Easiuest way to get calendar_id for the Office 365 Calendar connector

[WimvanDelft]

Hi,

You can use Microsoft Graph to get the calendar ID:

https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/graph-explorer#

I used this command to get the calendar ID of an Office 365 group:

Get Beta https://graph.microsoft.com/beta/groups/[group object id]/calendar

More info at: https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/docs/api-reference/beta/api/calendar_get 

[rjhale]

I was able to use the graph to get the calendar ID of one of my resource calendars, however; it doesn't seem to work.  I'm using the trigger "When a new event is created."  I tried both the V1 and the V2 versions, but both fail to recognize when a new event is created on the resource calendar.  

Am I doing something wrong here or is this just not a supported feature?

[efialttes]

In case you are dealing with Office 365 GRoups Calendar, there is an Office 365 GRoups connector in PReview, the only trigger currently available is "When there is a new event" an you can see on the drop down menu all the GRoup Ids you are member of.

There is also a Create group event action block.

Hope this helps

[sogravesDK]

Hi all.

I haven't solved this, but I came a long way though.

I did a "Get Calendars"  --> For Each , input [Value] --> by default all calendars in my organization is named "Calendar", so in the 'For Each' I did a 'Condition' and asked [DisplayName] from Get-Calendar contains 'Calendar' - then create event and CalendarID is 'Name' from Get-Calendars...

[ErichH]

thanks for posting this - very helpful. I reapplied it. You should get credit for creating a solution!

[DayByDay]

Use Powershell to invoke Rest API:

PS C:\> $cred = Get-Credential

PS C:\> Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://outlook.office365.com/api/v1.0/users/{UPN}/Calendars" -Credential $cred | ForEach-Object {$_.Value} | fl

Replace {UPN} with mailbox UPN.

Inspired by:

https://lazywinadmin.github.io/2015/06/powershell-using-office-365-rest-api-to.html

[DaveMNCPA]

I'm able to get the ID information if I populate the UPN value with my email address or use "me".  However, if I try any other email value I get an error that looks like this.

Invoke-RestMethod : The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found.
At line:1 char:1
+ Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://outlook.office365.com/api/v1.0/users/ ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (System.Net.HttpWebRequest:HttpWebRequest) [Invoke-RestMethod], WebException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : WebCmdletWebResponseException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeRestMethodCommand

Also how would I specify a Resource Calendar name for the UPN?  Their typically isn't a visible email associated with a resource.  I've tried using the name of the resource but it returned the same error.

[davidstone]

You HAVE solvde this, at least for me - in fact you saved my life! Many thanks for a simple but effective solution.

[gregt]

I was able to get it working with the suggested Powershell method:

Use Powershell to invoke Rest API:

PS C:\> $cred = Get-Credential

PS C:\> Invoke-RestMethod -Uri "https://outlook.office365.com/api/v1.0/users/{UPN}/Calendars" -Credential $cred | ForEach-Object {$_.Value} | fl

Replace {UPN} with mailbox UPN.

I am using it to copy all events that are sent to a resource calendar to a shared calendar on Sharepoint. I am using the trigger "When an Event is Added, Updated, or Deleted". I was able to connect to the Resource Calendar by getting the id from the PS command above. When calling Get-Credential, you must login with the UPN (username login) and password of the resource room itself. Then you will get the ID of the resource room calendar from the RestMethod call. Likewise, in the Flow itself, you must add the resource room's UPN as a connection on the trigger and then select that connection. Then you can add the id from above as a custom entry. That worked for me, but YMMV

[DaveMNCPA]

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@gregt wrote: When calling Get-Credential, you must login with the UPN (username login) and password of the resource room itself. Then you will get the ID of the resource room calendar from the RestMethod call. Likewise, in the Flow itself, you must add the resource room's UPN as a connection on the trigger and then select that connection. Then you can add the id from above as a custom entry. That worked for me, but YMMV

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How do you find the password of the resource item?  Since resources are shared with everyone, everyone has access and have never put in or used a password associated with a resource.

[gregt]

It was a little bit weird. I created the resource room a few days ago but don't recall setting a password for it. However, I am an O365 admin, so I went into admin center and reset the password to something of my choosing. Then I logged in like it was a normal account when prompted with Get-Credentials and with MS Flow's Connector.

You can test to make sure you have the credentials correct by logging into portal.office.com. It'll take you to the office landing page, but you won't have access to any apps since it's not a licensed user account.

[DaveMNCPA]

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@gregt wrote:

It was a little bit weird. I created the resource room a few days ago but don't recall setting a password for it. However, I am an O365 admin, so I went into admin center and reset the password to something of my choosing. Then I logged in like it was a normal account when prompted with Get-Credentials and with MS Flow's Connector.

How did you add a password to the resource?  I see no option in Exchange admin center to add or change a password for resources.

[DaveMNCPA]

I also did a google search for changing the password and found some instructions using power shell, but the command (Set-Mailbox) they listed comes back with an error that it doesn't exists.  See command below.  Also found a forum post from Microsoft saying it isn't possible to set a password on a resource calendar.  So I'm still stuck. I'm fairly certain If I was able to login to Flow with resource calendar credentials things would work.  I tried using the custom entry option for the calendar ID and provided the ID string for the resource calendar, but it returned an error too.

Set-Mailbox -MicrosoftOnlineServicesID largeconference@domain.com -RoomMailboxPassword (ConvertTo-SecureString $newpass -AsPlainText -Force) -EnableRoomMailboxAccount $true

[gregt]

I found the resource room was in the User list in Admin center and I reset it like it was a normal, unlicensed account in the web app gui. Also, from my experience, you are correct in thinking that if we can log in as the resource in Flow that the triggers or actions related to that mailbox should work correctly. That's how it worked for me at least.

[DaveMNCPA]

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@gregt wrote:

I found the resource room was in the User list in Admin center and I reset it like it was a normal, unlicensed account in the web app gui. Also, from my experience, you are correct in thinking that if we can log in as the resource in Flow that the triggers or actions related to that mailbox should work correctly. That's how it worked for me at least.

---

I finally got this to work, however a little differently then how you described.  I actually did not need to get the long ID string from PowerShell for the resource calendar.  All I needed was to add a connector for the particular resource.  Once I was able to add/change the password for the resource (thanks), then I found the convoluted way to add the resource connector to the flow.  By default it wants to use your own account as the connector. One would think that clicking on "Manage Connections" once in the connections window would allow one to add or assign new connections.  But no, it only allows you to delete or view your connections.  It allows you to add owners, but not connections.  Very poor design.

To add the trigger connection for the resource you click on the triple dots next to the first flow step.  In my case it was "When an upcoming event is starting soon".  Clicking on the three dots to the right, allows you to add an additional connector there and will prompt for the credentials.  You can now select that connector to be used as the trigger. Once you do this, then when you select the drop down for selecting the calendar item, it is now using that resource calendar.  I know this because if you save and then come back in to look at that same box, it will be populated with the crazy long ID string of that calendar.  I compared this with the ID I obtained from the powershell commands and they were identical.  For somebody new to this tool this probably is hard to follow and doesn't make much sense.  So as I firm up the steps I plan to post a detailed description how I got this to work.  Once you figure it out it's not too bad, it is just not intuitive at all.  Poor instructions and conflicting information in forums even from Microsoft representatives. Most say it can't be done, but it clearly can and I have now set a flow to notify two staff people 2 hour in advance of computer resource reservation.

Microsoft may have added some of this functionality in the past months to flow, so I don't know if this was doable all along or has just become possible with some changes from Microsoft.

Now if Microsoft would add a description field to the resource calendar items that people could view, I would be a very happy camper.

[gregt]

Dave,

Awesome, I'm glad you figured it out as well. What you describe is exactly how I did it. After my initial post, I also noticed that the long string ID I plugged into the Flow changed itself to the default "Calendar" much like it does for any other mailbox, so the Powershell steps are probably not necessary. Thanks for providing a clear, succinct description of those steps. This is a very useful functionality to unlock. Thanks to everyone who commented previously for getting us here.

I am using this to emulate the older Sharepoint functionality of tying a mailbox to a Sharepoint Calendar. My team members can email the resource room, and then with some straightforward Flow logic (trigger when an event is added), it adds the event to the Calendar List. The Flow logic took some working with to get right. You have to do some string operations on the start and end time to remove the timezone from the timestamps themselves and check if the event is an all-day event because there is currently no way to add an item to a calendar list as an all-day event.

Cheers!

Greg

[DaveMNCPA · Accepted solution]

Here are the detailed instructions I promised. I had screen shots for some steps, but couldn't paste them with this forum layout, so hopefully the words are adequate.

Instructions for creating a Flow for notification of upcoming event on a resource calendar.  (this assumes you have an o365 account that includes Flow)

1. Login to O365 portal office.com
2. Click on the waffle icon at top left and select Flow (may need to click see all apps)
3. Select My Flows at the top if you aren’t already there.
4. Select create from blank or create from template on the top bar.(my example I’m choosing create from blank)
5. Create from blank opens a new window, just choose create from blank button on this screen
6. It will prompt for a tigger/connector, choose Office 365 Outlook icon, scroll down the resulting list and select "When an upcoming event is starting soon"
7. Click on the three dots in the top left of the blue bar on the first flow step
8. If you are creating a notice based on your own calendar select your email address in the resulting menu under "My Connections". If this is for a resource or other calendar you will need to add a new connection if not listed.
   1. Click add new connection
   2. Supply the email address of the resource calendar and enter the password.
      1. A password will need to be created for the resource. By default resources either don't have a password or it isn't known when it is initially setup. Go to the users section in O365 admin to add the password.
      2. Enter in a password and uncheck the box for having the person needing to change it upon login.
9. After the connection is chosen, select "Calendar" from the drop down box in this first step
10. If you wish to change from the default look ahead of 15 minutes, click on "Show advanced options" link and add in your value in minutes.
11. Click Next Step, then add action
12. Pick the Office 365 Outlook connector as we are going to send an email, then scroll down and pick "Send an Email" option
13. Fill in the fields and click Save.
14. You have now completed the flow and you can test it by adding a calendar item to the resource calendar you used above for the connector. Remember to set the event out further than the look ahead time you set.
15. Check your email box for the email once the look ahead time has passed. If you don't get an email check the Run History for the Flow to see any error messages. If it runs it should show "Succeeded" with a green check.

Please feel to share, add to or improve these instructions.  - Dave -

[Zita]

Hi, thanks for your precious help !! I am looking for a way to connect to a category (different colours to add to an event) in Outlook Calendar. So I would need a category ID instead of the calendar ID - you rhink it's possible to obtain that somehow ? 

[gregt]

Not sure about the categories. I would think that's a property of the event, not a resource with an id. Does MS Flow have any functionality to check the category of an event?

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@Zita wrote:

Hi, thanks for your precious help !! I am looking for a way to connect to a category (different colours to add to an event) in Outlook Calendar. So I would need a category ID instead of the calendar ID - you rhink it's possible to obtain that somehow ?

[AndersHVE]

Hello

I have problems getting the Calendar ID, so your description sounds perfect. My problem is that when I add the connection with my resource address I'm not asked for a password and it put my own address in instead. (Even if I did make a password). This does'nt help me while this connection I alreday have.

Any suggestions?