Where do invitations go and how do you accept them?

[rns]

I have an embarrassingly trivial question: I have a Zimbra (currently open source) installation which is used only for the calendar service (i.e., Zimbra is not my mail server, and Zimbra is configured to use an SMTP relay). When user A adds user B as an attendee to an appointment, user B receives an email notification. However, when user B logs into the Zimbra web interface, he does not see the event in his calendar. Since the email invitation (delivered to B's mail client -- which is not Zimbra webmail) does not contain any links, and since the event does not show up in his calendar, B has no way of confirming his attendance to the event.

What am I missing? Is it the case that mail (such as invitations) have to be delivered to Zimbra, so that the user can click on the invitation to add/accept it in his calendar? Especially when a connector is not being used? Or is their some simple configuration option that I am missing?

Thank you!

[jholder]

They're preserved in your Sent Items folder because the invite gets sent back to the organizer.

[rns]

jholder: thank you for your response. Yes, the invite message is in my Sent folder. But what about the attendee? He receives an email (including the .ics attachment) which he reads in Thunderbird (mail client). There is no link in the email that brings him to a relevant page in Zimbra where he can choose to accept or decline the invitation. Also, when he logs into the Zimbra web interface, his calendar shows no indication that he has been invited to an appointment by me.

I hope I am giving you a good idea of the problem.

[jholder]

I don't use thunderbird, so I don't know, but, doesn't it allow you to accept or decline right form the interface?

[rns]

Hello and thank you again for your response. In Thunderbird, the email contains the .ical attachment, which if clicked on will launch the user's preferred mail application (in this case Apple iCal) and add the appointment to that app. Which doesn't help since what is really needed is for the invitation to show up in Zimbra.

In other words, what would be good is for the invited user to login to Zimbra, and upon clicking his calendar, notice the invitation in some manner. Either as an event in his calendar, shaded a particular way (to denote it is an invitation), or as a notice in some other manner.

From what you have written, is it correct for me to conclude that the only notification that the invited user receives is the email sent to him? Is there any way for this user to accept the invitation using the Zimbra web interface?

I appreciate your patience and suggestions.

[jholder]

Okay- I C.
File an enhancement named "Alter Invitation Logic"
and put in it what you put here, and make a request for it to change.
-john

[gettyless]

I'll file an enhancement if no one else has. but here's my pitch to all other zimbra admins and/or customers:

It's a good idea to have multiple ways for someone to notice there is a meeting. By not doing so, it seems inconsistent with the basic idea of what zimlets do -- that is, let the user take the first response (to bugzilla, asterisk, etc) through an email.

It's not the end of the world - but sort of like how some cars have extra warning lights ... or it's like how some web pages have "previous/next" navigation at the top *and* bottom of a list of items.

I hope this is a "low hanging fruit" that someone at zimbra can knock off in less than an hour or two.

I will post a link to the enhancement request on this thread - whether it's me or someone else that made it previously.

[rns]

Here is some additional info (I thought I had filed a bug/rfe -- have to check) that puts a twist on it, and provides a workaround:

The logic in Zimbra seems to tie the email and calendar entry together i.e., if the invitation is not in the email then it does not show up in the web interface. So, it is not true that Zimbra calendar web GUI does not show invites -- rather it shows them only if the invite also exists in the Zimbra mailbox (or at least was delivered to it at some point).

My problem was that I was forwarding my email to another account and not storing a local copy in Zimbra. When I switched to forwarding *and* storing a local copy, the events magically appeared in the calendar web UI, including in a different shade to show that I had to act on it. Right-clicking gave me a menu to accept/decline etc.

Just have to clear out the redundant Zimbra mailbox every so often using the command-line UI and I have something that I can temporarily live with.

[gettyless]

Ah, I misread your posting.

For me, within Outlook or through the web using Zimbra, when User A creates an appointment and invites User B, the only way for User B to know if there's a meeting is if he goes into the Calendar (on Outlook or Zimbra).

So, let's say User B goes out for lunch, comes back and checks his email - he won't see the meeting he was scheduled to unless he goes into the calendar area.

I've tried this out several times - I'm wondering if there's a workaround ... or maybe I'm missing something?

It's pretty minor at this point, but I'm sure a user will as about it in the future.

[rns]

How would you prefer the user be notified? Via email? That happens automatically, in my installation. Have you tried looking through the options? Perhaps some option for mail notifications is turned off?

Only marginally related: what Zimbra does not support is email reminders, which is rather annoying. I believe there is an RFE bug open for this.