Saving event to Outlook 365 Calendar, the dates are wrong

  • Resolved vurhu

    (@vurhu)


    1 month, 2 weeks ago

    Hi Team,

    Thanks for a great plugin.

    We have an issue with the “Add to Calendar” button on the single page events.

    When we click the button and choose Outlook 365, or Outlook Live, it opens up our mailing app, and adds the event, but it uses the current day’s date and not the event’s date.

    I have manually copied the links from our live website to a text editor, and from the Demo page on The Events Calendar (https://demo.theeventscalendar.com/event/meal-planning-for-weight-loss/2024-06-01/) to see if there’s something wrong with our link maybe, as the link in the Demo account works perfectly. The only difference I saw was a Minus and a Plus (I later realised this was the Time Zones).

    When I change the timezone for our links, then the dates pull through, otherwise, it just gives us, today’s date.

    Example below:

    Our link (The bold is the Time Zone):
    https://outlook.office.com/owa/?path=/calendar/action/compose&rrv=addevent&startdt=2024-05-30T14:00:00+02:00&enddt=2024-05-30T15:00:00+02:00&location&subject=%5BWEBINAR%5D%20Feedback%20Session&body=Feedback%20Session%20on%20World%20Macadamia%20Council%20and………….. (I’ve removed the rest of this link)

    Their Link (The bold is the Time Zone):
    https://outlook.office.com/owa/?path=/calendar/action/compose&rrv=addevent&startdt=2024-06-01T08:00:00-04:00&enddt=2024-06-01T17:00:00-04:00&location=ABC%20Cooking……………. (I’ve removed the rest of this link)

    When I change our Time zone manually in the link from +02:00 to -02:00 it works correctly when I then copy and paste the link into my browser and hit enter (The outlook 365 app opens, and everything is fine, except the actual times, as I changed the time zone) but the dates are now correct.

    Is there any way to fix this? or is this a known issue, as I couldn’t get any answers on Google, or in the forum?

    Any help would be appreciated, thanks! 😀

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
  • Plugin Support Jes

    (@jescandoit)

    1 month, 2 weeks ago

    Hey @vurhu

    Kindly confirm that your server’s PHP default timezone is set to UTC, if it isn’t, you may need to reach out to your hosting provider to assist you with this. Also, we have an article here that may help you with this → https://theeventscalendar.com/knowledgebase/event-times-are-wrong-when-subscribing-to-calendar/

    I hope this helps, and let us know how it goes.

    Thread Starter vurhu

    (@vurhu)

    1 month, 2 weeks ago

    Hi Jes,

    Thank you so much for the quick response, this has really helped with trying to see why it’s not working.

    I followed the guide, and viewed my server time in settings>troubleshooting, it seems my PHP Timezone is on UTC: 

    WP Timezone
Africa/Johannesburg

WP GMT Offset
2

Default PHP Timezone
UTC

WP Date Format
j F Y

WP Time Format
g:i a

Week Starts On
1

    played with some other settings, but no luck.

    I have also done a fresh install on a new empty domain, same hosting provider, and got the same results. So not sure where to look at the moment.

    A last attempt I did before sending this reply:

    I have changed the time zones to Los Angeles (I aimed to have a UTC that uses a MINUS sign), saved the event and tried adding it to my calendar, now the dates actually import into my Outlook Calendar. (But the time is wrong, as LA is 9 hours behind us, obviously).

    Previously, it didn’t import dates at all, and just used the date of that day.

    Not sure if the + and – signs in the Outlook Link might create an issue? We are using the latest, New Outlook Application.

    Maybe the image below will assist with clarifying 😀
    https://ten.vurhu.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Events-Calendar-01.jpg

    Thank you again for the assistance

    Plugin Support Darian

    (@d0153)

    1 month, 1 week ago

    Hi @vurhu

    I’m glad you brought this to our attention. I can see how this issue impacts your ability to save your event in Outlook.

    We already have an existing internal ticket [TEC-5094] that will address this issue and I’ve included your specific use case in it to communicate it to our team.

    We prioritize bugs by taking into consideration the number of users impacted as well as how the bug impacts one’s ability to run an event/sell tickets. I don’t have a specific timeline as to when this issue will be resolved, but trust that our team is aware. Our team communicates updates and bug fixes in our newsletter and via our changelog.

    I’m happy to help if any other questions are coming up around this topic, otherwise I’ll go ahead and close this ticket.

    Thanks again for reporting this issue and for using The Events Calendar! Have a great day.

    —

    Internal Bug Ticket Reference: [TEC-5094]

    escom86

    (@escom86)

    2 weeks, 5 days ago

    Hi, what was the solution? I have the same problem, if i add the event to Outlook, it uses the current day’s date and not the event’s date.
    Thx!

    Plugin Support Darian

    (@d0153)

    2 weeks, 3 days ago

    Hi @escom86

    Currently, there are no updates available for ticket [TEC-5094]. We will provide an update in this thread as soon as the issue is fixed. Our team also communicates updates and bug fixes in our newsletter and via our changelog.

    If you have other questions or concerns, please open a new support thread. This allows us to track topics/issues efficiently and follow the WordPress Forum Guidelines.

    mbuccaneer

    (@mbuccaneer)

    4 days, 17 hours ago

    I have the very same problem, Google calendar links work fine, Outlook adds todays date and time even though the content in the URL is correct.

    Plugin up to date etc.

    Is there any update on a fix?

    Thank you.

Viewing 6 replies - 1 through 6 (of 6 total)
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