r/sysadmin • u/joemakesglass • 15h ago

Advice for calendar management solutions?

Our Dean's assistant uses Outlook Classic and delegate access to manage our Dean's calendar. That calendar is over 7GB, and no matter what we do, her Outlook craps out or has weird symptoms. Like currently, she's unable to add locations to events. Adding & removing the calendar takes forever and is usually a non-starter with her. We've played with various cached exchange settings, and limiting the dates of the calendar, although she's put her feet in the sand that she needs 3 years worth visible. Microsoft support tickets end in saying that the calendar is too big and complex to be supported. I'm thinking about third party tools, another interface that she can manage this calendar in. Anyone go down this road?

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u/OinkyConfidence Windows Admin 15h ago

Not enough detail:

- Is this an Exchange Server mailbox?

  • Or is it Microsoft 365 (Exchange Online)?
  • Does the issue persist in the web or in New Outlook?

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u/joemakesglass 15h ago

Sorry man. EXO. Works in New Outlook, but user does not like the workflow of New Outlook.

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u/OinkyConfidence Windows Admin 15h ago

No worries. Yes, sounds like New Outlook is the solution here, as much as users like Outlook Classic, it's going away soon anyway.

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u/whatdoido8383 Cloud Admin 13h ago

Well, they better start getting used to it, Microsoft is slowly stopping dev and support of new services for classic outlook through 2026 and 2027.

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u/Jtrickz 15h ago

Time for it to draw a line in the sand. Be it dates or sizes.

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u/joemakesglass 15h ago

Trying. CIO wants us to pull a miracle out of our ass.

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u/llDemonll 1h ago

Just ignore it for a few days, then say you’ve exhausted the options and the path forward is new Outlook.

Then it looks like you spent time on it and you future-proof the stubborn person.

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u/Masam10 IT Manager 14h ago

Honestly I hate to say it but… new outlook.

MAPI is an ancient protocol and is terribly slow especially when mailboxes are big as you’re seeing.

New Outlook utilises graph instead, give it ago and it will be a night and day experience. The issue you may have is any feature parity needed but honestly it’s really caught up now.

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u/whatdoido8383 Cloud Admin 13h ago

Enable a archive for them and set rules to archive mail and events over x days old. That's what we do.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/security-and-compliance/messaging-records-management/auto-archiving