Hi all, We have a mixture of Outlook 2003 and 2010 clients on the network connecting to Exchange 2010 SP1. When a user books a resource calendar using Outlook 2010, it takes a few minutes showing up in the Outlook 2003 clients when you view the free/busy info of the resource mailbox. This means that if someone using Outlook 2003 goes to book the same resource, they do not see it as already booked until a few minutes later. I understand that Outlook 2010 uses the scheduling service to book appointments and see free/busy and that Outlook 2003 uses public folders. I do not, however, understand how they work in a mixed environment! Does the OUtlook 2010 client detect the public folder and use that too? I am assuming not given the delay in the free/busy info appearing. Is there a way to get rid of the delay in the free/busy info showing up when a Outlook 2010 client books the resource and the free/busy is viewed on Outlook 2003 clients?

Hi Is there any option to upgrade the clients to Outlook 2010 so you don't need the public folders for F/B?Jonas Andersson MCTS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007/2010 | MCITP: EMA 2007/2010 | MCSE/MCSA Blog: http://www.testlabs.se/blog

Hi, 2010 will be installed next year, but in the interim period I was wondering if this is normal behaviour or if there is a way to speed up the sync?

There are know issues with Outlook 2003 using with Exchange 2010 http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2010/04/23/454711.aspx For best user experiences use either Outlook 2007 or 2010Jonas Andersson MCTS: Microsoft Exchange Server 2007/2010 | MCITP: EMA 2007/2010 | MCSE/MCSA Blog: http://www.testlabs.se/blog

Hi, This is a known issue with using Outlook 2003 in Exchange 2010 enviroment: Communicator does not update the free/busy information as scheduled http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941103 Here are some related articles(about Outlook 2003 work with Exchagne 2010) shares to you: Understanding the Availability Service http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb232134.aspx Users who use Outlook 2003 cannot publish their free/busy data in Exchange Server 2010 or in Exchange Server 2007 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945602 If anything is unclear, please feel free to let me know and I will be glad to help. Best Regards, Evan

Thanks. The free/busy data publishes fine, but it was just the time taken to show up in different version of Outlook that was annoying. One of the links above contains a table showing how various versions of Outlook handle the free/busy on 2010 Exchange. Outlook 2010 will store it in the mailbox if the mailbox is on 2010 which I understand. Users on Exchange 2010 using Outlook 2003 will have their free/busy stored in the public folder which I understand too. What I do not understand is how the two versions of Outlook see each other's free/busy informaiton. Does Exchange 2010 sync the mailbox free/busy data to the public folder free/busy data for all clients to view? Or if someone is on Outlook 2010 and they view a user's free/busy who uses Outlook 2003, does Outlook know to just retrieve that data from the public folder and vice versa. So someone on Outlook 2003 when they view a Outlook 2010 person's free/busy info, does Outlook 2003 retrieve that from the user's mailbox somehow?

Hi, From you description, I understand that you want to know how two versions of Outlook see each other’s free/busy information. Based on my knowledge, in an environment where connecting clients are mixed with Outlook 2003 and Outlook 2010. The Availability Service and public folders are both used to retrieve free/busy information. All the clients need to publish free/busy information because Outlook 2003 can only retrieve free/busy information from the free/busy messages stored in the Schedule and Free Busy system folders in the Public Folder store. When try to retrieve, Outlook 2010 accesses everyone’s mailbox to get the free/busy information via the Availability service, because all the mailboxes are on the Same Exchange 2010. Outlook 2003 accesses everyone’s free/busy information by public folders. Here is a related article for you: Understanding the Availability Service http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb232134.aspx If anything is unclear, please feel free to let me know and I will be glad to help. Best Regards, Evan

OK thanks for the link. I have been away on other work but am back on this again. The above post makes sense. One thing that I failed to mention in the first post was that we are running in a co-existence environment. Outlook 2003 users are on Exchange 2003 and Outlook 2010 users are on Exchange 2010. Co-existence is working fine and free/busy updates OK given time. It is the time taken to replicate the free/busy information between Exchange 2003 and Exchange 2010 that is a problem. An example in testing: A user on Exchange 2010 using Outlook 2010 books a meeting room which is a resource mailbox located on Exchange 2010. All other people on Outlook 2010 on Exchange 2010 see the meeting room as booked in the free/busy scheduling page so all is OK that side. Now, a user on Exchange 2003 using Outlook 2003 opens the meeting room scheduling assistant in Outlook and does NOT see upto date information for the Exchange 2010 resource calendar. They try to book the room as they think it is free and Outlook reports that the room is already booked. However, the free/busy information shows that the meeting room is free because it is not up to date for that room. If the user leaves Outlook open for 2 minutes or so and checks again the free/busy information is up to date. In the scheduling assistant, using options -> update free/busy information does NOT update anything. You have to wait so it appears the the Exchange 2003 public folder for free/busy isn't update date as of yet? So free/busy informaiton works between the environments, but it takes a long time to replicate across. We only have one AD site in test and the public folder replication schedule for free/busy is set to "Always Run". Does anyone know if this just a problem with Exchange 2003/2010 in co-existence and the delay is to be expected, or is there a confiuguration setting to speed up how fast free/busy information updates for Outlook 2003 clients on Exchange 2003 when a user using Outlook 2010 on Exchange 2010 books a resource calendar on 2010?