OL2002: do I need an exchange server to save a calendar date to an ICS (iCalendar) file?

Hi everybody,

I'm trying to save a date from OL2002 to an *.ICS file using the "File
- Save As " menu option. Outlook creates a file with a size of zero
bytes and reports an error during the operation. Same behaviour when
trying to save as a *.VCS file. Saving as RTF works, but that's not
what I want.
I'm using Outlook 2002 (I tried with SP1 and SP3) under XP pro as a
stand alone installation (no exchange server involved, only a PST
file).

I tried on a different system with apparently same state of software
but connected to an exchange server. There I could save calendar dates
to ICS as well as to VCS files.

Does the ability to save dates to ICS or VCS files depend on the
existence of an exchange server?

No, you should be able to save an iCal file. Try running Help | Detect and
Repair.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx


"Uwe Janza" wrote in message
om...
Hi everybody,

I'm trying to save a date from OL2002 to an *.ICS file using the "File
- Save As " menu option. Outlook creates a file with a size of zero
bytes and reports an error during the operation. Same behaviour when
trying to save as a *.VCS file. Saving as RTF works, but that's not
what I want.
I'm using Outlook 2002 (I tried with SP1 and SP3) under XP pro as a
stand alone installation (no exchange server involved, only a PST
file).

I tried on a different system with apparently same state of software
but connected to an exchange server. There I could save calendar dates
to ICS as well as to VCS files.

Does the ability to save dates to ICS or VCS files depend on the
existence of an exchange server?

Thank you, Sue.

I tried Help | Detect and Repair. No improvement.

I suspected my anti virus software to be the problem, because file
creation works but the file content never arrives on the disk. So I
disabled virus checking, but this did not help, either.

Unfortunately, the message is so unspecific. No error code, no error
number, no kind of hint. Is there any event logging in Outlook so I
could check a log file for a clue? The Windows event logs do not
contain anything about my problem.

Any more ideas?

Uwe Janza

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message ...
No, you should be able to save an iCal file. Try running Help | Detect and
Repair.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx


"Uwe Janza" wrote in message
om...
Hi everybody,

I'm trying to save a date from OL2002 to an *.ICS file using the "File
- Save As " menu option. Outlook creates a file with a size of zero
bytes and reports an error during the operation. Same behaviour when
trying to save as a *.VCS file. Saving as RTF works, but that's not
what I want.
I'm using Outlook 2002 (I tried with SP1 and SP3) under XP pro as a
stand alone installation (no exchange server involved, only a PST
file).

I tried on a different system with apparently same state of software
but connected to an exchange server. There I could save calendar dates
to ICS as well as to VCS files.

Does the ability to save dates to ICS or VCS files depend on the
existence of an exchange server?

It might be interesting to see if the Forward as iCal command works.

Outlook can log email account interactions but not actions like saving
files.

You might also try using a new Outlook profile with a clean .pst file for
troubleshooting.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of
Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers
http://www.outlookcode.com/jumpstart.aspx


"Uwe Janza" wrote in message
om...
Thank you, Sue.

I tried Help | Detect and Repair. No improvement.

I suspected my anti virus software to be the problem, because file
creation works but the file content never arrives on the disk. So I
disabled virus checking, but this did not help, either.

Unfortunately, the message is so unspecific. No error code, no error
number, no kind of hint. Is there any event logging in Outlook so I
could check a log file for a clue? The Windows event logs do not
contain anything about my problem.

Any more ideas?

Uwe Janza

"Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]" wrote in message
...
No, you should be able to save an iCal file. Try running Help | Detect
and
Repair.


"Uwe Janza" wrote in message
om...
Hi everybody,

I'm trying to save a date from OL2002 to an *.ICS file using the "File
- Save As " menu option. Outlook creates a file with a size of zero
bytes and reports an error during the operation. Same behaviour when
trying to save as a *.VCS file. Saving as RTF works, but that's not
what I want.
I'm using Outlook 2002 (I tried with SP1 and SP3) under XP pro as a
stand alone installation (no exchange server involved, only a PST
file).

I tried on a different system with apparently same state of software
but connected to an exchange server. There I could save calendar dates
to ICS as well as to VCS files.

Does the ability to save dates to ICS or VCS files depend on the
existence of an exchange server?