Can’t save ics, vcs or vcf–files to a network share

I’m trying to save an appointment as an ics-file but it doesn’t seem to be working.

When choosing the Save As function, I’m able to browse to where I want to save it, name it and even press Save. However, when I then go to that location, the saved ics-file isn’t there.

I repeated the operation to make sure I did try to save it in that location, but again nothing showed up. I didn’t even get an error. I tried it with a different appointment and I got the same results.

Why can’t I save my appointments as an ics-file?

Bug? buttonThere is a bug in Outlook 2010 which prevents you to successfully save ics, vcs or vcf-files to a location on network share. Saving them to a local hard disk still works expected though.

Update:
This issue has been fixed in Outlook 2010 Version 14.0.6120.500 (April 2012) and later (like Service Pack 2).

Hotfix available

The bug has been fixed in Hotfix KB2598318 but as this fix has not been included in a regular update yet (which you get via Windows Update), you’ll need to request the Hotfix first and then download and install it manually;

After you apply the hotfix package that is described in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article 2596485, you cannot save files to a network share in Outlook 2010. For example, you cannot save an appointment as an .ics file or as a .vcs file to a network share.

Aside from the mentioned .ics and .ics-files, saving contacts in the vcf-file format to a network share doesn’t work anymore either. Applying this Hotfix fixes that as well.

Hotfix Download Available
Hotfix articles have a download request banner at the top.

Note: For more information about hotfixes and how they defer from regular updates see; What are Hotfixes?

Fix included in upcoming Rollup Update

The fix for this bug is also expected to be included in the upcoming Rollup Update for Outlook 2010. In contrast the Hotfix, this Rollup Update will be offered via Windows Update.

No ETA has been given for the next Rollup Update yet, but expect it to be released on either August 14 or September 11 as the next Rollup Update is due and those dates will be the next “Patch Tuesdays”.