Duplicate Events on Import

[Robynn]

Hello,

I am importing from an Office 365 calendar, using the iCalendar import option (as there is no Office 365 option), and it is importing duplicate events for some reason. Not every event is duplicated, but enough that it is an issue.

I have the settings for import set to override any local changes I make. It also doesn’t recognize recurring events in the Office 365 calendar as recurring in The Events Calendar, so I wonder if that is the issue. Any help you can provide would be appreciated.

My calendar is at http://www.fumcnb.org/calendar

[Andras]

Hi Kat,

Thanks for reaching out to us. I’m really sorry about this duplication issue.

We have identified this glitch with Office 365 imports. (The iCalendar is the right choice for importing.)

Let me give you a little background on what is happening.

When events are created an exported (i.e. from your Office 365), all of the events receive a unique identifier (UID). The purpose of the UID is to identify this event. The standard is that this UID stays the same throughout the life of an event, so you can always identify the same event with the same UID.

Unfortunately Office 365 does not fully follow this standard and is giving new UIDs to events every time they are imported.

Another unfortunate thing is that there is no other way to securely identify an event as the same. It would be possible to use a combination like the title and the start date, but if one of those change, then it again would be considered a different event.

Likely this is what is happening and unfortunately at the moment there is nothing we can do about it. It’s in the hands of the Office 365 guys.

If you can share with me the URL you are importing, then I can check if this is the case. Please also share 1-2 events which are duplicating and also 1-2 which are not.

Thanks and cheers,
Andras

[Support Droid]

Hey there! This thread has been pretty quiet for the last three weeks, so we’re going to go ahead and close it to avoid confusion with other topics. If you’re still looking for help with this, please do open a new thread, reference this one and we’d be more than happy to continue the conversation over there.

Thanks so much!
The Events Calendar Support Team

[Author]

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