OL2002: Potential Data Loss in Lotus Notes When You Use Outlook to Mark a To Do Task as Complete

In Outlook 2002 Connector, when you mark a recurring task that was created in the Lotus Notes R5 client as Complete, you may find that the Due Date and the body contents of the base To Do item in Lotus Notes have been modified to the Due Date and body contents of the next recurring item in the series.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in Microsoft Outlook 2002 Connector.

When you use the Lotus Notes R5 client to create a recurring To Do item (equivalent to a Task in Outlook), a "base" item is created in Lotus Notes. Additionally, a series of items is created equal to the number of recurrences that you set for the base item. In Lotus Notes, you can modify an item in the series out of sequence. When you try to modify an item in the series in Lotus Notes, you are prompted with the following dialog:
Your options are:

• Just this instance
• All Instances
• This instance and all previous instances
• This instance and all future instances

Regardless of which option you select, the base item in Lotus Notes is not modified.

When you use Outlook 2002 Connector to view a recurring To Do item that was created in the Lotus Notes client, the item appears as a single Task in Outlook. When you modify the Task in the Outlook client, the underlying base item in the Lotus Notes client is modified and given the Due Date of the next recurring item. Additionally, the underlying base item and all remaining recurrences of the item in the Lotus Notes client are modified with the body contents of the next recurring item in the sequence. When you modify a Task in Outlook 2002 Connector, the result is the same as if you select This instance and all future instances and include the base item in the Lotus Notes client .