It's been a few years since we've had an error in the holiday file and, in fact, this error was fixed a a few years ago. Because most people only add holidays when the holidays on their calendar age out and the newer holiday lists cover a much longer period, a number of people still have the bad entry on their calendar.
The problem? The HOL file supplied with Outlook 2010 (and in the Outlook 2007 holiday update released in 2012) the 2016 US Election Day event is on the wrong date. Outlook has it on November 1, not November 8. While we all wish it was November 1, you can't blame Outlook if you forget to vote.
The date was corrected in an Outlook 2013 HOL file dated July 2014. However, since Outlook doesn't automatically update the holidays on the calendar and most people only update them when current holidays are missing, the event is on many calendars on the wrong date.
If your calendar has it on the wrong date you have two options to fix it:
- Drag the event to November 8 (or open it and change the date)
- Use a list view and delete the holidays currently on your calendar then restore the holidays using a newer HOL file.
While it's easier to drag the event to the correct date, if you are using an older holiday list, I recommend deleting the holidays from your calendar and importing from a newer file. Everyone, not just people with the US calendar, should do this every year or so, as it’s not unusual for the HOL files to have corrections and Microsoft adds new holidays to some countries/locations over the years. Deleting the holidays then running the Add Holidays wizard will insure you have the current up-to-date list.
To remove old holidays, use a List view and group by Category. If you added the Holiday category to other events, group by location too. Delete the Holiday group (or the groups for the locations you added).
If you have Office 2016 and have updates installed, your HOL file should be the newest one available. Go to File, Options, Calendar then click Add Holidays and select the locations you want to add to your calendar.
If you have a retail or volume license, you might have a slightly older HOL file (Election Day should be correct in it though). The HOL file here is the newest one available. After downloading the HOL file, double click on it to open the Add Holidays dialog. This HOL file will work with Outlook 2007, 2010 and 2013.
Outlook.com and Office 365 Exchange Online users should enable the holiday calendar in Outlook on the web. The calendar will automatically update when an error is found and will sync to Outlook on the desktop and other devices.
