM MS Outlook 2007 TO Evolution - Result OK
Contains the result of 'View -> Message Source', of the calendar invite sent by MS Outlook 2007 to Evolution. It is properly interpreted by Evolution.

6) Evolution to MS Outlook 2002 - Internet headers as received - What Outlook 2002 shows.txt
This is what I can see in MS Outlook 2002, when I do 'right-click on message' -> Options. Calendar invitations sent from MS Outlook 2007 to MS Outlook 2002/2003 are properly interpreted at the destination.

Thank you so much in advance for your help!

Best regards,
Eduardo
Comment 8 Eduardo Mendes 2008-09-01 14:39:31 UTC
Sorry to be such a pain - just reopening it as I forgot that when I have sent the test cases.
Comment 9 Milan Crha 2008-09-01 14:56:36 UTC
When you try to open this file 
Evolution [Bug 549997] Test Case - 20080901. Invitation FROM Evolution TO MS Outlook 2002 - Result NOT OK.txt
in some text editor (notepad, for example) and do edit line 
Content-Type: text/calendar; name=calendar.ics; charset=utf-8; METHOD=REQUEST
changing it to
a) Content-Type: text/calendar; charset=utf-8; METHOD=REQUEST
b) Content-Type: text/calendar; charset="utf-8"; METHOD=REQUEST
c) Content-Type: text/calendar; method=REQUEST; charset="utf-8"
d) Content-Type: text/calendar; name=calendar.ics; charset=utf-8; method=REQUEST

and try to import such file to the Outlook2002 as an .eml file, will it be shown as proper meeting invite? (maybe try to import some file you know it worked to check whether the import will be correct or not before trying all those changes). If I recall correctly, drag&drop "eml.eml" file is similar to importing it.
Comment 10 Eduardo Mendes 2008-09-01 15:28:32 UTC
Hi,

.elm seems to be an Outlook Express file type? When I double click on that it open Express and not Outlook.

I assumed you meant for me to save the file as .vcs. I did so, and none of those changes could be imported. 'Could not import file'.

I have exported and imported an already existing calendar entry from MS Outlook 2002 with success, and am copy-pasting the file here. But not sure this will help, as it shows only the VCalendar elements.

Please let me know if I can provide any more testing to help you tracking this problem.

Thanks!
Eduardo

----------------------------------------------------------------
BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//Microsoft Corporation//Outlook 10.0 MIMEDIR//EN
VERSION:1.0
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART:20080902T070000Z
DTEND:20080902T073000Z
LOCATION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:N/A.
UID:040000008200E00074C5B7101A82E00800000000C006A70B370CC9010000000000000000100
 000005F301ECF1741D242924E273642ADD8E5
DESCRIPTION;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Evolution [Bug 549997] Test Case - 20=
080901. FROM MSOutlook 2007 TO MS Outlook 2002.=0D=0A=0D=0A
SUMMARY;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE:Evolution [Bug 549997] Test Case - 200809=
01. FROM MS Outlook 2007 TO MS Outlook 2002.
PRIORITY:3
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR
----------------------------------------------------------------
Comment 11 Milan Crha 2008-09-01 15:39:55 UTC
(In reply to comment #10)
> .elm seems to be an Outlook Express file type? When I double click on that it
> open Express and not Outlook.

I really meant to import email file, the whole mail, not the calendar only. I do not know whether .eml is for Outlook Express only, but it seems you've it associated with it at least. Try to drag & drop that file over some folder in the outlook, it should add it there. It's necessary to import mail, to simulate the arrival of it from the network. I do not know the Outlook much, maybe there is some easier way to import it.
Comment 12 Eduardo Mendes 2008-09-01 16:11:30 UTC
Sorry, but even though I looked for it in google, I could not find a way of doing that. I did another search though, and I wonder if this could have something to do with it. Am I right that Evolution sends all calendar invites using the 'iCalendar' format? I read e.g. in wikipedia that MS claims that MS Outlook 2007 is compatible with that format, which seems to imply that previous versions are not?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Outlook

If the above is true, is there any way we get evolution to send vCalendar format out in invites?

Thanks!
Comment 13 André Klapper 2008-09-01 20:43:29 UTC
IIRC Evolution does not support vcard invitations.
I'd rather say: Update to a newer Outlook version and close this bug as WONTFIX.
Comment 14 Eduardo Mendes 2008-09-01 22:36:42 UTC
Hi Andre,

I would love to have control over which software my work counterparts use. In which case I would even make them use Ubuntu alltogether instead of asking them to upgrade their MS Outlook. But that is not possible, and I still need to work with them. And personally I know other cases of people with the same problem, so one can only legitimately assume there are lots more around the world.

For people that frequently need to set-up meetings, this really represents a huge headache. It is not a minor issue. For me, the only option is either to keep on going back to XP every time I need to set-up a meeting (nearly every day, and some times more than once), or go find another email client tool which works well in Ubuntu. I would feel very sad to do that, because I really like Evolution overall.

Would it not be possible for a patch to be implemented, where the users can opt (e.g. via radio-buttons) to have their Evolution use vCalendar/iCalendar, leaving iCalendar as default?

I hope you understand this would be of great help, and would keep other users like me gladly sticking to Evolution, as opposed to having to go find some other email client to work with. I make here a very kind and hopeful request to the Evolution team to please try to find a solution to this problem. It might not affect the daily work of a big part of the Evolution users, but it is indeed a "show-stopper" for another part.

If this will not be possible, could you please recommend another email client tool which works equally well in Ubuntu, and (hopefully) as brilliant, easy to use, sleek and quick as Evolution?

Thank you so much.

Best wishes,
Eduardo
Comment 15 Milan Crha 2008-09-02 09:19:22 UTC
OK, so, if you cannot import messages to the outlook (or, maybe, share some folder with outlook express, import to express and move to the right folder and then look on results in the "big" outlook?), then are you able to test some patches, if I'll try to produce it? I would not bother you with this, but I do not have access to the outlook.
Comment 16 Paul Bolle 2008-09-02 09:42:11 UTC
(In reply to comment #7) 
> 6) Evolution to MS Outlook 2002 - Internet headers as received - What Outlook
> 2002 shows.txt
> This is what I can see in MS Outlook 2002, when I do 'right-click on message'
> -> Options. Calendar invitations sent from MS Outlook 2007 to MS Outlook
> 2002/2003 are properly interpreted at the destination.

Did you mean "MS Outlook 2007 to MS Outlook 2002"? That file looks empty.
Comment 17 Eduardo Mendes 2008-09-02 10:32:40 UTC
Created attachment 117836 [details]
MS Outlook 2007 to MS Outlook 2002 - Internet headers as received - What MS Outlook 2002 shows

MS Outlook 2007 to MS Outlook 2002 - Internet headers as received - What MS Outlook 2002 shows
Comment 18 Eduardo Mendes 2008-09-02 10:33:44 UTC
Hi Milan,

I have tried to import to Express, but all it happens is that Express interprets the message as a "normal" email. i.e. it shows in the body everything between the BEGIN: VCALENDAR... END VCALENDAR information as text. If you need some MS licenses I could probably find a way to provide that?

Hi Paul,

sorry, I had indeed attached an an empty file. Please find now attached the actual content for that case in my previous post. And the title should indeed be "MS Outlook 2007 to MS Outlook 2002...", sorry again.


Apologies for my lack of knowledge in the area, but what is the main difference between the vCalendar/iCalendar protocols? Is it "just" the format of the info between BEGIN:VCALENDAR and END:VCALENDAR in the generated messages, or is there anything else? Anyway - am just curious about this now, to try to understand how hard it is to get Evolution to comply with with MS Outlook 2002/2003 formats. Again, for users like me, I would not mind at all to be asked to explicitly select in my invites if I wanted to send them as VCALENDAR or ICALENDAR, maybe having iCALENDAR as default only.

Thanks again for any help yo ucan give here.

Best wishes,
Eduardo
Comment 19 Milan Crha 2008-09-02 10:42:10 UTC
(In reply to comment #18)
> I have tried to import to Express, but all it happens is that Express
> interprets the message as a "normal" email. i.e. it shows in the body
> everything between the BEGIN: VCALENDAR... END VCALENDAR information as text.
> If you need some MS licenses I could probably find a way to provide that?

Sure, the second part of the request has been to move the message to the folder where the outlook 2002 can look and see what it will show, either an invite or the same plain text. The thing is the messages you provided are quite similar, so I want to try some tweaks to the evolution message to see what helps. Are you sure you cannot drag&drop the message file to outlook2002 directly?
Comment 20 Eduardo Mendes 2008-09-02 11:16:29 UTC
Hi Milan,

here is what I managed to experiment:
- import the 'Evolution to MS Outlook 2002' file into Express, with the results I mentioned in my previous post
- export the inbox from Express to MS Outlook 2002 (the Express messages then show up in MS Outlook's Inbox)
- In MS Outlook 2002, open the message transferred from Express (it shows as an empty-body message, with a .ics attachment)
- when I try to open the .ics attachment in MS Outlook 2002, I get the error 'Cannot import vCalendar file'. This happens whether I keep the 'name=calendar.ics;' in 'content-type' or not.

Thanks,
Eduardo
Comment 21 Milan Crha 2008-09-02 13:40:52 UTC
Thanks for all your effort (I can imagine the pain to play with two outlooks) :)
A silly question, did you try all the a) - d) from comment #9 ? The d) got word wrapped here, it should be only one line, not two.

When you try to import in a same way the file with "result ok" (it has been from outlook 2007, I think), will it still result in ok? (The other thing I noticed when comparing those two messages is that the OK has an empty line at the end of the body. I'm not sure whether it's because you accidentally removed it or it wasn't there.)

When you try to keep all the headers from the evolution's mail and put there body from the outlook email (depends whether the above test with result ok, is still ok), will that work? I can attach here a test message if you wish.
Comment 22 Eduardo Mendes 2008-09-02 20:21:05 UTC
Hello Mila,

sorry it took me so long to reply, but only got the chance to come here now. While I look through the rest of your post, yes please if you would like me to try a message which you put together, please attach it here and I will give it a go.

Many thanks!

Best wishes,
Eduardo

P.S. Indeed, going back to XP is already bad enough, but I will do as much as I can to do less and less of that :-). Thanks again!
Comment 23 Milan Crha 2008-09-03 14:08:31 UTC
Created attachment 117937 [details]
test mails

here are 6 messages which I would like from you to test and write here which does what in Outlook 2002/3. It will be enough to say "works ok", meaning "shows invitation", or "works bad" for other results. Subject of the mail is changed to the file name, so it would be easier to recognize them. Thanks in advance. (the eml1.eml is the exactly same sent from outlook, so that one should work for sure).
Comment 24 Milan Crha 2009-07-10 13:54:39 UTC
I just tried with latest evolution (where I do not expect any changes with respect of meeting request generating), and I received meeting invitations in MS Outllok 2003 (11.5608.5606) using IMAP one some non-exchange server, sending through IMAP as well, and it works as expected, there are offered actions for accepting meeting invitation.

Could you be more specific with respect of your outlook version and such, please?
Comment 25 Martin Mai 2009-09-20 15:50:30 UTC
The reporter of the bug on launchpad, that has this bug as a bugwatch, wrote the following:
>>>
Unfortunately, at some point I got into some kind of messages duplication hell which I couldn't get rid of. That made me move to kmail.

Since the meeting problem also existed there, I soon realized that the problem is somewhere between my yahoo email address and fetchyahoo utility - the email attachment format was changed in the way.

1. First I wrote a perl filter script for intercepting and changing incoming mail to fix this, and it worked.
2. Then (since fetchyahoo caused me many other problems in the past) I decided to switch to a new gmail email account and removed the filter. That worked too.

This bug can be closed as far as I'm concerned.

Sorry for the trouble.
Hope my conclusions help any of the yahoo email users out there.
<<<

I am not sure if both reporter suffer/suffered from the same bug, but maybe it helps.
Comment 26 Akhil Laddha 2009-12-28 02:21:47 UTC
Please feel free to reopen the bug if the problem still occurs with a newer
version of GNOME 2.28.2 or later, thanks.
Comment 27 Gabriel Bauman 2012-02-28 18:46:24 UTC
I see this behaviour in 3.2.3 under Fedora 16.
Comment 28 André Klapper 2012-02-28 19:43:31 UTC
gabe: Can you please describe the behavior and the Outlook version used? Did you try the test mails from comment 23, or can provide a testcase?