Outlook, Calendar Attachments, and Calendar Links

  • 14 August 2021
  • 28 replies
  • 2224 views
K
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Hi all - I’m new to Docebo, but not new to LMS and workplace learning. I’d like to know how others handle calendaring for ILT / VILT events. I’ve set up my first VILT in the system, an 8 week course that meets every Friday. I’ve set it up as a course with one session and 8 events.

Upon successful enrollment, learners are sent a notification that includes a calendar attachment. When the user opens the calendar attachment, it creates a new calendar in Outlook called Untitled. The 8 events are saved in the Untitled calendar as 8 separate events. Here are the issues that I’m trying to resolve:

  • The event is in a new calendar and not in the learner’s calendar so the time is not blocked out. The user must copy it or invite themselves to the event.
  • If the event time changes or is cancelled, the user’s copied calendar entry does not update.
  • The workarounds appear to have users add their Docebo My Calendar as an add’l outlook calendar (this resolves the sync issue) and invite themselves to each event to which they’re enrolled. Alternatively, we can have a coordinator invite folks to each event and update everyone if something changes.

Anyway, it all seems more clunky than I expected from a system that’s supposed to manage events like these. I’d like to know how others manage this for ILT / VILT.

28 replies

lrnlab
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Hi @keiishida this is an issue with the desktop version of outlook...the attachment should work fine in web mail applications like Google. You can try these steps to avoid creating multiple calendars...not the most elegant solution but it seems to work for most:

  1. Click Save As to save the attachment to your desktop (or other location)
  2. In Outlook, select File, select Open & Export, and then select Import/Export.
  3. In Import and Export Wizard box, select Import an iCalendar (.ics) and click Next.
  4. Select the saved file from your desktop (or other location) and click OK.
  5. Select Import. The items are automatically imported into your calendar.

We logged a ticket on this issue a while back and Docebo replied that they cannot control the behavior of the receiving application therefore no fix would be implemented...perhaps this may change with the revamp of notifications expected soon.

K
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Thanks @lrnlab!

I can’t see explaining those other steps cleanly without 1) users doing it wrong, 2) not doing it, or 3) complaining about all of the steps!  The easier workaround might be for users to open the file in the outlook web app. That appears to work, so that nugget of info you provided is very helpful!

How do you handle when a change is made to events? Is that another email notification?

I’m disappointed to hear that response from Docebo considering so many other systems handle calendar events better. I suppose it’s not that much of an issue considering outlook desktop isn’t used by many people <eyeroll>.

 

lrnlab
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Hi @keiishida yes there is a separate notifications for ILT changes called, ILT Session Changed, that you can configure to send out nay updates. There is also one for deleted sessions if that can also be of use to you.

Jill Allen
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Hi @keiishida.  Thank you for posting this and so clearly identifying the current behavior.  I just came across this behavior recently as well.  I agree that this is very clunky and am struggling with how to help learners since all other ics invites I have received DO NOT behave this way in the Outlook desktop application.  I believe Docebo needs to address this and not expect a 4-5 step process for learners to add learning events to their calendars.

 

T
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Please put this in the idea portal because you are so right (and not the only one facing this issue).

Cheers,

Tim

T
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We have struggled with this ourselves. The majority of our ILT/Webinar courses are multi-day. It works like a charm as long as the session is 1 day or less. We got the same disappointing answer from Docebo when we put a ticket in as well. I will vote for the idea!

alekwo
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I fully agree that Docebo should be sending “normal” calendar invitation/update/cancellation messages that any program could process for users correctly.

 

In our test we have found out that to get acceptable results it’s better to use the short-code [calendar_attachment] instead of [calendar_sync_url].

When calendar attachment is used, a person can open it in Outlook desktop, and then, despite only one event date is presented, when they click Save & Close, all events are added to their calendar.

 

-- Alek Oleszkiewicz - linkedin.com/in/aleko
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I am not sure what I am doing wrong. When I open it asks if I want to save as a new calendar and if I say no it doesn’t open. If I say yes it adds another calendar…

 

alekwo
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@tonya.clark I’m on Mac, and this might be working differently on Windows… I see that some Outlook users are facing similar issues. There are some workarounds available on Microsoft’s forum - https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/icalics-files-creating-new-calendar-instead-of/60ee1860-4654-4487-943f-8e9146791ea7?page=1

 

@Docebo - please provide an option to send calendar invitations instead of attaching .ics files!

-- Alek Oleszkiewicz - linkedin.com/in/aleko
A
Userlevel 1

The behavior described by @keiishida only happens when you create an ILT session with two or multiple events, and apparently only in Windows. The workaround to add all the training events of the same session to your personal Outlook calendar is to forward the invite to your own email account. To do so, accept and open the invite and then forward it to your email account; the training dates will be instantly saved there. I hope too that Docebo finds a fix to this issue.

martiniwinski
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Our team was testing the v/ILT function in our sandbox and there is a lot to be desired from this part of the platform. It’s clunky for admins and end user alike. The worst part was what everyone mentioned above - the new calendar the invitation creates for users in their Outlook desktop app. Since most of our users use this app, we didn’t launch our v/ILT in Docebo because of that issue.

It’s sad that the platform has such potential and the company is working on new projects to make more money as add-ons, but not fixing big usability problems.

--

Update: I did see some UX improvements for enrolling into sessions and on the admin side. My comments were a little harsh above and glad to see some progress being made.

@alekwo thanks for the input to use the short-code [calendar_attachment] (which adds to existing calendar) instead of [calendar_sync_url] (which creates the separate calendar).

Martin Iwinski
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We ran into this issues when we onboarded with Docebo a few years ago. I’m very frustrated that there isn’t a fix yet. I’ve worked with 2 other LMSs (one of them was absolutely AWFUL) and both handled ILT notifications 100 times better than Docebo. For Docebo to blame it on Outlook is a shame and shows they either don’t have the skills in house to do it right or just haven’t spent the time to investigate the issue.

Nonetheless, we figured out a workaround. To get a multi-day ILT session on your calendar, simply drag and drop the .ics attachment on the calendar icon in Outlook.

  

lscoggins
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We are new to Docebo and the ability to sync dates (i.e. deadlines for e-Learning &/or Learning Plans  or ILT training dates) with Outlook was a key selling point.  Our leadership and frontline works to not want to manage two separate calendars nor do they want to manually populate their current Outlook calendar with training dates.  Unfortunately, I am being told that the issue is with our internal MicroSoft Outlook.  Where I struggle with this is similar to previous posts in this thread...we integrate seamlessly with a large number & variety of other applications many of which are external (i.e. Evite, Open Table, ect).  I see a number of work-arounds discussed above but most are in reference to ILT training.  Am I the only one who has an expectation that all relevant deadlines should  integrate with our existing Outlook, as well?  I know this is more technical because deadlines may vary…..  Thoughts?  

Also, it looks like many of the solutions incorporate Notifications.  Am I crazy to think the dates populating on the My Calendar application should sync?

Being new, I am not sure how to elevate this issue so that it's taken seriously by Docebo.

Leah
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@BobBeauchamp  - your method does work and is easy to explain. Sadly, Docebo is removing the ICS attachment with the new ILT interface. 

Bfarkas
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We ran into this issues when we onboarded with Docebo a few years ago. I’m very frustrated that there isn’t a fix yet. I’ve worked with 2 other LMSs (one of them was absolutely AWFUL) and both handled ILT notifications 100 times better than Docebo. For Docebo to blame it on Outlook is a shame and shows they either don’t have the skills in house to do it right or just haven’t spent the time to investigate the issue.

Nonetheless, we figured out a workaround. To get a multi-day ILT session on your calendar, simply drag and drop the .ics attachment on the calendar icon in Outlook.

  

Ah ics files, outlook actually ,adages them how it is supposed to work, just people don’t like it which is why I would suspect nothing has changed here. Calendars and event sharing and ics files is an area of tech that could use some serious disruption. 

B
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@BobBeauchamp  - your method does work and is easy to explain. Sadly, Docebo is removing the ICS attachment with the new ILT interface. 

😲 That’s news to me. Do you know when this will take place? And do you know how they will handle calendar appointments for ILT?

Jessica Tart
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I have good news for everyone! Docebo is planning to add an Outlook Alias Connect recipe that will automate the calendar invites! There is already a Gmail connector available for those companies who use Gmail. It is my understanding that when a user enrolls into an ILT session, the calendar invite will be automatically added to their calendar without any action needed. It will also update if the date/time changes, and disappear if the session is canceled. The last I heard, this should be available in May!

Jessica Tart
Bfarkas
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@Jessica Overby that is nice, any word on how that gets configured, I.e. an office 365 admin grants access for all users or each individual users is required to grant access? Sounds like a new security review board process is inbound :)

Jessica Tart
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@Jessica Overby that is nice, any word on how that gets configured, I.e. an office 365 admin grants access for all users or each individual users is required to grant access? Sounds like a new security review board process is inbound :)

I am not sure about the technical setup. It is my understanding that you just use an Outlook Alias and enable the pre-built Connect recipe. However, I would not be surprise if there is more to it than that.

Jessica Tart
KatieD
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Glad that an upgrade is coming soon! This is crazy! 

KatieD
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Hello everyone, I’m the Product Manager in Docebo for the 3rd party systems and I can confirm that exists a recipe via Docebo Connect to perform the delivery of calendars by using an Outlook account.

You can find more information below: 

https://help.docebo.com/hc/en-us/articles/5542458272914-Docebo-Connect-for-Microsoft-Outlook-365-Calendar

 

The recipe template is free to use for everyone has Docebo Connect.

NickStanzinai
Userlevel 2

Davide - please pass on to the company that charging for a feature so basic to the functionality of an LMS is off-putting.  

For those that don’t know, there is an upcharge for Docebo Connect. 

 

S
Rank

Hello everyone, I’m the Product Manager in Docebo for the 3rd party systems and I can confirm that exists a recipe via Docebo Connect to perform the delivery of calendars by using an Outlook account.

You can find more information below: 

https://help.docebo.com/hc/en-us/articles/5542458272914-Docebo-Connect-for-Microsoft-Outlook-365-Calendar

 

The recipe template is free to use for everyone has Docebo Connect.

 

Hi everybody

Davide, thanks for your answer, but it covers a specific use case.

The solution you suggested is only valid for Office 365: there are many on-premises Exchange installations where users use outlook installed on their endpoint.

Any forecast on a solution that deals with that?

 

Thank you

Stefano

Bfarkas
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I think Stefano has hit the real nail on the head here and I often joke about calendars. All the tech advancement the world claims, and fundamentally calendaring systems are flawed and still based on some of their original concepts. On top of that many large companies have tried to fix in their own unique way that results in fractured solutions that are almost impossible to keep up with and satisfy everyone, or require too much specific knowledge to be used (i.e. outlook import over just click the file). It is definitely a space ripe for some disruption, but theres no real money in it and the incumbents are massive. Every time someone comes to me about an event, a system, a new platform, or anything and they start saying how basic it is to just add a calendar I literally laugh and run away as I know I am in for another 3 months of investigation, development, and TIME MATH (the worst of all maths :) )

D
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Hi @stefano.bonacina unfortunately there is no plan to operate with on-premises solutions.

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