These issues have been diagnosed as requiring changes to the iOS implementation of the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol.
Apple has been made aware of this issue and customers who experience any of the symptoms described should contact Apple for help.
Details
Users of iOS 8.x devices may experience any of the following related symptoms:- Meetings sent in Rich Text or HTML format have their message body converted to plain text. This is most noticeable with Lync meetings where the URLs will appear broken.
- Message body is truncated to 500 characters long.
- Multiple repair update messages indicating the Calendar Repair Assistant (CRA) has updated their meetings.
Symptom 3 applies to iOS 7.x users, but not symptom 1 and symptom 2. Only iOS 8.x devices may experience all three symptoms.
It may be possible to correct the formatting of the meetings by having the Meeting Organizer send an update to the meeting. No changes to the meeting item is required. The new meeting object will overwrite the existing object.
Meeting truncation may be avoided if the attendee accepts the meeting before changing the meeting properties with their iOS 8.x device.
Meetings will be truncated if the attendee changes the meeting properties with their iOS 8.x device before accepting the item. Specifically, one of the following properties:
- Changes the Alert value
- Changes the Show As status
- Marks the appointment as Private
- Adds a Comment to Organizer
Technical Details
Administrators can confirm truncation of the appointment body through a review of the ActiveSync mailbox log. Inside this log will be a Sync request that sends the Body element to Exchange with approximately 500 bytes. Example:<Commands> <Change> <ServerId>1:8</ServerId> <ApplicationData> <Body=496 bytes/> <TimeZone xmlns="Calendar:">AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMAAAACAAMAAAAAAAAAxP///w==</TimeZone> <AllDayEvent xmlns="Calendar:">0</AllDayEvent> <BusyStatus xmlns="Calendar:">1</BusyStatus> <DtStamp xmlns="Calendar:">20141029T115225Z</DtStamp> <EndTime xmlns="Calendar:">20141029T153000Z</EndTime> <Location xmlns="Calendar:" bytes="4"/> <Reminder xmlns="Calendar:">15</Reminder> <Sensitivity xmlns="Calendar:">2</Sensitivity>
Administrators can confirm the client is changing the format of the body, through a Fiddler/Network trace. With the results of the trace, a request will be observed that shows the client sending the body in plain text. Example:
<airsync:Commands> <airsync:Change> <airsync:ServerId>1:13</airsync:ServerId> <airsync:ApplicationData> <airsyncbase:Body xmlns:airsyncbase="AirSyncBase:"> <airsyncbase:Type>1</airsyncbase:Type> <airsyncbase:Data>This is the link<https://join.contoso.com/meeting/user2YVC3G3O> for this meeting