OL2002: "Accept" or "Decline" Buttons Missing from Meeting Requests (329931)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Outlook 2002
This article was previously published under Q329931

SYMPTOMS

When you use Outlook 2002 to send a meeting request to another Outlook user, it may not be displayed correctly on the recipient's computer. Although the meeting request may arrive, it may not contain the Accept or Decline buttons, and it may not be recognized by Outlook as a valid meeting request.

CAUSE

This issue may occur if the meeting request is not sent through a Microsoft Exchange server.

By default, Outlook 2002 sends meeting request in the iCalendar format. This format is not transmitted correctly unless the message is transferred by an Exchange server.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, configure Outlook to send meeting requests in the vCalendar format:
  1. Start Microsoft Outlook.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Options.
  3. Click the Preferences tab, and then click Calendar Options.
  4. Click to clear the When sending meeting requests over the Internet, use iCalendar format check box if it is selected, and then click OK.

    NOTE: This configures meeting requests to be sent by using the vCalendar format.
If these steps do not resolve the issue:
  1. Start Microsoft Outlook.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Options.
  3. Click the Mail Format tab, and then click Internet Format.
  4. Click Restore Defaults, and then click OK.

MORE INFORMATION

The following is an example of the data that may be displayed in the body of the recipient's meeting request: 
BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//Microsoft Corporation//Outlook 10.0 MIMEDIR//EN
VERSION:2.0
METHOD:REQUEST
BEGIN:VEVENT
ATTENDEE;CN=user@example.com;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;RSVP=TRUE:MAILTO:user@example.com
ORGANIZER:MAILTO:user2@domain.com
DTSTART:20020515T200000Z
DTEND:20020515T203000Z
TRANSP:OPAQUE
SEQUENCE:0
UID:040000008200E00074C5B7101A82E008000000003053A6F30EFCC1010000000000000000100
 000005786437248191D49A8E209755A70011F
DTSTAMP:20020515T194929Z
DESCRIPTION:When: Wednesday\, May 15\, 2002 1:00 PM-1:30 PM (GMT-08:00)
  Pacific Time (US & Canada)\; Tijuana.\n\n*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*\n\n\n
SUMMARY:Business meeting
PRIORITY:5
CLASS:PUBLIC
BEGIN:VALARM
TRIGGER:-PT15M
ACTION:DISPLAY
DESCRIPTION:Reminder
END:VALARM
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR
For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

284392 OL2002: iCal Meeting Request from POP3 or IMAP Server Account May Be Unformatted

255603 OL2000: How to Suppress Replies in a Meeting Request

290016 Meeting Request Sent from Exchange Server 5.5 to Exchange 2000 Server Arrives as Plain Text E-mail

307313 OL2000: Outlook 2000 and Outlook 2002 iCalendar Interoperability Problems

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:1/7/2006
Keywords:kbprb kbui KB329931
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