Tips to Troubleshoot MS Calendar Woes Kevin Szady Director of Technical Services Coyote Creek Consulting

Agenda Polling Question Meeting problems and calendar performance Delegates and calendar permissions Mobile devices and calendar issues Best practices and common Outlook switches Q&A

Polling Question How many hours per month do you spend troubleshooting end-user calendar issues? 0-1 hour 1-5 hours 5-10 hours hours Over 15 hours

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Meeting Problems and Calendar Performance -- Scenario Mark has 2 delegates Both send and accept his meetings Problem with recurring meeting that’s frequently updated/modified Mark’s delegates use Outlook 2007 SP1 Entourage on a MAC (and manages Mark’s calendar through OWA) Mark runs Outlook 2007 SP2.

Meeting Problems and Calendar Performance -- Scenario Both delegates have server-side rules Filter meeting invites to a folder called “Meeting Invites” at the root of the mailbox. Mark travels frequently Sometimes accepts meeting invites or makes changes to recurring appointments on his iPhone.

Key Facts About the Scenario Mark uses Outlook SP2 His delegates use Outlook 2007 SP1 and OWA Both delegates use server- side rules to move meeting invites out of the inbox and into a subfolder at the root of the mailbox Mark uses his mobile device to update this recurring meeting Mark has more than one delegate

Identifying Corrupt Calendar Items Open the calendar and sort by View > All Appointments Create a test calendar folder at the root of the mailbox Move all calendar items from the default Outlook calendar to the test folder Items that will not move are corrupt. The organizer should delete and re-create them Once corrupt items have been identified and removed, move all items back to the default Outlook Calendar

Remove Corrupt Calendar Items and Stuck Reminders If Outlook will not let you delete a corrupt item, use MFCMapi Download and install MFCMapi from Microsoft website (see Guide) Open mailbox and expand the root container, then expand Top of Information Store Right click on the calendar or reminders folder. Select Open Contents table Delete the corrupt item from the mailbox Follow the same process for removing reminders by expanding the reminders container

Remove Corrupt Calendar Items and Stuck Reminders Abnormally large meetings can continue to replicate once they become corrupt Can cause significant Outlook performance issues This meeting was over 560 MB and resulted in the mailbox being closed due to quota limits If Outlook crashes or hangs use MFCMapi to correct

Outlook Logging Use to troubleshoot Mail or calendar issues Go to Tools >Options >Other >AdvancedOptions Restart Outlook Logs located at: “c:\Users\user name\AppData\Local\Temp\Outlook Logging” for Windows Vista and Windows 7. “c:\Documents and Settings\user name\Local Settings\Temp\Outlook Logging” for XP Turn Logging off when done

Delegates and Calendar Permissions -- Scenario Mark recently started working with a new Executive Admin -- Amy He delegates control of his calendar to Amy His former Admin, Beth continues to receive meeting invites sent to Mark Mark has also noticed that several other users are able to view his calendar, as well as other folders in his mailbox

Troubleshooting Delegates and Calendar Permissions There are no permissions showing for Beth in Mark’s Calendar The previous delegate entry for Beth has been removed from Mark’s Outlook properties Beth continues to receive meeting invites sent to Mark This can happen if: Beth has permission somewhere else in Mark’s calendar that may not be visible when viewing in Outlook. Permission has been given at the root of the mailbox or on a sub folder. Use PF Dav Admin to check and remove Beth from all folders

Troubleshooting Delegates and Calendar Permissions Use PFDAVAdmin to examine all folders and subfolders Expand the user Open Top of Information Store Right click all folders and remove permission for users no longer needing it Permissions that are not always visible in Outlook will be visible with PFDAVAdmin

Mobile Devices and Calendar Issues -- Scenario Mark’s Admin is trying to sync his mobile device before a long business trip She has rebooted the device multiple times but the calendar starts to sync then everything disappears After rebooting multiple times the problem persists When looking at the Mark’s Calendar we see: Over 5,000 individual items in the Calendar Mark has multiple PowerPoint attachments on multiple meetings There are several recurring meetings without an end date

Troubleshooting Mobile Devices and Calendar Issues Update the device’s firmware, reboot it and re-create the mobile profile. Archive the calendar to reduce the overall item count Remove all large attachments and store them on the client’s local computer or on a network share Change the settings for items to sync a week or two of calendar items only If all else fails, check both the contacts and calendar folder for corrupt items by moving everything off to a temp folder then back again.

Outlook Switches Outlook.exe /cleanfreebusy Outlook.exe /cleanreminders Outlook.exe /safe Outlook.exe /resetfoldernames. Outlook.exe /cleanviews Outlook.exe /cleanrules

Calendar Best Practices DO Always process meeting invites from the Inbox Assure that users and their delegates are all running Outlook 2007 SP2 or later Avoid making frequent updates to recurring meetings Make sure recurring meetings have an end date No more than 12 months out

Calendar Best Practices, Cont’d DON’T Forward meeting invites unless you are the owner Have more than one delegate Designate only one person to receive and accept meeting invites for you You can share your calendar with others without giving them delegate access Use OWA or mobile devices to update meetings that have been processed by Outlook

Q&A

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