Office for Mac 2011 SP1 calendar won't sync with Apple MobileMe

Microsoft has taken a swipe at Apple for making changes to its MobileMe service, which effectively blocks Office for Mac 2011 users from synchronising their Outlook calendars with their iPhones and iPads.

"I want to share more detail on a particular limitation that Apple is introducing with their new version of MobileMe," wrote Microsoft's Pat Fox in a blog post yesterday.

"MobileMe will no longer sync with MacOS Sync Services as of May 5th (or now if you have already moved your account to the new version of MobileMe calendar). As a result, Outlook 2011 SP1 calendars that sync with Sync Services on the Mac, will NOT be synced with MobileMe calendars."

Redmond plans to ship its first service pack for Office for Mac 2011 next week.

Many users of the software have requested that Microsoft adds a feature to Office to help sync their Outlook email calendars with Apple's iPhones and iPads.

But Apple's decision to tweak its MobileMe product has upset Microsoft wonks.

"So what does this mean?" wrote Fox. "If you sync your iPhone or iPad calendars with Sync Services (ie via iTunes over a cable), your mobile device calendars WILL be synced with Outlook 2011 SP1.

"If you sync your iPhone or iPad calendars with MobileMe, they will NOT be synced to your Outlook 2011 SP1 calendar, because of the broken link between MobileMe and Sync Services. Hopefully Apple’s changes will not impact very many of you."

Other features loaded into SP1 include Outlook support for Exchange based server-side rules, an Outlook Redirect button, an Outlook Resend button, Outlook edit of existing messages, and Solver integration support in Excel. ®