[German]In addition to the issue just mentioned in the article Bug in Office 365 v2505? Mails are lost in cached mode, there is another inconsistency that a user has pointed out to me: Non explainable appointment or meeting cancellations in the calendar of the new Outlook from Microsoft Office. The question arises: "What's going on? Is it an isolated case or something faulty in the new Outlook?"
When the appointment for the CEO is automatically canceled
It's the kind of event that you definitely don't want to have as an IT employee. A dialog like this starts on the phone from the CEO's assistant saying "What has IT done again?". The problem? An appointment had been entered for the CEO in the Outlook appointment scheduling calendar. And then this meeting was canceled – allegedly, according to the notification, by the CEO himself.
The screenshot above shows the pixelated notification that affected some people. Well, it happens, but the CEO and his assistant doesn't canceled that appointment. The blog reader, an employee from IT, then explained the background to me in an email.
The international sales meeting had been scheduled by the CEO's assistant around three months in advance. And on Tuesday, June 3, 2025, this meeting was suddenly canceled without explanation. A glance at the calendar or the message shows that this cancellation appears to have come directly from the CEO.
There was no apparent reason for the cancellation, which seems strange. The immediate inquiry to the CEO also caused astonishment, as he asserted that he had never canceled the invitation. There were also no changes from his office assistant too.
The CEO's assistant's question to IT "what have you done again" was then passed on to me by the blog reader via email with "have you heard anything similar?". But I didn't heard similar things. Later, after publishing the German edition of this blog post, other reader confirmed such observations, but didn't found a root cause. Joking I would say "It's just software – from Microsoft – there's nothing you can do", but that won't help.
Some notes on the environment
I asked the reader about the software used. The reader clearly stated that it was the "new" Outlook, which Microsoft is forcibly releasing to users. The reader wrote that a standardized build was in use:
- Microsoft Outlook (new) version: 1.2025.522.100 (Production)
- Client version: 20250523006.12
- Microsoft 365 MSO (version 2503 Build 16.0.18623.20266) 64 bit
I already mentioned that it is the new Outlook app and not the classic Outlook. The blog reader also wrote that a hybrid environment is used in the company.
Research raised a suspicion
Before the reader contacted me, he researched the problem on the Internet, but didn't really find anything. After doing some research, he wrote to me that he had come across the following possible explanation, which is discussed in several forums:
Microsoft Teams automatically changes the presence status to 'Away' or 'Do Not Disturb' after a certain amount of inactivity – even if a different status was previously set manually.
In combination with Outlook, this automatic status change can lead to appointments, especially those with automatic booking or delegation rights, being canceled or rejected without further action.
The reader commented that it sounds strange at first, but at second glance it seems at least technically comprehensible: If the person who originally set the appointment is considered "unavailable" due to the automatic status change, the system could deduce that the appointment cannot take place – and cancel it accordingly.
My first thought: "Copilot drew its conclusions in the background or wrote the code", but that's not fair. Have you ever observed this or did you find an explanation?
