Troubleshooting Outlook Calendar Import

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Below are common issues related to Outlook Calendar import & the potential solutions.

 

1) Problem: WinCalendar/Excel hangs when importing Outlook Calendar data or it takes a long time (more than 10 seconds) when generating a calendar with Outlook data.

 

A.Close unneeded Excel workbooks as Excel recalculates all open workbooks at various points during calendar generation.
B.If a open Workbook or Addin (hidden Excel Workbook) uses Volatile functions then Excel will be forced to recalculate with each write operation, severely slowing Excel/WinCalendar calendar generation. To remedy remove/replace Volatile functions or close the Workbook/Addin. Volatile functions are considered very inefficient and can often be replaced by non-volatile functions.
C.Try running WinCalendar with Outlook open in the background.  Depending on your Outlook or Outlook exchange server settings, Outlook may need to be open for WinCalendar to import data from it properly.
D.Left over MS Office .exd temp files often cause issues - especially after Office Updates.  Close Excel and other MS Office programs then delete all files ending in .exd from Windows Temp folders.
Alternately if not sure how to do this, run Windows disk cleanup which also removes these files.
E.If the Outlook calendar being imported contains a vast amount of very old appointments: Consider saving a backup archive of the calendar then delete all old appointments - say older than 1 year from the Outlook Calendar.
F.If the issue still persists: Run Windows/Office Update and reboot your PC.

 

2) Problem: You receive a error message containing text "Unable to access Outlook Calendar or Outlook not setup.", yet Outlook is installed and setup.

 

A.        Try setting both Outlook and Excel/Word to Run as Administrator.
B.        Try running WinCalendar with Outlook open in the background.  Depending on your Outlook or Outlook exchange server settings, Outlook may need to be open for WinCalendar to import data from it properly.
C.                Run Outlook 'Detect and Repair' or 'Office Diagnostics' (google this + your Office version for specifics).  You may need to reboot your PC after this.

3) Problem: Upon pressing the 'Setup...' button for Outlook Calendar setup a error message with text similar to "ActiveX can't create object" is displayed.

 

A.Re-Install WinCalendar using these instructions.

 

B.Run Outlook 'Detect and Repair' or 'Office Diagnostics' as found in the Outlook 'Help' menu.

 


4) Problem: A calendar I would like to import is not showing up in the WinCalendar list of available Outlook calendars.

 

A.In order to import a shared calendar you need to be running Outlook version 12 (a.k.a. 'Outlook 2007') or newer.
B.Make sure your version of Outlook has been updated with all the latest free Microsoft Service Packs and updates.  To do this, run Windows update and be sure that MS Office updates are turned on.
C.Make sure that the calendar to import shows up in Outlook under "My Calendars".  For a illustration click here.
D.If you connect to a Microsoft Exchange server, you may need to list any public calendars under My Calendars in Outlook. To do this simply drag the calendar from the current grouping to My Calendars.
E.Depending on how the calendar was shared with you, WinCalendar might not be able to access the calendar. For this case try having the calendar shared with you using a different method... Outlook supports more than one method for sharing a calendar.  Try using a different method.  For more information refer to Outlook Help (search on "Sharing Calendar").
F.Make sure the calendar name does not contain any non-alphabetic characters like: -~!@#$%^&*()+{}|:"<>?     ...if so rename the calendar (or have the calendar renamed if it is some else's shared calendar).
G.Try running WinCalendar with Outlook open in the background.
H.Depending on your Outlook Server settings, Network settings or Windows settings WinCalendar might still not be able to access the shared calendar.  If the issue persists try contacting the your Outlook Server Administrator & ask if there is any setting that may prevent MS Office Addins from accessing shared Outlook calendars.
 

 


5) Problem: An Appointment showing in Outlook is not importing into WinCalendar

         

A.Make sure you are referring to the correct year and date in both WinCalendar and Outlook.
B.Try running a Repair on your Outlook.  For more info Google “Outlook Calendar repair” + your Outlook version
C.Try running Windows Disk Cleanup to remove temporary MS Office files that often cause issues.  For more info Google “Run disk cleanup Windows” +  your Windows version.
D.Try setting both Outlook and Word/Excel to Run as Administrator.