how to update recurring meeting in Outlook without losing history?

Kia ora Sneha

I set up a test recurring appointment, made some changes to some of it and then opened the entire series to make changes "from this point forward" as you suggested.

Unfortunately, I still get the same error message:

So whether I "end" one series and start a new one with changed details, or whether I open the whole series to make a change going forward, the specific history up to that point is deleted.

I looked at all 4 articles/posts you suggested and they don't add anything new to this, except that apparently the old Lotus Notes, as well as Google now, could do what Microsoft still can't seem to manage.

I will follow up with both Feedback and the UserVoice forum, because this same question in its various wordings has had hundreds of "I have the same question" votes going back to at least 2016. It's time for Microsoft to sort it out.

Ri

Hi,

I'm Sneha and I'd be happy to help you out with your question. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

To update a recurring meeting in Outlook without losing history, you can follow these simple steps:

• Open the recurring meeting you want to update.
• Click on the "Edit Series" button.
• Make the necessary changes to the meeting series, such as the time and date of the meeting.
• Click on the "OK" button to save the changes.

By following these steps, Outlook will retain the history of the recurring meeting, including any cancellations or no-shows.

If you want to make changes to a single instance of the meeting, you can click on that specific instance in the series and choose "Open Occurrence" to edit it. Alternatively, you can choose "Open Series" to make changes to all occurrences from that point onwards.

In terms of getting this message across to the developers, there are a few ways you can provide feedback to Microsoft. One option is to click on the "File" tab in Outlook and choose "Feedback." You can also visit the Outlook UserVoice forum to suggest new features or vote on existing ones. The more users that request a particular feature, the more likely it is that Microsoft will consider implementing it in future updates.

For more Information, please refer to following resources :-

1. Updating Recurring Meetings Without Changing Past Meetings - https://answers.microsoft.com/thread/374e9018-78e0-4306-9184-fd9f7d6e8cfa
2. Update or cancel a meeting you organized - https://support.microsoft.com/office/update-or-cancel-a-meeting-you-organized-c6d5a9ba-fc38-4c54-9375-a77bdbc7cc30
3. Updating Recurring Meetings Without Changing Past Meetings - https://answers.microsoft.com/thread/073208ca-586b-4f5e-8c80-cc21a1af819e
4. Update calendar invite without sending 'meeting has been - https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-365/update-calendar-invite-without-sending-meeting-has-been-updated/td-p/3057495

If you have any other questions or need assistance with anything, please don't hesitate to let me know. It will be my pleasure to Assist you.

Best Regards, Sneha

Kia ora Abdal

What you describe is what I tried before. However, when I set the "end" date of the first series to today, if I have made changes to any of the previous occurrences in the series, I get this message:

In other words, simply ending the recurrence and starting a new series at a changed appointment time does NOT retain the previous history (which includes Cancels and No Shows). What can I do to avoid obliterating my clients' attendance history?

This is dead easy in the Google calendar, where you have the option of editing 1. this occurrence / 2. this occurrence and all subsequent ones (which doesn't change previous ones) / 3. the entire series. So if Google can do it, surely Microsoft can too. The flexibility of the Google calendar is why I have resisted using the Microsoft one until now, when I had to for work.

There used to be a "wishlist" that users could vote things on to for future updates. This would be way up there for me and, it seems, for a lot of other users - there are variations on the same question in the database going back to 2016 - that's 7 years ago!!

I get that this is the community forum, but how do we get this message across to the developers? The Google product is simply better and they need to up their game.

Ri

Hello

I am Abdal and I would be glad to help you with your question.

I understand the challenge you're facing with updating recurring meetings in Outlook without losing history.

Here's how you can update a recurring meeting series without losing the history:

Open the meeting series in Outlook. Click on "Recurrence" in the ribbon to open the "Appointment Recurrence" dialog. Update the end date of the current series to the date before the change takes effect. Click "OK" to save the changes to the current series. Now, you'll need to create a new recurring meeting series with the updated time, starting from the date you want the new time to take effect:

Create a new meeting appointment in Outlook.

Click on "Recurrence" in the ribbon to open the "Appointment Recurrence" dialog. Set the start date to the date you want the new time to take effect, and set the recurring pattern and end date as needed. Click "OK" to save the new recurring series.

By following these steps, you'll preserve the history of the original series while creating a new series with the updated time.

As for your question about why Outlook doesn't appear under the list of MS 365 & Office apps, it's possible that your list may be customized or based on your previous usage. However, Outlook is indeed a part of the Microsoft Office suite and Microsoft 365.

I hope this information helps.

Regards,

Abdal