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Sending Appointments Using Outlook


Since the behavior at Controls & Inspections and Meetings is identical, the following article describes how to send appointments for both roles.


Sending Appointments with Outlook

Once a meeting or inspection has been created, the appointment can be linked to Outlook or another calendar program. This sends a calendar invitation to the participants, and the appointment is added to their calendars. The invitation can be sent immediately after creation or later using the available options.




There are two options available. You can either download the appointment file or send the appointment directly via Outlook Online. Downloading the appointment file is particularly useful if you plan to send it via a local calendar program such as the classic Outlook or the macOS Calendar app. With both options, changes to the title, date, time, and attendee list are automatically updated.


The organizer of the Outlook appointment must be the same person as the organizer, additional organizer, or creator of the meeting in buildagil for the link to be established.



Once the appointment file has been downloaded, it can be opened or imported into the calendar program of your choice.



In the new Outlook, ".ics files" are not opened directly but are imported through the calendar management feature. To do this, select the option to upload a file in the "Add Calendar" division. Select the downloaded calendar file and assign it to an existing or new calendar before completing the import.



Once opened, the appointment appears in Outlook. It can be edited and sent. The invitation text includes the project title of the respective meeting.


Important: The contact "events@buildagil.com" must not be removed from the recipient list.



Outlook 2016 uses the "Plain Text" format by default. To ensure that links are displayed correctly, you must manually change the format to "HTML."



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Adjusting Appointments

After an appointment has been sent, it may be necessary to make changes to the title, date, time, location, or participants. Changes to the appointment must be made directly in the Outlook appointment, not in buildagil. The reason for this lies in the format of the appointment file: When sent, the “ics” file represents only a snapshot of the appointment and does not provide ongoing synchronization. A subsequent change made in buildagil would therefore not be transferred to the Outlook appointment that has already been sent. However, the title, date/time, location, and new participants—provided they are saved as contacts in the corresponding project—are updated in buildagil as soon as they are modified in the Outlook event. If a contact is removed from the Outlook event, it is not automatically removed from buildagil as well.


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Canceling Appointments

If an appointment (e.g., for a meeting or inspection) is canceled and is linked to a calendar program, the cancellation must be made directly in the calendar program. There is no automatic cancellation in buildagil. For traceability reasons, the associated meeting or inspection is not automatically deleted in buildagil, as there may still be topics or content that has already been recorded, which should first be transferred to a new meeting. If the cancellation is to be visible in buildagil, this can be noted in the title, e.g., by adding “canceled.” If necessary, the associated meeting or inspection can also be manually deleted in buildagil.



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Procedure for Recurring Appointments

In buildagil, you cannot create recurring events as you can in Outlook. If you still want to manage recurring events in Outlook, the following procedure is recommended for recurring meetings or controls and inspections. First, create the appointment series in Outlook. This serves as a time blocker in the participants’ calendars. Then, create a new meeting or inspection in buildagil as the basis for the series. Using the role “Schedule a follow-up appointment" function, the required follow-up appointments can now be created. These initially contain no content, and only the organizer is listed as a participant. As soon as an appointment is approaching, the actual participants as well as the Meeting Agenda or the control/inspection can be added. The appointment can then be sent to the participants via “Notify Participants.” This approach allows for flexible content planning while simultaneously synchronizing the calendar with Outlook.


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Troubleshooting


If the troubleshooting steps below do not resolve the issue, please feel free to contact Support.



Troubleshooting a Missing or Incorrect Calendar Program in Windows

If no program or an unintended program opens when you send an appointment via Outlook or a calendar program, this is usually due to the default app association for the ".ics" file type in Windows settings.



The following steps will help you check:

  • Search for "Default Apps" in Windows Settings
  • Select the ".ics" file type
  • Set the desired calendar program as the default


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Troubleshooting Appointment Invitations in the Mac Mail Program

When using the Mac Mail app, you may receive calendar invitations as "winmail.dat" files instead of ".ics" files. This file format is not readable in the Mac Mail app and cannot be opened as a calendar invitation. This is usually caused by the configuration of the sender’s or recipient’s mail server.


The following solutions may help:

  • Change the email format in Outlook to "HTML" or "plain text"
  • Check whether the appointment is displayed correctly for another Mac user in the same company
  • Send the invitation to an Outlook account on a Mac as a test
  • Check the Mail app settings on your Mac



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Updated on: 03/09/2026