Summary
Due to the inconsistent behavior of calendar events, we’ve tested and documented how “3rd party calendar event” behave when a mail list address is invited to the event. There are a couple of settings the list owners can set that will affect the behavior of calendar events sent to a mail list. The owner settings are available at: (Admin) > Edit List Config > Sending/receiving Setup >
- Attachment Type: 1) appended to the email or 2) send as separate MIME part
- Allow message personalization: On or Off
We tested events from different calendar sources with the results color coded below.
- Gmail Calendar Events
- Yahoo Calendar Events
- Outlook Calendar Events
Calendar events inviting a mail list email to the event.
| Mail list Setting | Outlook Desktop | Gmail | Yahoo Mail |
Hotmail – Outlook Mail Web |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Attachment type = append to message body Allow Message Personnalization = on |
calendar entry – added email (accept, tentative, decline) calendar entry – none email – shows event data with an attachment: invite.ics Outlook Calendar Event calendar entry – none email – message with ICS file attached. |
gmail calendar event email “Add to Calendar” email “Add to Calendar” email “Add to Calendar” |
email (accept, maybe, decline) yahoo calendar email (accept, maybe, decline) email (accept, maybe, decline) |
calendar – entry added email (accept, tentative, decline) calendar entry – none email – shows event data with an attachment: invite.ics calendar – none email – message with ICS file attached. |
|
Attachment type = add a new MIME part Allow Message Personnalization = on |
calendar entry – added email (accept, tentative, decline)
calendar entry – none
email – shows event data with an attachment: invite.ics Outlook Calendar Event calendar entry – none email – message with two ICS files attached. |
gmail calendar event email “Add to Calendar” email “Add to Calendar” email “Add to Calendar” |
email (accept, maybe, decline) yahoo calendar email (accept, maybe, decline) email (accept, maybe, decline) |
calendar – entry added email (accept, tentative, decline) calendar entry – none email – (not supported calendar message.ics) attachment calendar – none email – message with ICS file attached. |
|
Attachment type = append to message body Allow Message Personnalization = off |
calendar entry – added email (accept, tentative, decline) calendar entry – added email – standard message (accept, tentative, decline) Outlook Calendar Event calendar entry – added email (accept, tentative, decline) |
gmail calendar event email – yes, maybe, no email “Add to Calendar” email “Add to Calendar” |
email (accept, maybe, decline) yahoo calendar event 330pm email (accept, maybe, decline) email (accept, maybe, decline) |
calendar – entry added email (accept, tentative, decline) calendar entry – added email (accept, tentative, decline) calendar entry – added email (accept, tentative, decline) |
|
Attachment type = add a new MIME part Allow Message Personnalization = off |
calendar entry – added email (accept, tentative, decline) calendar entry – added email – standard message (accept, tentative, decline) Outlook Calendar Event calendar entry – added email (accept, tentative, decline) |
gmail calendar event email – yes, maybe, no email “Add to Calendar” email “Add to Calendar” optin |
email (accept, maybe, decline) yahoo calendar event 7pm email (accept, maybe, decline) email (accept, maybe, decline) |
calendar – entry added email (accept, tentative, decline) Calendar – entry added (time stamp off -6 hrs) appears as 1pm event email – (accept, tentative, decline) calendar entry – added email (accept, tentative, decline) |