How to Import a Calendar into a new Public Folder

Symptoms

You have created a public folder in the WorkgroupShare Administrator and now need to populate it with information from a calendar in Outlook.

More Info

Public folders in WorkgroupShare are used to share information that is not owned by any particular user. A public folder will usually contain data that will be accessed by all users, although the access permissions can bet set to limit access to a subset of all users. Public folders are created in the WorkgroupShare Administrator. When created, public folders contain no data.

Detail

If you wish to import an Outlook calendar into a WorkgroupShare public folder, please follow the steps below. The following procedure is for Outlook 2003 (note that for other versions of Outlook the procedure may vary slightly so please consult that product’s documentation).

1. In the WorkgroupShare Administrator, create a new Public Folder and assign it a Calendar type, then allocate the appropriate user permissions. It is important that the client who has the calendar which needs to be imported has full access to this folder.
2. At the client which has the calendar you wish to import, perform a manual synchronization by clicking on the Tools menu, select Share and then selecting Synchronize…After synchronization has completed, the new public folder will appear under the Shared Information folder in Outlook’s folder list.
3. The calendar will first need to be exported before it can be imported into the public folder. Click the File menu and select Import and Export.
4. Select Export to a File and click Next
5. From the Options list select Comma Separated Values (Windows) and click Next (it may ask you to install a translater, you may need your Office 2003 CD for this)
6. The next window will ask you to select the folder you wish to Export from. Select the calendar that needs to go into the public folder and click Next
7. Next it will ask you where to save it. Click Browse and select a file location (please place it somewhere where you can easily find it again). Click Next
8. Click Finish
9. To import the calendar into the public folder, click File and select Import and Export
10. From the list select Import from Another File or Program and click Next
11. From the list select Comma Separated Values (Windows) and click Next
12. In the File to Import window click Browse and browse to the calendar file you exported and saved as a file, and when found ensure that Do Not Import Duplicate Items is selected, and click Next.
13. In the Select Destination folder list, ensure you select the calendar in the new public folder under the Shared Information folder and click Next

The same procedure can also be applied to Contacts, Tasks, Notes and Mail folders by creating a public folder of the relevant type and importing data from a suitable folder in Outlook.