The "Send via E-mail" option is unavailable for calendars that are shared with you in Office Outlook 2007

Consider the following scenario:

• You have a computer that is running Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.
• Another user has shared a calendar with you.
• You open the shared calendar for that user.
• You right-click the shared calendar and then try to send the calendar to an e-mail recipient.

In this scenario, the Send via E-mail option is unavailable in the shortcut menu.

Note The most common case of this problem is the manager and delegate scenario. However, this problem occurs in every case of shared calendars.

To resolve this problem, apply the following hotfix package.

Hotfix limitation for the manager and delegate scenario

When you use the Send via E-Mail option to send a calendar through e-mail, a new e-mail message is created. The e-mail message contains the calendar data in the body of the message and also includes an Internet Connection Sharing (.ics) attachment that contains the calendar data. Therefore, there are two places that the shared calendar data is provided in the e-mail message. When you consider the main Calendar view for the shared calendar, that makes three places in total that calendar information is visible.

In the manager-delegate scenario, there is an option in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 that allows the manager to specify whether the delegate can view details of appointments that are marked as private. This is the Delegate can see my private items check box on the permissions page of the delegate setup.

When you send a calendar through e-mail (even a calendar that is not shared), there is an option to specify whether to include appointment information that is marked as private. In the shared calendar case, this option must interact with the manager-delegate option that defines whether private appointments can be viewed.

For example, consider a scenario where Manager1 has shared his or her calendar with Delegate1. Delegate1 uses the Send via E-Mail option to send Manager1's calendar and chooses the option to include the private appointment information. Because the calendar that is being sent belongs to Manager1, Delegate1 may or may not have access to the private item data.

The calendar data in the view and e-mail message is different, depending on the accessibility of the private item data. Consider the following scenarios.

Case 1: The manager has specified that the delegate CAN see private items

The Main Calendar View (delegate viewing the manager’s calendar)

The private appointment is visible, and the details of the appointment are visible (subject, location, and so on).

The body of the e-mail message

The private appointments are included in the data, but no details are included, and the subject is "Private Appointment."

The Internet Connection Sharing attachment data

The private appointments are included in the data, but no details are included, and the subject is "Private Appointment"

Case 2: The manager has specified that the delegate CANNOT see private items

The Main Calendar View (delegate viewing the manager’s calendar)

The private appointment is visible, but no details are included, and the subject is "Private Appointment."

The body of the e-mail message

The private appointments are not included, and the time is displayed as FREE in the calendar.

The Internet Connection Sharing attachment data

The private appointments are included in the data, but no details are included, and the subject is "Private Appointment."

Summary

As a summary, there is one potentially unexpected result in this set of scenarios. When the manager specifies that a delegate cannot see private items, the expectation is that they will see a placeholder with the subject of "Private Appointment." However, in the data in the body of the e-mail message that is generated by using the Send via E-Mail option, there is no placeholder, and the timeslot is just displayed as FREE.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.