How does the Synchronizer handle meetings

Owned by Thomas Speekenbrink
Last updated: Aug 05, 2019

Overview

The Synchronizer differentiates between a common appointment and a meeting (group appointment). But what differentiates the two types of appointment? And how does the Synchronizer handle a meeting differently to a common appointment?

How to

First, let's explain what happens in a normal situation. An appointment is created and synchronized, information added to either side will be synchronized (two-way sync).

But what happens when I invite someone?

When you invite a person to a normal appointment, the type changes from an appointment to a (group) meeting. Meetings are handled somewhat differently by the Synchronizer.

Whenever an appointment changes into a meeting, the meeting must then always be changed by the owner (creator) of the appointment in the system that the person(s) was/were invited in. So if you invite someone in Outlook, the owner must always add/edit the meeting from Outlook. Adding or changing the meeting in SuperOffice will revert the changes (!). This is working as intended.

This behavior works both ways, inviting someone from SuperOffice implies that adding/changing the meeting must always be done from SuperOffice. Adding or changing information in Outlook or Google will revert the changes.

NOTE

In case users will change a synchronized Outlook appointment in SO to a group appointment by adding participants to the meeting, the Synchronizer can end up in a loop and flood the SuperOffice database.

Why is this happening?

Outlook wants to revert the change made in SuperOffice in accordance with the aforementioned rule. But since the appointment is now changed into a SuperOffice Group appointment SuperOffice does not allow this change. The appointment is seen as a new Group appointment originating in SuperOffice.

SuperOffice, on the other hand, tries to synchronize the change made in SuperOffice into the Outlook calendar. This is blocked by Outlook because the original meeting is made in Outlook and cannot be changed other than by the owner of the appointment.