Google recipients having problems with meeting requests

SteveW 1

I have a mailbox in M365/Office 365/Office.outlook.com.

When I send meeting requests to Google mailboxes, recipients report a number of problems.

Reported problems range from no meeting information being displayed, to incorrect information being displayed.

All the messages I've been shown have an ICS attached, but whether the app will read the ICS and read it accurately varies dramatically regardless of the receiving mailbox, sending mailbox, and chosen client (e.g. Gmail.com on Browser, Outlook desktop on Mac, Mail on iOS, Mail on iOS, Gmail on iOS).

Only consistent thing I can see is M365-to-M365 and Google-to-M365 meetings are fine.

Anyone else seen this?

Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,201 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-11-15T03:06:28.323+00:00

Hi @SteveW ,

All the messages I've been shown have an ICS attached, but whether the app will read the ICS and read it accurately varies dramatically regardless of the receiving mailbox, sending mailbox, and chosen client (e.g. Gmail.com on Browser, Outlook desktop on Mac, Mail on iOS, Mail on iOS, Gmail on iOS).

Could you try to list some scenarios and their results so that we can see if more clues can be found?

I tried testing by sending a meeting request from a M365 account to a gmail account, then when viewing from either gmail.com on browser or Outlook desktop client on Windows, both can display as expected:

Besides, assuming the meeting requests are sent from Outlook client on Windows, please try going to File > Options > Calendar, make sure the checkbox of "When sending meeting requests outside of your organization, use the iCalendar format’"is selected:

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SteveW 1 Reputation point

2021-11-15T15:54:19.737+00:00
@Yuki Sun-MSFT :

Thanks for testing.

You had the same experience as I did for testing. I sent to a couple of my own gmail mailboxes and its fine.

But there are definitely gmail recipients who are not fine. Check out this different test I did with one of my recipients experiencing problems. Note the different results from sending via Outlook Windows and Outlook Web.

NOTES:

I have marked anything I removed form the image in BLUE so it's clear what I saw and what was missing.

A similar report had been made on Google's Support site with no resolution.

See the two appointments from a calendar.

FROM DESKTOP CLIENT Note the different times

FROM WEB CLIENT Note the consistency in times, etc.
Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,201 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-11-17T07:39:42.647+00:00
Hi @SteveW ,

Thanks for sharing the screenshots above.

So from the test results, you mean when the meeting request is sent from OWA(web browser), it can display properly for the gmail recipient no matter whether it's received from web mail or from the Outlook desktop client, but when you send a meeting request via Outlook desktop, some gmail recipients will receive a corrupted ics file when checking in the web mail, and if checked in the Outlook desktop, the time range for the meeting is incorrect?

If this is the case, could you help confirm the serveral things which could help narrow down the issue?

Does this issue only affect some particular gmail recipients of yours?

If the above is true, for these particular gmail recipients, have they experienced similar issue when receiving meetings invites from others?
SteveW 1 Reputation point

2021-11-18T01:05:35.947+00:00
@Yuki Sun-MSFT

Q: Does this issue only affect some particular gmail recipients of yours?
A: Yes, only some.

Q: If the above is true, for these particular gmail recipients, have they experienced similar issue when receiving meetings invites from others?
A: No, not from other people who send meeting requests.
Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,201 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-11-19T09:12:49.227+00:00

Hi @SteveW ,

As issue only occurs when the meeting invite is sent from your Outlook desktop client, have you tried turning on or off the option "When sending meeting requests outside of your organization, use the iCalendar format’" via File > Options > Calendar and see if it can make any difference?

Besides, after further searching, I found some links discussing the similar issue but none of them include a solution:
Calendar invites not allowing me to accept
My Gmail does not recognize iCalendar invites
Invitations from external Outlook not showing up properly in my corporate Google calendar
Please Note: Since the web site is not hosted by Microsoft, the link may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.

Considering that only some gmail recipients are affected by this issue, so I'd suggest trying to contacting the support for gmail calendar as well for further analysis.
SteveW 1 Reputation point

2021-11-24T17:37:27.797+00:00

@Yuki Sun-MSFT

As suggested, turned off iCal, but ICS still sent.

Did additional testing with including three (3) Gmail Mailboxes on same invite. Two (2) were fine. The one mailbox with problems still had issues when sent from Outlook Desktop. Outlook Web remains fine when tested.

Gmail user is reaching out to Google to troubleshoot. Will leave this open to document resolution from Google.
Yuki Sun-MSFT 41,201 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2021-11-25T07:44:09.813+00:00

Hi @SteveW ,

Thanks for sharing the test results with the current status of this issue. Sure, you can keep this thread open and should there's any update or findings about this issue, it would be appreciated if you can post back to share with us.
onovtec 1 Reputation point

2022-05-26T02:49:18.7+00:00

Hi Steve. I have this same issue occuring to me which I can expand upon as needed. I am curious what the status of this item is currently?

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