regarding the state of shared calendars on mobile devices

[Antony Taylor]

Hi All,

Did a bit of searching and I can't find anything on any advancements in regards to shared calendars and getting them added to mobile devices easily through outlook app or default mail app

Can I just clarify that the main routes are still;

1. Paid additional mailbox added individually to peoples Mobiles (non-scaleable)
2. OWA app (unsupported and not updated)
3. Outlook Groups app (Works well but doesn't work with built in calendar app)

So for a small group of users that want to use a shared calendar for holidays and want to access it via their default calendar app then Option 1 is the only route?

They could use option 3 but they'd also have lots of other stuff in front of them that they don't necessarily want/need.

Has anyone heard of any incoming improvements? It's pretty embarrassing that something that G Suite does easily can be annoying to replicate when you're trying to migrate a client.

Kind Regards,

Antony

[#2]

Just seen a reply to a similar thread last year by @jcgonzalezmartin 

Improvements coming to Microsoft Outlook

Though sadly there doesn't seem to be any ETA details on when these improvements might be delivered. Maybe @Julia Foran can advise on the latest?

This of course doesn't help with adding shared calendars to the default apps but it's a massive improvement to be able to tell users to use one app for their work email, work calendar and work shared calendars.

[#3]

+1 on this, probably a side effect of focusing on the "new shiny tools", instead of addressing some very basic needs 😞

[#4]

Maybe I understand you wrong, but recently there were some updates with the calendars. When you share a calendar from OWA with somebody else. The calendar will be vissible in the default mail app when you synchronise your mail with that app.

This works quick en this was something I was waiting for.

You have to reshare a calendar before he is vissible on your Phone.

[#5]

I can use SharePoint room list. This provides way to add calendar items using outlook or web. you do not need to assign any seperate licensed for this.

[#6]

Hi Maurits,

Can I just clarify that the type of calendar you're sharing is a Shared one? IE one that is designed for usage by multiple people (Shared Calendar, Resource/Equipment or Public folder calendar) And that the default mail app you're referring to is either iPhone "Mail" or Android "Mail" applications.

[#7]

Hi Sourabh,

I initially wanted to use a Shared Mailbox or Resource mailbox for this task but it is specifically the viewing and adding of entries to the calendar on Mobile devices (Specifically iPhone in this case)

[#8]

---

@Antony Taylor wrote:
Hi Sourabh,

I initially wanted to use a Shared Mailbox or Resource mailbox for this task but it is specifically the viewing and adding of entries to the calendar on Mobile devices (Specifically iPhone in this case)

---

Hi Anthony,

I think I mis inderstood you. I tried it with the calendar from my account. And I tried to add en new Calendar to my account and shared it with someone else.

With those two options the other person can add the calendar to his shared calendars and the calendar is vissible on his phone in the dedicated mail app.
I never tried it with a calendar for a resource.

Maurits

[#9]

Ok no problem Maurits,

Thank you for trying though! It still sounds like it is an improvement and in the worst case scenario I can still use a "Personal" calendar shared to multiple people as the solution for "Shared calendar in default iOS Calendar App"

[#10]

I take it using a group/group calendar and the IOS/Android/Windows groups app is no good for you?

[#11]

Hi Peter,

I wish it was. I really do. Navigating around the problem and just using the new funky Group tools available is in my mind the way to solve this issue. The problem is not the fact that I could do this, The problem is that one particular high level end user would not find this acceptable as they would struggle against learning a new way to access something.

In their minds "G Suite handles this requirement (Shared Calendar shared between multiple people available on Mobile) fine. Why can't Microsoft?"

[#12]

Ahh yes the good old user pushback. I'm sure shared calendar is coming to the Outlook app on IOS & Android very soon, I can't see an easy way to do this in the various platform native mail apps so I think Outlook mobile is your only hope (you would have to add lots of mailboxes manually and set them to only sync calendar).  Its my dream that someday Outlook mobile will display all mailboxes a user has permisisons on (you know like Outlook desktop) and any shared calendars.

Check out page 5 of this uservoice Outlook for iOS 

"We're working on it! We'll do a more public announcement when the shared calendar feature is completely ready. Make sure you're sharing from & accepting from Outlook on the web. If you're sharing with edit access, at this point you'll need to wait a little after initially accepting before you can edit the calendar. The updates are only available for view & edit permissions and coming soon for delegated permissions. Those are the big things we're finishing in addition to adding ability to share/accept from any Outlook application."

[#13]

I really cant beleive that sharing calenders on an Android device can be a problem in 2017. But it is. Its so 1990'ies.

The scenario is as follows. Because of the complicated proces using exchange rules to filter unsercure old Android devices (oh and MS could easily fix that provinding sets of filters), organizations are forced to use a "no android" rule. That will effectively mean that people using android platforms and perhaps wanting to aggregate multiple calendars are now forced to use Outlook App** which doesent integrate with other calendars on the device. 

This means you get your planning spread out on multiple apps. 

**) The Outlook App has recently detoriated - "forgets calendar data" when offline. 

In effect the combination of stick-to-Exchange, forced no to Android native apps even on safe devices and off a less-than-good Outlook App cost collaboration/time/tires and spells a classic failed vendor lock in. It has no future. 

Please fix this.