Interaction with Microsoft Outlook

The following behaviors where observed while testing the vCard and calendar files with Microsoft Outlook 2003 and later.

Importing and Exporting vCard Files

Outlook will import vCard 2.1 or 3.0 format files. However, it only exports vCard 2.1 format files.

If a file contains multiple vCards, only the first one is imported. All subsequent ones are discarded.

If a time is specified on the Birth Date (BDAY) property, the time part is discarded. In a vCard 2.1 file, the BDAY property is not imported correctly if a time is present unless the value uses the extended date/time format that includes separators. Date-only values are imported correctly with or without separators.

Outlook does not appear to import or export the GEO, PHOTO, LOGO, TZ, or UID properties. It also discards custom properties.

Outlook uses a parameter to classify URL properties which does not conform to either specification. Without the identifier, the URL ends up in the "All Fields" tab as a "Personal Home Page" entry on the "Frequently-used Fields" and "All Contact Fields" selections. This can be worked around by adding WORK to the CustomParameters property of the vCard's URL property.

If an address is entered on more than two lines, Outlook will not be able to export it correctly in the ADR tag. Instead of breaking the field up into its component parts, it will use Quoted-Printable encoding and join some parts into the street field as literal text with carriage returns and line feeds. The fix is to put the address on two lines in Outlook. For example:

Instead of:

Enter it as:

 
16719 Lakeside Drive
Medical Lake
WA 99022
 
16719 Lakeside Drive
Medical Lake WA 99022
 
Importing and Exporting Calendar Files

Outlook cannot save recurring events in vCalendar format. Non-recurring events can be saved in vCalendar format.

Outlook will import events with recurrence information from vCalendar files but the recurrence information is discarded and they become non-recurring events. Recurrence information in iCalendar files is retained.

Outlook only supports duration values on VALARM trigger properties. It does not support date/time trigger values.

Outlook will not import ATTENDEE entries from events.

It may be necessary to add a METHOD property to iCalendar 2.0 files so that they import correctly (i.e. METHOD: PUBLISH). This can be accomplished by setting the VCalendarMethod property to CalendarMethod.Publish.

See Also

Other Resources