vCard turns into an envelope

[Guest]

I can’t receive vCards or vCalendars as an attachment. The icon turns into an
yellow envelope and contains no information other then sender name, subject
info etc. Now here is the funny bit.

1) My home computer can send vCards and vCalendars to my office computer,
and it works fine. But do it the other way round and my home computer just
receive yellow envelopes

2) My office computer can send vCards or vCalendars to a difference office
computer, and that works fine, but I can’t receive from that other office
computer (yellow envelopes again)

All 3 computers are using Outlook 2003 with the latest SP2 installed.

Will be most grateful for any help, thanks Niels

 

[Neo - [MVP Outlook]]

Odd, are you sure you are sending a vCard/vCalendar from Work to home?
Generally when I see an envelope, I'm thinking that user has dragged a
contact or calendar item into a new message. This method creates an embeded
message type that will get flattened as it heads out to the internet.
(Special Outlook types don't have any special fields that get transmitted
that tell the recipient what it was. It just knows it as a message.)

The only other thing I can think of is that the server at work is mangling
the item somehow when it is prepping in for an internet address. Do you
know what type of email server software is used at work? (e.g. Microsoft
Exchange, Groupwise, Lotus Notes, .etc)

 

[Guest]

Yes I am certain I am sending either vCard/vCalendar.

I right click on the contact or calendar & select forward –
This creates an email which has the correct icon attached for the contact or
appointment –
When I check the sent item box it still looks correct, however, the
recipient receives (most of the time) a yellow envelope.

I have a hunch that the email server is Exchange, although I don’t think it
matters as it seems to me that between 2 pcs it works one way but not the
other.

E.g. I can send from my computer (A) to computer (B) & it works fine, & then
I can send the same thing from (A) again to say computer (C) & it has become
a yellow envelope. However, send an attachment from (B) to (A) & it’s a
yellow envelope but from (C) to (A) it works! The exact opposites.

 

[Neo - [MVP Outlook]]

Actually a right click & forward is embeding the item as a special message
(*.msg) type that gets flattened when it is prepped for transmission across
the internet. Try this instead, highlight a contact and select Actions >
Forward as vCard.

Calendar items are kinda the same, but you would pick Actions > Forward as
iCalendar

 

[Guest]

That worked perfectly. Thank you very much Neo, you are a star.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Ah, that procedure does not produce a vCalendar or vСard item. Instead, it sends the item in Outlook format, which will work only if all of the following are true:

1) The message format is set to rich-text.

2) The recipient is marked to "Use Outlook rich text format" or "Let Outlook decide."

3) Outlook is not set in Tools | Options | Mail Format to convert RTF messages to HTML.

4) Exchange is not converting RTF to HTML or plain text.

5) The recipient has OUtlook.

If you want to send an actual vCard .vcf file or vCalendar .vcs file, a better method is to use the Forward as vCard or Forward as vCalendar command.

--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers