Duplicate i

[David]

Hello, I am doing an iCal scheduled import on my site http://www.trinitycatholichs.org/calendar. Unfortunately it is creating multiple events every day and I can’t figure out a way to resolve this. Any help would be appreciated.

[Geoff B.]

Good evening David and welcome to the Events Calendar Support forum!

Thank you for reaching out to us.

We are sorry to hear about the multiple events being created every day.
I would love to help you with this topic.

As a first troubleshooting step, could you please provide us with your complete system information in a private reply using the instructions found in the following link?

https://theeventscalendar.com/knowledgebase/sharing-sys-info/

Secondly, would be possible to know:

1. What iCal feed(s) you are scheduling for import ?
2. What your scheduled iCal imports settings look like (screenshot) ?

Best regards and hang in there as we figure this out,

Geoff B.

[David]

This reply is private.

[Geoff B.]

Good evening David,

Thank you for writing back and for providing me with the requested information.

On my end, I have not been able to reproduce the issue unfortunately (at least not yet).

With that in mind, the first thing I would recommend would be to update your iCal importer to the latest version (4.2.2).
We have fixed several bugs over the last little while and I believe this would help.

Secondly, can you tell me if, when you initially set the import, you checked the “Overwrite Existing:” checkbox ?

Let me know how that goes.

Best regards,
Geoff B.

[David]

I updated the plugin but that did not resolve the situation. I can not tell for sure because it only seems to create the duplicate events for days in the past and the current day is normally fine. I really need this resolved as soon as possible since this is for a live production site. I do not remember seeing that checkbox when creating the import.

[Geoff B.]

Good evening David,

Thank you for writing back. I am sorry to hear that updating the plugin did not help.

On my end, I have let the iCal recurring import run with the feed you have provided me with, and I still have not been able to reproduce the issue.

I totally understand the seriousness of the situation and in fact I absolutely share your goal: resolve this as quickly as possible.

Based on what we know, it looks like for some reason the recurring iCal import is unable to properly match past events and as such creates duplicates every time it runs.

We also know that a recurring import for that exact iCal feed created with the latest version of the plugin AND the overwrite checkbox selected works great.

At this stage, we have a couple of options on the table to achieve that:

1. Try to see if there is not a conflict at play (theme or plugin based). This can be accomplished by going through our testing for conflicts procedure (preferably in a staging/dev environment or local install of your WordPress website) and let us know what you find out.Basically the goal here is to revert back to a bare WordPress installation to see if the problem persists. It also allows us to pinpoint what the cause of the issue is.
2. Completely stop and delete the recurring import, clean the past events manually and recreate the import with the latest version of the plugins.

I would personally recommend option 2 (even though it’s time consuming). The reason for that is that it looks like your current recurring import is “corrupted” at some level. So starting relatively clean, would be my preferred solution.

Let me know which path you would like to pursue.

Thank you for sticking with us on this complex issue.

Best regards,

Geoff B.

[David]

I guess we will try option 2.

[Geoff B.]

Good afternoon David,

Thank you for writing back.

Please let me know how that goes.

Best regards and have a great weekend,
Geoff B.

[David]

I do not see the “overwrite” check box. Maybe that is the issue? Where can I find that?

[Geoff B.]

Good evening David,

I am not sure if that is indeed the issue. But it’s certainly worth a shot!

See the following screenshot to activate the “overwrite” checkbox.

Let me know how that goes.

Best regards,
Geoff B.

[David]

I don’t have that button.

[Geoff]

Hey David,

I see from your system information that you;re running iCal Importer 4.2.0.1. Would you be willing to update to the latest version, 4.2.2? I’m hoping that will reveal the button.

Thanks!
Geoff G.

[Geoff B.]

Good evening David,

It is surprising that this option is not there if you updated the iCal importer to it’s latest version.

Would you mind:

1. Resending your complete updated system information in a private reply using the instructions found in the following link?

   https://theeventscalendar.com/knowledgebase/sharing-sys-info/

2. Sending me a copy of your WordPress theme / child theme in a .zip file link (via Dropbox or Google Drive) so that I can run some tests on my end ?
3. Sending me a screenshot of what happens when you click on the “edit” link of your recurring import (see my screenshot below) ?

Best regards,

Geoff B.

[David]

This reply is private.

[Geoff B.]

Good afternoon David,

Thank you for the info.

Based on the screenshot you have given me, it does look indeed like there are options missing on your end in the iCal import (in spite of the fact that your plugins look up to date).

I am not sure why that is the case, but the 2 most likely causes are:

1. Something in your WordPress theme that is conflicting / needs updating – hence my suggestion of sending me a copy of your WordPress theme / child theme in a .zip file link (via Dropbox or Google Drive) so that I can run some tests on my end.
2. Something went wrong in the plug-in upgrade process. I would recommend removing the iCal import plugin completely and re-installing it.

Hang in there as we try to figure this one out!

Best regards,

Geoff B.

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