XADM: Recurring Appointments Created by CDO Are Not Added to Local Free/Busy Map

Recurring appointments that are created by Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) such as Outlook Web Access or AutoAccept Script through Events Service in Exchange Server, may not be reflected in the local or public free-and-busy map for the mailbox.

In some cases, the recurring appointment data that is held in binary form on a mailbox's calendar may exceed more than one binary record. If the data exceeds more than one record, the appointment Entry ID (EID) is needed to link the multiple records together. The process by which CDO extracts the appointments and necessary MAPI properties to build the local and public free-and-busy map does not include the EID of appointments. The failure to extract this EID property cause CDO to be unable to retrieve these particular appointments into its result set. This, in turn, causes the free-and-busy data for these particular appointments to not get propagated out to the local or public free-and-busy maps.

A supported fix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that is described in this article. Apply it only to computers that are experiencing this specific problem. This fix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, Microsoft recommends that you wait for the next Microsoft Exchange Server version 5.5 service pack that contains this hotfix.

To resolve this problem immediately, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the fix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services phone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:NOTE: In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The typical support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:


Component: CDO


For additional information on how to download the update for this problem, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

The CDO process for propagating the free-and-busy data from a mailbox calendar to the Free/Busy public folder for a given site is as follows:

• A change is made to a mailbox calendar item.
• After the change is made, the mailbox-wide MAPI property that holds the free-and-busy data is deleted in its entirety.
• CDO queries an already established table of appointments to get a list from which to regenerate the free-and-busy data for the mailbox.
• This CDO list is taken from the first day of the current month and spans one year from that day. That is, if a change is made on November 8, 2000, the free-and-busy data is regenerated between the dates November 1, 2000, and November 1, 2001.
• Free-and-busy data is then extracted from this CDO list, and the mailbox-wide MAPI property is rebuilt to include this new data.
• From this new data in the local free-and-busy map, a message is queued up to be sent to the site's Free/Busy public folder.

It is important to understand the process when you are troubleshooting free-and-busy problems. You must understand that the public free-and-busy data is populated by what is in the mailbox's local free-and-busy map. So, if inconsistencies are seen between a mailbox's calendar and the public free-and-busy data, investigate the local free-and-busy data first. If the local free-and-busy data is not synchronized with the mailbox's calendar, the public free-and-busy data will not be correct.