Outlook conditional formatting doesn't work for series entries that have been later edited

Question

What I describe below must certainly be a bug for which there is a very simple fix on Microsoft's end. I cannot find anyone else complaining about this, which amazes me.

Situation:

• I have access to a shared calendar that has a series of entries varying according to whose initials are entered in the subject.
• It would be helpful for me to conditionally format only those entries that have my initials in the subject.
• When I use conditional formatting on the calendar, it does not correctly filter the entries having my initials with only a few exceptions.

Here's what seems to be going on:

• Observation: If I double-click on an entry in the shared calendar, I can choose "Just this one" or "The entire series". If I choose...
  • "Just this one": The subject includes my initials ("Fr BZ")
  • "The entire series": The subject does not include my initials, only the generic subject / title ("Fr ")
• Inference: The person who made the calendar created the original series then edited single entries according to initials, and Outlook cannot "see" the singular subject modifications.
• Evidence: (1) The entries that were correctly filtered according to my initials are singular entries, not series. (2) When I change the filter to conditionally format the generic subject given to the original series, it does so correctly.

QED

BTW, the incorrect response to this is, "That person will just need to create a specific series for each set of initials." It seems obvious to me that Outlook should not have a problem with this.

Answer 1

I'll let you know when I hear back.

Answer 2

Thanks a bunch for responding to this. It seems like a strange lacuna in Outlook's functionality, so it would be great if they could sort this out.

Answer 3

Hello Fr. Brian,

I'm Diane, an Office Apps & Services MVP specializing in Outlook, and I’m happy to help you today.

The way Outlook handles recurring events is weird - the edited items are exceptions, so your experience makes sense.

I'll test it and see if there is a solution and also report it to my contacts in the outlook program group. .