Outlook.com deprecating subscribed .ics / iCal calendars

Question

So apparently Microsoft is deprecating subscribed .ics / iCal calendars from outlook.com. This is actually the second Microsoft support person to tell me this over the past month as I've been trying to get support for 2 subscribed .ics calendars that suddenly aren't syncing to my personal outlook.com calendar following the initial import, for example whenever the event organizers modify existing events or adds new events. Instead of trying to fix the issues, this is what they're telling me.

Not surprisingly, subscribed .ics calendars work completely fine in Google Calendar and interestingly they work even with my paid Microsoft 365 business account. Sure I can use my Microsoft 365 business account to subscribe to these, which actually isn't ideal. But the bigger problem is for others in my family who rely on a number of these subscribed .ics calendars that they're subscribed to for hobbies and sports activities that their coaches and team managers update constantly, which now will never update after the initial import.

Is there an official statement about Microsoft removing subscribed ics iCal calendar capability? Completely ridiculous if it's in fact true!

Answer 1

Hi jny977,

Yes, apologies if my note above wasn't clear. Not getting the updates for events you're subscribed to is part of the issue we're investigating. We're sincerely sorry for this inconvenience and I recognize that when it comes to our kids classroom and sports calendars, it is especially frustrating! We hear you and we're working on it and you can get updates on our progress here: Fixes or workarounds for recent issues on Outlook.com (microsoft.com)

Thanks,

Rebecca

Answer 2

I got one more piece of info from the product team and they suggested to try creating a new event (any event) in your calendar. This should help reset the mailbox to active and subscriptions should start updating again every 6 hours. Hope this helps! Thanks, Rebecca.

Answer 3

Any update to this? Again, the listed "workaround" added here Fixes or workarounds for recent issues on Outlook.com (microsoft.com)

is not actually a workaround. It's only doing a new import of the calendar as opposed to being a subscription. That's a calendar import, not the previous subscription feature.

Please fix that incorrect information falsely listing it as a "workaround" and please provide information when a fix will be in place. It was mentioned almost 2 weeks ago this was being fixed as a priority. I believe tech media has also been on top of this. Please advise.

Answer 4

Hi jny977,

Yes, apologies if my note above wasn't clear. Not getting the updates for events you're subscribed to is part of the issue we're investigating. We're sincerely sorry for this inconvenience and I recognize that when it comes to our kids classroom and sports calendars, it is especially frustrating! We hear you and we're working on it and you can get updates on our progress here: Fixes or workarounds for recent issues on Outlook.com (microsoft.com)

Thanks,

Rebecca

As of 2 days ago, there's now listed there's a "WORKAROUND" for this specific issue at the link you provided above. However, there isn't actually a "WORKAROUND" -- it's the same broken behavior even subscribed calendars not updating anything new.

I just did as said and any new/changed events still do not show, so this being listed as a "WORKAROUND" is also incorrect information. All that's doing is importing the latest current subscribed calendar data, while still fully ignoring any new events or changes to existing events as is the current problem anyway. This is incorrectly listed as a "WORKAROUND"

Is this really being prioritized because at this point it's been over a week since acknowledging this issue that has been going on for months and I'd think it's just much easier to shift my calendar solution to Google Calendar, unfortunately. I'm willing to wait a few days here if it's truly being prioritized and if a fix is in place, but I will not wait weeks or months for a fix here and it's unfortunate that the team is very incorrectly labeling a "WORKAROUND" as being in place when it is not.

Fixes or workarounds for recent issues on Outlook.com (microsoft.com)

Answer 5

The problem is not with the actual subscribing to ics / ical calendars. The problem is that the calendars don't update when a calendar owner adds a new event or makes an update to an existing event (i.e. date, rime, location, deletion, etc).

Very unfortunate that still this morning your Outlook.com support staff is telling us total opposite.

The problem is a big one in that my kids' classroom calendars and sports calendars that are updated by coaches for example with new practice times or changed locations don't appear on the subscribed calendars.