Description of some calendar problems in Outlook 2000 (276248)

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Some of the most common issues that affect users are:

• Duplicate appointments
• Dismissed reminders resurfacing
• Conflicting appointments
• Missing calendar items

For example, if a manager's client is configured to use offline folder (.ost) file calendar caching with Outlook 2000, and both the manager's client and the delegate clients are configured to process requests and responses on arrival, duplicate and conflicting meetings are likely to occur. This is expected behavior.

This behavior occurs because when the delegate computer receives a meeting request, the delegate computer checks the manager's calendar on the server. The delegate does not detect a meeting, so the delegate's client processes the meeting request and tentatively schedules the meeting.

When the manager's computer receives the meeting request, the manager's computer checks the cached copy of the calendar in the local .ost file. The manager's computer does not detect the meeting scheduled, so the manager's computer processes the meeting request and tentatively schedules the meeting. Later, when the .ost file is synchronized with the server, the meeting on the server is pulled into the .ost file and the appointment in the .ost file is pushed to the server.

This is how the duplicate meetings are created. Again, this is expected behavior for the given client configuration. If the manager's configuration is changed to not use offline folders or if the delegate disables the Process requests and responses on arrival option, this behavior does not occur.

Use one of the following two methods to address this issue (Outlook development prefers the second, NoOST=3 value, method):

• Disable the Process requests and responses on arrival option on the delegate's computer.
  
  The side effect of using this option is that the delegate does not automatically process meeting requests for itself.
• Add the NoOST registry value and set the value to 3 to disable the use of the .ost file for caching a local copy of the calendar.
  
  To add the NoOST value of 3 to the registry:
  1. Quit Outlook.
  2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
  3. Click to select the following registry entry:

     HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook

  4. If the Outlook key has a subkey named OST with a NoOST value, go to step 8. Otherwise, right-click the Outlook key, point to New on the shortcut menu, and then click Key.
  5. Type OST as the name for the new key, and then press ENTER.
  6. Right-click the new OST key, point to New on the shortcut menu, and then click DWORD Value.
  7. Type NoOST as the name for the new value, and press ENTER.
  8. Right-click the NoOST value, and then click Modify on the shortcut menu.
  9. Type one of the following values:
     • 0 - An offline store is set up by default and used for calendar caching. Also, the user is allowed to enable offline access and use the offline store. This is the same as the absence of the OST key and NoOST value.
     • 1 - An offline store is set up by default and used for calendar caching. However, the user is not allowed to enable offline access and use the offline store. The options in the Microsoft Exchange Server properties are not available.
     • 2 - An offline store is not set up by default and the user is not allowed to enable offline access and use the offline store. The options in the Microsoft Exchange Server properties are not available.
     • 3 - An offline store is not set up by default and the user is allowed to enable offline access and use the offline store.
  10. Delete all of the existing .ost files before you start Outlook again.