Outlook Calendar invitation mail on Outlook mail account gets deleted upon event acceptance

[Suyash Narain]

urrently the Outlook Calendar event invitation generated by outlook gets sent to the invitees through email. That invitation generates a calendar event on the recipient account. 
If the recipient now accepts the invitation through the calendar app on their mobile phone, the acceptance is sent as a mail and the incoming mail invitation also gets deleted automatically.

This auto deletion of invitation mail happens only for invitations generated through Outlook and received in an Outlook mail account and not from any other meeting invitation generation client like Yahoo and received on any mail other than Outlook even if accepted by the native Calendar app on iOS.

This deletion of mail automatically is erratic and should not happen.

the invitation email received in Outlook mail account does not get deleted if the event invite is accepted from inside the Outlook client instead of any other clients like iOS native calendar app, Google Calendar, Fantastical 2.

It is also observed that the invitation mail does not get deleted if it is received in a Gmail account and the event is entered in the Google Calendar and accepted using iOS native Calendar app. The same is in the case of Yahoo mail/ Yahoo calendar at recipient end.

The mail deletion only happens when event had been processed in Outlook mail account and Outlook Calendar account at recipient and using any app other than Outlook at the recipient end. This clearly confirms that the issue lies with either the desktop Outlook client sending the meeting invitation or the Outlook mail/ calendar account at the recipient end. 

The current scenario suggests that the Outlook ecosystem (sending client as well as the account and app at the receiving end) incompatible with any other software or system, which is not acceptable.

Can you also check and confirm at your end that the deletion of mail does happen if the invite is accepted in native iOS Calendar app on an outlook mail account.

Since the meeting invite mails and acceptance are based on standard protocols, it is expected that the invite mail does not get deleted even if any app other than Outlook for iOS is used to accept the invite and on any mail account including Outlook mail account.

This is important so that even if I send a calendar invite from my Outlook desktop app, the recipient should be able to respond without deletion of the invitation mail at their end irrespective of the app they use for responding (even by using other than Outlook app for mobile) or the type mail/ Calendar account (like Gmail) they may use.

Since the behaviour upon acceptance of the invite is dependent upon the sending app which is Oulook desktop app and also the Outlook mail/ calendar account at the recipient end, I would request that the Outlook sending client (including Outlook on the web) and the Outlook mail account may be corrected to make the behaviour of invite acceptance seamless and independent of the mobile app used to accept the invite. 

The invitation mail should not get deleted even if the invite is accepted in native iOS Calendar app on an Outlook mail account at the recipient.

[#2]

If I understand your post correctly, what you are complaining above can easily be toggled on/off using the options: https://support.office.com/en-ie/article/calendar-settings-97dfed62-c9c8-43d8-92b2-d09fa40745bb#__to...

[#3]

You are right, the configuration you are referring to applies to the situation when the acceptance of the invitation is done on the web browser or through Outlook App on iOS.

However, what I am referring to is the problem of mail deletion when the invitation is accepted from inside the Calendar App of iOS or any other app like Google Calendar on an event received in Outlook mail/ calendar account. The configuration you have referred to does not apply to such situations and therefore the mails are getting deleted whenever the invitation are accepted in the iOS native Calendar app.

[#4]

Well Microsoft has hardly any power to dictate what third-party email apps do, I suggest you check for a similar option with the native iOS app, raise a request with Apple support or look for alternative client.

[#5]

I have raised this issue here to Microsoft because I have tried 4 different types of clients at my end, including iOS native Calendar client. All perform in similar manner (delete the mail), except the Outlook App itself.

The current scenario suggests that the Outlook ecosystem (sending account, the account and/ or app at the receiving end) are behaving in a proprietary, unique, and undesirable manner and are incompatible with any other software or system, which is not correct.

This can only be addressed by Microsoft.