Forum Discussion
How to programatically attach ICS files to an email so they are displaying a nice overview
I am trying to programatically create emails that invite people to events. These emails contain an ICS file with the event data. The ICS files are according to https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc5546 either containing a METHOD:PUBLISH or a METHOD:REQUEST depending on whether they are an event-invite that someone needs to accept or just an information about an event.
In both cases I expect the user to have a nice overview over the event above the actual email in outlook.com.
I have managed to get it to work for METHOD:REQUEST but METHOD:PUBLISH is just not working the way I expect it.
My main question is now: Is that even supported by outlook? Or is only METHOD:REQUEST supported? If so: What other methods are supported?
Hi nappekarl,
based on the information available, it appears that METHOD:PUBLISH in ICS files may not be fully supported by Outlook, or at least not in the way you expect.
The behavior you’re seeing, where METHOD:REQUEST works but METHOD:PUBLISH does not, seems to be consistent with others’ experiences.So, if you want the ICS files to display a nice overview of the event above the actual email in Outlook.com, it would be advisable to use METHOD:REQUEST. This method seems to be more widely supported and behaves more predictably in Outlook.
LeonPavesicYeah. I have seen that already. Not what I wanted to hear but what I almost expected.
Sadly I can not use METHOD:REQUEST as that will allow people to interact with the event which they shall not. It's just publishing the event and people should be able to easily add that to their calendar with just one click.
This is just confirming my experience that Microsoft did a half hearted integration of an RFC that now causes a lot of workflows to just not work and Event-Providers as well as users now have to work around that.
