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Is there an Outlook Task equivalent to the calendar ICS file. Such that when a user clicks on such a file , the Outlook Task window opens up. I searched hard, but looks like there is no standardization for Tasks as it is for the Calendar. Basically what I need is for the user to click on the file or its link and the Task window opens instead of the Appointment or Calendar window.

Thanks.

Auberon Vacher
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Aamir
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    No, but used exchange web services which worked wonderfully: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/exchange/en-US/91f37df3-1372-41b5-ae33-a4bac2a699b7/exchange-web-service-managed-api-not-authorizing?forum=exchangesvrdevelopment#67186bcc-0d73-431b-8aa2-8efe47e5e4a4 – Aamir Feb 28 '14 at 00:22

1 Answers1

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ICS files can contain VTODO part (instead of VEVENT), but Outlook does not understand VTODO.

Why not create an MSG file?

Dmitry Streblechenko
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  • how can the MSG file help. What is its format. Can it be opened in a Task window? – Aamir Jan 17 '14 at 01:01
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    MSG file format is binary - it can store any Outlook item (mail item, contact, appointment, task). Try to save a task from Outlook - open a task, click File | Save As. Where does your code creating files run? – Dmitry Streblechenko Jan 17 '14 at 14:11
  • This is for an ASP.Net application. I may be needing to create the msg file through code then, which is not same as the plain text format ICS is in. I think I will go with the ICS then and have the user work with the calendar window instead of tasks. Thanks for your help any way. – Aamir Jan 17 '14 at 15:31
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    You can still create a standalone MSG file - you can either create it from the scratch (its format is documented, even if it is as binary as it gets) or you can use Redemption and its RDOSession.CreateMessageFromMsgFile method (http://www.dimastr.com/redemption/rdosession.htm) - pass "IPM.Task" as the message class and cast the returned object to RDOTaskItem object (http://www.dimastr.com/redemption/RDOTaskItem.htm). – Dmitry Streblechenko Jan 17 '14 at 16:27
  • Thank you @Dmitry. I ended up working with the Exchange Web Services. It creates a task in the user's calendar behind the scenes. Again, thanks for your input! – Aamir Feb 27 '14 at 14:51