Outlook 2013 is not publishing calendar to webdav using settings successful with Outlook 2010

I am successfully publishing availability data (an ics file) to a webdav server, using Outlook 2010. The format of the URL is https://[domain]/public_html/calendar/

When I use the same URL in Outlook 2013, it returns the message "Contacting web server" and then "The upload to 'Calendar' failed. Failed to sign in."

Of course, there's no sign in dialog box provided. So, I change the URL to the format https://[login name]:[password]@URL/public_html/calendar/

There is no "Contacting web server". Instead, Outlook goes directly to the error message "The upload of 'Calendar' failed. The calendar was not published because the connection to the server failed. Make sure your computer has a network connection and that you typed the correct Web address."

There's nothing wrong with the connection; I've tried this and its failed many times. So, I conclude that Outlook 2013 doesn't like a web address that includes the login credentials.

What changed with Outlook 2013 that prevents it from publishing to the same location successfully published to, by Outlook 2010?

June 18th, 2013 12:36am

Can you still receive the error message when you publish another WebDav server that can be used to publish Outlook Calendars? Like icalx.com. (A free WebDav server that can be used to publish Outlook Calendars )

Tony Chen
TechNet Community Support


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June 19th, 2013 7:59am

Can you still receive the error message when you publish another WebDav server that can be used to publish Outlook Calendars? Like icalx.com. (A free WebDav server that can be used to publish Outlook Calendars )

Tony Chen
TechNet Community Support


June 19th, 2013 10:59am

Can you still receive the error message when you publish another WebDav server that can be used to publish Outlook Calendars? Like icalx.com. (A free WebDav server that can be used to publish Outlook Calendars )

Tony Chen
TechNet Community Support


Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
June 19th, 2013 10:59am

Can you still receive the error message when you publish another WebDav server that can be used to publish Outlook Calendars? Like icalx.com. (A free WebDav server that can be used to publish Outlook Calendars )

Tony Chen
TechNet Community Support


June 19th, 2013 10:59am

That works. Sort of.

I created an account on iCal Exchange. Outlook 2013 published my calendar to icalx with no problem. And, for the first time, Outlook 2013 displayed a dialog box to capture my login credentials.

However, after Outlook 2013 published my calendar once, the URL no longer appears under Home>Publish Online>Publish to WebDAV Server. And, "Remove from server..." is grayed out. This despite the fact I selected "Automatic Uploads: Upload updates periodically."

I get no error message. That suggests to me that something is wrong with the way my web disk is configured or the URL I am using, to publish to my own web disk.

So, the URL to icalx sort of works, but does not "stick." It appears that Outlook 2013 is not uploading updates to iCal Exchange.

That said, Tony, I want to thank you for turning me on to the iCal Exchange. I had not heard of it before.

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June 20th, 2013 8:16pm

I had the same issue - after finding out the publishing account repeatedly got locked out, it seems that the credentials from Outlook 2010 that were saved in the Credential Manager/Windows Vault aren't compatible with Outlook 2013.  After removing that identity from the vault, Outlook 2013 prompted for the login and the calendar uploaded.

However, Outlook 2013 no longer is able to update the existing ICS file on any periodic basis. (Outlook 2013 client even crashes if we try changing the publishing options - it was fine with Outlook 2010)  The current (albeit manual) workaround is to unpublish the calendar and then republish it to update/refresh it.  Any help Microsoft? (everything was working fine with Outlook 2010/Exchange 2010, but no longer works with Outlook 2013/Exchange 2010)

July 15th, 2013 5:06pm

I have the exact same problem.  I can upload the ics file and then subscribe to it with my other calendars, but then outlook doesn't periodically update the ics file.
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August 19th, 2013 4:34pm

The periodic updating does seem to work now, as long as there is an Outlook client running - give that a try.

August 19th, 2013 4:44pm

There's no change in my problem.

The login credentials which continue to successfully allow Outlook 2010 to publish an .ics file to my own host will not work in Outlook 2013. Outlook 2013 continues to insist that no connection exists to my host.

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August 20th, 2013 12:11am

I also continue to have the same problem.  Its very frustrating.
August 29th, 2013 9:51pm

I also have this problem, will it ever get fixed? my calendar is published for on the first instance and then never again unless I republish it. 
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August 13th, 2014 2:20am

Same Problem Here.  The first instance you just put in the file path, not including the file name.  And it works.  But when it republishes it included the file name at the end of the file path and it gives you errors.  Why does it automatically add the file name to the end.  That's the problem.  When you take out the file name and try to republish it outlook 2013 crashes.  
September 11th, 2014 9:19pm

Same thing here. Published once but now gives file/path error.
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October 9th, 2014 8:17pm

Bump.

This issue is the same for us also. Roaming or Non-roaming profiles.

Publish once ok... close outlook, open outlook... the publishing options in the mail profile persists, but the settings in Outlook 2013 seem to be lost.

October 30th, 2014 5:02am

This problem continues, and it's a showstopper.  Honestly, this is so easy to reproduce and so fundamental that I'm surprised that Microsoft hasn't done anything with it.  Tony Chen, your answer isn't really an answer at all.  Why mark it as an answer? 

Here are the specifics.  I have Microsoft Outlook 2013 (15.0.4667.1000) MSO (15.0.4667.1001) 32 bit (part of Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2013).

In my calendar, I select "Publish Online > Publish to WebDAV Server".  I then have a dialog box that requires that I enter the publishing location URL.

I enter a URL (which is my company's internal WebDAV server URL), in the same form as the example given:

    https://mycompany.com/calendars/

and then I click "Advanced".  I select "Automatic Uploads: Upload updates periodically", with the Update Frequency checkbox checked (to select the server's recommended settings).  I click "OK", and my calendar is published periodically to the WebDAV server, as expected.

If I monitor traffic with fiddler, I can see that outlook periodically does a PROPFIND and then PUT of my ical data to https://mycompany.com/calendars/myfile.ics.

Next, suppose I want to change the publish settings in some way.  So in my calendar, I select "Publish Online > Change Publishing Options".

Now, the "Location" text box has the previous URL I entered, plus the name of my .ics file.  So it looks like this in the text box:

    https://mycompany.com/calendars/myfile.ics

I click "OK", and I get an error popup that says "The address you typed is not valid.  Check the address, and try again."  Note that I didn't type the address at all - it is what outlook put there for me.

As a side note:  in Outlook 2010 the URL shown is the same (i.e., the URL includes the .ics file) but the text box is inactive (greyed out) and the "OK" button does not produce this error message).

So, already something has gone very wrong.  In order to try to work around this, I then edit the text box to remove the .ics file (i.e., to put the URL back to what I originally typed, https://mycompany.com/calendars/).  But now, one of two things will happen, neither of which is ok.

In some cases, Outlook will continue to publish periodically, but when it does, it will do a PUT to https://mycompany.com/calendars/ - without the myfile.ics suffix.  Naturally, this fails, because the server doesn't know what .ics file it's supposed to put the PUT payload into.

In other cases, Outlook ceases publishing altogether.  It will do a PROPFIND to the URL, but then no PUT.  I have not yet figured out the circumstances of these two failure modes, so I'm not yet sure why one happens and not the other.  But they are both wrong.

So, the long and short of this is, you cannot change publishing options in Outlook 2013, because the functionality (which worked fine in Outlook 2010) is just plain broken.  I have given the steps required to reproduce this problem, and it seems like it would be easy to address.  Yet it has been sitting for 1.5 years with no fix.  What will it take to get this fixed?  Microsoft people, please advise - if I can get it fixed by opening a support case then please say so; paying is not an obstacle. 

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December 2nd, 2014 10:49pm

Thank you, Scott Carson, for your description of this problem and your assertion that this is "so easy to reproduce and so fundamental." It's remarkable that Microsoft hasn't addressed this years ago.

Tony Chen's "answer" is no answer, at all.

As for me, I have found the only way I can publish my Outlook calendar is to use Google Calendar. I use Fieldston Software's gSyncit (http://www.fieldstonsoftware.com/software/gsyncit4/) to synchronize my Outlook calendars with Google Calendar. I then display my Google Calendar. With gSyncit I can publish two calendars: One for free/busy only and a second with all calendar details. This is not my desired solution, but Microsoft's failure to address this problem requires that I seek a workaround using a product from a Microsoft competitor.

Outlook 2013 doesn't just fail to publish an ICS file. It will not publish a VFB file, either, which means I cannot publish a Free/Busy file as part of my Outlook contact card. Perhaps Microsoft thought crippling this capability would force users to use Exchange. That's not a practical solution for many of us.

In the end, these problems with Outlook have forced me to learn a great deal more about Google Applications than would have been necessary had Microsoft not provided a fix. This experience has set my feet on the road to transition away from Outlook, altogether. Good show, Microsoft, what to shoot yourself in the foot.

December 3rd, 2014 10:17pm

Mark, I share your disappointment.  But in my case, Outlook is a fact of life, and it's very unlikely that an add-in would work in our environment (nor would Google calendar).  So we are going to have to make do with what's there.

My question is, what do I have to do to get this fixed?  Do Microsoft people read this forum?  If so, please speak up.  If the answer is "pay", that's an acceptable answer; I just need to know what to do to move forward.  It seems like a great many people have had this problem and a solution could benefit all.

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December 4th, 2014 5:17pm

Tony, the answer to this poster's question is that this failure occurs with any caldav server, icalx or otherwise.  I would like to propose your question as "not the answer".  Could you please read below?
December 4th, 2014 5:19pm

We recently investigated this issue and found a possible workaround.  The reason the Publishing Options are not updating is due to Outlook looking for a policy setting.  This is not expected and we have submitted a bug to request this be fixed.  In the meantime we can try and workaround this problem.  If we add the policy manually it enables Outlook to update the Publishing Options. 

To workaround the issue set the registry key below (Start, Run, Regedit).

Reg path : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Options\PubCal

If the PubCal key is not there create it as a new Key.

Key name:  PubCal

Then add a String Value for DAVServerPath.

String name: DAVServerPath
String value: location to save the calendar data on the WebDav server

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February 3rd, 2015 6:08pm

We recently investigated this issue and found a possible workaround.  The reason the Publishing Options are not updating is due to Outlook looking for a policy setting.  This is not expected and we have submitted a bug to request this be fixed.  In the meantime we can try and workaround this problem.  If we add the policy manually it enables Outlook to update the Publishing Options. 

To workaround the issue set the registry key below (Start, Run, Regedit).

Reg path : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook\Options\PubCal

If the PubCal key is not there create it as a new Key.

Key name:  PubCal

Then add a String Value for DAVServerPath.

String name: DAVServerPath
String value: location to save the calendar data on the WebDav server

I appreciate that this thread is continuing to produce suggested fixes.

Thank you, Gabriel Bratton, for the suggested workaround.

Unfortunately, the workaround here does not solve my problem.

I did find PubCal was missing, from my Registry file. I had no problem creating it.

However, the problem remains. I can publish neither an ics file nor a vfb file, using the PubCal key and my WebDav server.

At the present time, Home | Publish Online | Publish to WebDAV server. . . no longer even displays a dialog box into which I could enter the URL for the WebDAV folder. And so I cannot publish an .ics file.

Amusingly, File | Options | Calendar | Free/Busy Options. . . does display a dialog box into which I can enter the URL. However, it also displays "71" as the number of months of calendar free/busy information is to be published. No matter what I do, I cannot reduce that "71" to any other number. And so I cannot publish a .vfb file.

gSyncit and Google Calendar, on the other hand, is working fine. Not a perfect solution, but better than Outlook 2013.

February 5th, 2015 7:02pm

Mark,

I remember we had a bug with the 71 month issue.  It looks like that bug was fixed in the April 2014 public updates.  Check that Outlook is running the latest updates and definitely later than the fixed build 15.0.4579.1000.  Let me know if that helps. 

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February 5th, 2015 7:41pm

I was able to solve my Publish Problem.

After I entered a WebDAV *.ics calendar as a Internet-calender, I got asked my credentials and saved it.

After that I was able to publish my Calendar again to the WebDAV server.

July 15th, 2015 8:46am

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