In Outlook 2003, a user does not receive meeting updates if the user clicked the "Don't send a response" option in response to a forwarded meeting request

Consider the following scenario. A Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 user receives a meeting request from a meeting organizer. Then, the user forwards the meeting request to another Outlook 2003 user. The recipient of the forwarded meeting request clicks the Don't send a response option when they reply to the forwarded meeting request.

In this scenario, the meeting organizer does not know that the recipient of the forwarded meeting request was invited to the meeting. When the meeting organizer updates the meeting, the recipient of the forwarded meeting request does not receive any updates to the meeting because the recipient was not added to the original meeting request.

If you are the meeting organizer, update the original meeting request by adding the attendees that you want. Then, click Send Update to send the updated meeting request to all meeting attendees.

How to obtain the hotfix

This issue is fixed in the Outlook 2003 post-Service Pack 2 Hotfix Package that is dated November 7, 2005. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
To enable this hotfix after you install it, add the ForceMtgForwardResponse registry entry to the following registry subkey, and then set the registry entry to 1: When the ForceMtgForwardResponse registry entry is set to 1, the Don't send a response option in the meeting request appears dimmed and is unavailable. This procedure must be performed on the computer of the user who forwards the meeting request and on the computer of the user who receives the forwarded meeting request.

Note When the ForceMtgForwardResponse registry entry is set to 0, the Don't send a response option in the meeting request is available.

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
To enable this hotfix, follow these steps:

1. Quit Outlook 2003.
2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate and then click to select the following registry key:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\Options\Calendar
4. After you select the key that is specified in step 3, point to New on the Edit menu, and then click DWORD Value.
5. Type ForceMtgForwardResponse, and then press ENTER.
6. Right-click ForceMtgForwardResponse, and then click Modify.
7. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
8. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.

The following scenarios document known issues with the hotfix that is described in this article. These scenarios use the following notation to represent the users:

• UserO is the meeting organizer who sends the meeting request.
• UserR is the user who receives the meeting request from the meeting organizer and then forwards the meeting request.
• UserF is the user who receives the forwarded meeting request.

Scenario 1: UserF is not prompted to send a response if the meeting request does not use the "Request Response" option

If the meeting request does not use the Request Response option, UserF is not prompted to send a response to the meeting request. The following is an example of when you may experience this issue:

1. UserO creates a meeting request that does not use the Request Response option. Then, UserO sends the meeting request to UserR.
2. UserR forwards the meeting request to UserF.
3. UserF accepts the forwarded meeting request.

Scenario 2: The meeting is accepted if UserF clicks the "Edit the response before sending" option and then closes the message

If UserF clicks the Edit the response before sending option but does not send the message, the meeting is accepted. Additionally, the meeting appears in UserF's calendar in Outlook 2003. However, the meeting response is not sent to UserO. The following is an example of when you may experience this issue:

1. UserO sends a meeting request to UserR.
2. UserR forwards the meeting request to UserF.
3. UserF accepts the forwarded meeting request. Then, UserF clicks the Edit the response before sending option in the meeting request. A new message appears in which UserF can respond to the meeting request.
4. UserF closes the new message and does not send the response.

Scenario 3: UserR must send a response after forwarding the meeting request

UserR must send a response after forwarding a meeting request. The Don't send a response option appears dimmed and is unavailable. The following is an example of when you may experience this issue:

1. UserO sends a meeting request to UserR.
2. UserR forwards the meeting request to UserF.
3. UserR accepts the meeting request.

Scenario 4: The "Don't send a response" option is still available if UserF forwards the meeting request by using the Outlook Object Model

If UserR forwards the meeting request by using the Outlook Object Model (OOM), the Don't send a response option is still available. The following is an example of when you may experience this issue:

1. UserO sends a meeting request to UserR.
2. UserR forwards the meeting request to UserF by using the OOM. For example, UserR uses the following code to forward the meeting request:

   Sub FwdMtg()
       Dim olApp As New Outlook.Application
       Dim olInbox As Outlook.MAPIFolder
       Dim olMtg As Outlook.MeetingItem
       Dim olMtgFwd As Outlook.MeetingItem
       
       Set olInbox = olApp.GetNamespace("MAPI").GetDefaultFolder(olFolderInbox)
       Set olMtg = olInbox.Items(1)
       Set olMtgFwd = olMtg.Forward
       olMtgFwd.Recipients.Add ("UserF") ‘change user to recipient who receives the fwd item 
       'olMtgFwd.Display
       olMtgFwd.Send
   End Sub
   

3. UserF accepts the meeting request.

Scenario 5: The "Don't send a response" option is still available if UserR forwards the meeting request by using Outlook Web Access

If UserR forwards the meeting request by using Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access for Exchange Server 2003, the Don't send a response option is still available. The following is an example of when you may experience this issue:

1. UserO sends a meeting request to UserR.
2. UserR logs on to Outlook Web Access, and then forwards the meeting request to UserF.
3. UserF accepts the meeting request.