Group Calendar
F.a.q.
last FAQ update: October 2008
Make sure you have all Outlook patches; it does make a difference.... http://office.microsoft.com (click 'Check for updates')
List of known GroupCalendar error messages and solutions.
Before going to the actual questions you can review these short comments we make repeatedly on our most common questions
Frequently Asked Questions
GENERAL
(un)INSTALLATION
CONFIGURATION
USE
TROUBLE
We have a secretary that does not want her appointments to show in the GroupCalendar, however, she has to create appointments for other people.
There is a setting for that since version 1.6.57
Open Settings - User info
Check the "don't participate" box
We don't want anything to show in the GroupCalendar unless we choose for it.
Install version 'SetupUKDA'
Open Settings - User info
Check the "don't participate" box and your private calendar will not be monitored.
If you want an item to show in the GroupCalendar:
Create a new appointment in the GroupCalendar
Answer YES to the question "is this an appointment for another user?"
Select your own name in the user list.
OR create the item in your personal calendar with +++ in the big text field.
You need administrator rights on the pc to install GroupCalendar.
It calls me "unknown"/"Empty" and does not show my name in the delegate access list.
GroupCalendar needs an email in the inbox or sent items folder of Outlook to understand who you are. It reads your name from the emails you sent.
You can however force it to use a particular name by editing the registry.
Do Start menu - Run - type: REGEDIT (ok)
Browse to hkey_current_user/software/opusflow/gc
Open UserName from the right pane and adjust your name.
Close regedit, restart Outlook and adjust the settings for database and group calendar folder.
"Do I need to do anything to get my GroupCalendar folder in sync?"
In case of an error
"Can I make an appointment in the calendar of another user ?"
e.g. : Copy \\yourserver\yourshare\Group Calendar.ini c:\Program Files\Group Calendar\Group Calendar.ini /Y
You might have had Outlook running in the background processes.
To remove all remains:
- Press CTRL-ALT-DEL Taskmanager to stop GCHELPER.
In Outlook
If any buttons remain in outlook:
topYou can also remove the "c:\program files\Group Calendar" folder.
"We installed it but it does not seem to work, please help"
- Close Outlook and check it is not running by ctrl-alt-del - taskmanager - services.
- Also close gchelper if it is running.
- Delete the folder c:\program files\Group calendar
- Install the product again
- Start Outlook and don't change any settings
- Check if you have a subfolder GroupCalendar under your private calendar
- Make a new appointment in your personal Calendar
- Check that it shows up in the GroupCalendar sub folder
- Create a Public Folder on Exchange Server of type Calendar
- Give everyone at least Author rights on the folder
- In your GroupCalendar settings select the public folder
- Create a test appointment and check that it shows in the public folder
- Go to a network share where everyone has all rights
- Copy the Group Calendar.mdb database to that network share
- Adjust your group calendar settings in outlook to reflect the new database location (browse to the share and select the database)
If this works, adjust the settings for the other users in their GroupCalendar settings.
After this you can give every user a department setting to use in filters and views for the public folder.
Does GroupCalendar offer any different views for the Calendar? We need one to be able to .....
Other resources: step by step guide
Make sure that you connect yourself. Don't let Outlook initiate the connection. If GroupCalendar sees the central database again it will start to sync your offline changes automatically.
Connect to the shared database when dialed-in with the "select database" button. If the connection is broken GC will automatically use a local cache.
If that still does not work disable the other add-ins first and try again. If you use a PDA, disconnect it
- A general troubleshooting trick is to close outlook and check ctr-alt-del : services. close outlook.exe if still running.
Restart Outlook.- If this does not work, close Outlook again and check ctr-alt-del: services. close outlook.exe there too if still running.
delete the 'Your Name'.ini file from c:\program files\group calendar and start outlook.
With the settings button you can adjust the defaults to the shared locations/folders- If that still does not work and you use outlook XP
check Help, about, disabled add-ins. Maybe the add-in was disabled by Outlook, and you can enable it there.- If that is not the case check Tools, Options, Other, Advanced, Com add-ins and see if it is in the list and enabled.
If it is not enabled, enable it and press OK once. Open the dialog again and check if Outlook accepted that.- If that is not the case, remove the addin from the "com add-ins" dialog and close Outlook. Reinstall the setup.
- If it still does not work log in as administrator and run setup again.
How to order
Click here , press the "quick buy" button, select a bank, cheque, cash, wire transfer or creditcard payment method.
You will receive your license directly after payment. The license file can be placed on the pc with the demo software and it will be registered as a full version.
I don't feel like reading.
Call us (OpusFlow)! You can reach us on both U.S. and European business hours. (16 hours a day)
Or send an email.
Country code: 31 (Netherlands)
Area code: 186
Subs. Nr. : 66 91 94From the US you dial: 011 - 31 - 186 66 91 94
Fax: 011 - 31 - 186 66 95 99
E-mail: info@opusflow.nl
I want to start all over again, clean everything and start fresh
I don't have an Exchange server public folder as GroupCalendar
I do have a Exchange server public folder as Group Calendar
- Remove all record of any table in the database. Use a clean one from the setup instead.- Remove a public folder create a new one and start importing right away. (On a new public folder, first create at least one item in a GC monitored personal calendar of a folder owner )
Can I be a member of two or more GroupCalendars ?
"I am curious if it is possible to have more then 1 calendar? For instance, could we have one scheduling calendar, one calendar for checking out hardware and one calendar for signing out the conference room? We need more then one calendar."
Answer
Yes and no. You can not have seperated calendar folders and connect to them at the same time. But the workaround might suit your needs better.
Using the view capabilities in Outlook you can create views and filters in outlook very easily. On the website you can find an example that creates a view for groups of people but you can also create a view for a specific code in the subject.So you basically have all appointments in one calendar but using the views and filters it's like having 3 different folders.In your case you could all use the code $CR1$ if the appointment subject is for the conference room (or #cr1# or even apple99 if you like) as long as you all use that code and you create a filter the shows only appointments with $CR1$ in the subject you will have your conference room schedule(s)
I use a laptop and I am not connected to the network all the time.
No problem. GC takes care of everything.
The public calendar in Exchange server shows my appointments but when I change or delete one, that is not updated in the Exchange public folder.
I have a number of users connected to my Exchange server permanently, and I have a few mostly travelling. The travelling users connect over VPN or come in now and then. How do I set it up ??
For the laptop users do the following:
Now you need ONE pc on your network
(or a server with it on) where you start the autosync tool that you
can find in
c:\program files\Group Calendar. This gcsystray.exe is installed with
the setupUKEx but normally not in use for that version.
It is important to have the synctool running all day. Every 30 minutes would
be fine.
The sync tool makes sure that appointments, created by the laptop users will
appear in the public folder you use with your permanently connected exchange
users.
I run Outlook XP and the buttons on the toolbar don't work anymore and it not longer syncs.
- Try: Shut down the pc and reboot
If still no good
- Start Outlook
- choose Help, About Microsoft Outlook, and then click Disabled Items.
- To enable GroupCalendar, select the item and click Enable.
If still no good
- check Tools - Options - Other - Advanced options - Com add-ins
- check if GroupCalendar is in the list and the checkbox is checked
- If it is not checked, check it
If it's not in the list
- Add button
- Browse to C:\Program files\Group Calendar
- Select GroupCalendar.dll
if still no good
- Install the setup again but make sure you have administrator rights.
The calendar does not sync.
- Open the Group Calendar folder in Outlook
- Select: Outlook menu View - Current view - By category
- Select the grey header and press delete (delete all from the GC folder)
- Press the button [Sync group calendar] - [Synchronize] to refill the folder again.
- While you are in the same form, check the box "Launch autosync at Outlook startup"
This could be due to a number of causes.
A missing component from either this 'Forms 2.0 setup' or this 'VB6 runtime library setup'.
If the problem persists
If the problem persists let us know.
"I started with the uninstaller in the control panel, and removed some things manually but I still see the buttons.."
How to install it in such a way that all users that log on the computer have it in Outlook.
For pc's where all users are member of the administrators group:
For pc's where users are member of the Users group:
Can I produce a HTML calendar for people that only have access to our Intranet / the Internet ?
Can I print the GroupCalendar other than with the standard Outlook layout?
- Try this great third party MS Word dot file that has been made available from http://class.et.byu.edu/ce270/sampvba/ Save it to disk and after that double click it. If nothing happens you should review your macro security settings in Word. Make sure that Medium security is selected.
- Since 1.6.68 you have the printable Grid-View.
We don't have a server at all, no peer to peer, no LAN.. now what ?
You can use a web server and replication: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnacc2k/html/intrjet4.asp
or connect a pc to the internet and set it up as a VPN enabled server where you can share the database so you and your team can connect to it over the internet.
Windows XP as a VPN server: http://asia.cnet.com/itmanager/netadmin/0,39006400,39050037,00.htmWindows 2000 server; how to enable VPN : http://techrepublic.com.com/5100-6268-1032135.html
Connect Windows XP to the VPN : http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=305550
Add items into the GroupCalendar but don't participate with all calendar items.
- Install SetupUKDA.exe and select the option "Don't participate" under Settings.
- When you want to add an item for all users to see, create it in the GroupCalendar folder.
- When it asks "Is this for another user"
- Select YES and select your own name, or,
- Select the username "Everyone".
To create the user "Everyone", open the central shared group calendar database, table TB_users and create a new record with any name you like. ("management" is another possibility)
We want to use SQL server. How to create the database?
- After installing GroupCalendar you can find the sql database creation script in the program directory 'c:\program files\group calendar' of every pc.
- in SQL Enterprise Admin, create a new database 'GroupCalendar'
- Open Query Analyzer and select the new GroupCalendar database
- Run the creation script.
- In settings - select database on an Outlook client adjust the settings for you SQL server
- If it errors out on checking the database structure (but it can connect to the server) and you use SQL 2000 then ignore the error and restart Outlook. (check running processes with ctrl-alt-del)
- If your settings are correct after all, you will be welcomed and connected to the SQL database.
- Export your existing appointments.
How to connect to our sql server database over the Internet?
- On your NAT firewall/internet router, route port tcp/udp 1433 to the sql server's private ip address.
- If you configured SQL server to listen on an other port than default 1433 you can use the SQL Server Client Network Utility to setup an Alias and change the port on the client.
- In GroupCalendar; Settings; Select Database, Select the SQL server checkbox and fill in the name or IP address of the internet router.
How to update to new releases.
- Download the current (demo) version from the download page
- Shut down Outlook
- Press Ctrl-Alt-Del - Taskmanager - Processes.
- Shut down Outlook.exe and Gchelper.exe if you see them in the list
- Run the new setup
For a large number of pc's
- Contact us to check if more than the 'Group Calendar.dll' file changed. (that happens not often)
- Upgrade one pc following the procedure here above.
- Copy the 'Group Calendar.dll' file out of the program files folder to a server share
- create a batch file to run from the workstations with these lines in it (adjust this to your network)
del "c:\program files\Group Calendar\Group Calendar.dll"
copy "\\server\share\Group Calendar.dll" "c:\program files\Group Calendar\Group Calendar.dll"
regsvr32 "c:\program files\Group Calendar\Group Calendar.dll"
I can not find a way to send reminders to a person or persons regarding appointments that were entered on their calendar. Is there a way to do this in Outlook Group Calendar?
If you install SetupUKDA.exe you have the ability to add and edit appointments in the GroupCalendar including items for others then yourself.
If you create a new item in the GroupCalendar it will ask you "is this for another user?" if you answer Yes, you will get a list of all users and can select one or more of those.
The appointment will wait in the database for the other user(s) to synchronize their calendar and when they do, the appointment will be placed in their personal calendar. Also a box will pop-up informing the user of the new appointment in their calendar.
Because the item is now in the personal calendar, the normal outlook calendar reminders will apply to it.
I get network errors... "database not found" and alike.
net use x: /d
net use x: \\servername\sharename
net use x: /d
net
use x: \\servername\sharename
outlook.exe
this will remove and recreate the drive mapping to the shared folder where the groupcalendar database is being shared.
Outlook 2007 pop3 is slow and outlook crashes occur.- The size of your pst file may contribute to the problem. Try it with a new pst file
- As an administrator, do: netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disable
Message after uninstall about 'redemp~1'
Use Start menu / Search to find "redemp*.ecf", delete that file and restart Outlook.
When I log on to another machine my settings are gone. Can I change the path of the INI file?
Make sure the settings file (ini file with user name) gets stored on the network at a permanent location.
To use this option, add the ini path to the following registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\OpusFlow\GC add a REGSZ value with name: IniPath (type the path value without a trailing backslash).
Example; to use the z drive type z: as value.