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Meeting in attendee’s Calendar loses track of the meeting organizer

Article ID: 2768774 - View products that this article applies to.

Symptoms

Microsoft is aware of an increase in the number of issues that are related to meeting requests. This increase in the number of issues coincided with the release of Apple iOS 6 devices. In these issues, users who are attendees of a meeting may unintentionally become the meeting organizer.

When this issue occurs, the organizer information is not changed when you view the item in Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Web App (OWA). If an attendee takes action on a meeting item by using an Apple iOS 6 device and then synchronizes with Microsoft Exchange Server by using Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync (EAS), the meeting attendee may become the meeting organizer.

Additionally, the Apple iOS 6 device may incorrectly let the device user (attendee) act as the meeting organizer. For example, the attendee can send meeting updates or cancellations to all the original meeting attendees.

This issue can affect users of Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.

Note This issue has been fixed in Microsoft Exchange Online for Office 365.

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Cause

This issue was investigated by Microsoft and Apple. Apple recently released the iOS 6.0.1 Software Update. This update is intended to address the issues that were reported by customers.

Note For more information about this iOS 6 update, see the "Resolution" section.

Note This article will be updated with additional information when the information is available.

Note This issue is not the same issue that was fixed in Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 3 (SP3) Update Rollup 4 (RU4). The issue that was fixed in Exchange Server 2007 SP3 RU4 is documented in the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

2521063

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2521063)

You are incorrectly displayed as a meeting organizer after you synchronize the meeting by using your mobile device in an Exchange Server 2007 environment

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Resolution

Install Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 3

To resolve this issue, install Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 3 (SP3). For information about Exchange Server 2010 SP3, visit the following Microsoft website:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36768

(http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36768)

Install the most recent iOS update

Apple has released the iOS 6.0.1 Software Update. This update is intended to fix several issues. This includes a bug that affects Exchange meetings and applies to Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. However, because of a meeting response issue on the device, we recommend that you install the iOS 6.1.2 Software Update or the most recent update that is available.

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Workaround

If you cannot install Exchange Server 2010 Service Pack 3 or update devices to iOS 6.1.2,, use one or more of the following methods:

Recommend that users do not take actions on alerts where the name of the meeting organizer is missing from the alert. For example, recommend that users not tap Delete Event when one of the following is displayed in a new invitation:
- Invitation from someone
- Invitation from user_name
Instead, recommend that users do not take action and close the alert.
Set the New Invitation Alerts setting to Off in the Calendar settings on the iOS device.
Recommend that users do not take immediate action on Calendar items that are displayed in the Inbox. For example, recommend that users wait until the Accept, Decline, Maybe options appear on the Calendar item.
Recommend that users decline meetings by using Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access, or Microsoft Outlook Web App.
Recommend that users do not update to iOS 6 now.
Block iOS 6 by using the Exchange Server 2010 Allow/Block/Quarantine feature. For more information about the Exchange Server 2010 Allow/Block/Quarantine feature, see the following Exchange Team Blog post:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2010/11/15/3411539.aspx
(http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2010/11/15/3411539.aspx)
Also, for updated information about how to use Exchange Management Shell for Allow/Block/Quarantine, see the following article in Microsoft TechNet online:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876923.aspx
(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd876923.aspx)
Block iOS devices that have mailboxes that are hosted on earlier versions of Exchange Server. For more information about how to block iOS devices that have mailboxes that are hosted on earlier versions of Exchange Server, visit the following TechNet website:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2008/09/05/3406212.aspx
(http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2008/09/05/3406212.aspx)
Block users who have a delegate from using Exchange ActiveSync.
Block users who have delegate access from using Exchange ActiveSync.
Recommend that users use a different email client to synchronize email message data. For example, recommend that users use Outlook Web Access or a third-party solution to synchronize email message data.
Recommend the POP protocol or the IMAP protocol for data synchronization on the device.

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More information

Exchange Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2010 best practices

We recommend the following procedures. These procedures may help in some scenarios:

Update both the Delegate and the Manager in a Delegate and Manager pair to Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Service Pack 2 or a later version.

Note Update both the Delegate and Manager to the same version of Outlook.
Enable the Calendar processing on the server according to the following Knowledge Base article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309185
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309185)
For Managers in a Delegate Manager pair, make sure that only the Delegate receives the meeting requests and responses.

Note The first two procedures are general best practice recommendations for any organization that uses Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Outlook. The third procedure was recommended by Apple. The third procedure has helped in some, but not all, scenarios.

Additional step for Exchange Server 2010

As a general best practice, we recommend that you enable the Exchange Calendar Repair Assistant (ExCRA). For more information about the ExCRA, see the following topic from Microsoft TechNet website:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee424432.aspx

(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee424432.aspx)

For information about how to configure ExCRA, visit the following TechNet website:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee633469.aspx

(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee633469.aspx)

For information about how to configure ExCRA for a single user when ExCRA is not enabled for all users, visit the following TechNet website:

Note You may want to enable ExCRA for a single user for testing.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee633473.aspx

(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee633473.aspx)

For Exchange Server 2003

For Managers in a Delegate Manager pair, make sure that only the Delegate receives the meeting requests and responses.

References

For more information about the iOS 6.0.1 Software Update, visit the following Internet website:

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1606

(http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1606 )

Microsoft provides third-party contact information to help you find technical support. This contact information may change without notice. Microsoft does not guarantee the accuracy of this third-party contact information.

As more information becomes available, it will be summarized under the Scenario 1.2 heading in the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

2563324

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2563324)

Current issues with Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and third-party devices

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, about the performance or reliability of these products.

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