Greetings! Welcome to Vol. 2, No. 1 of Exchange Messaging Outlook (formerly Exchange Center Update), an occasional newsletter about Microsoft Exchange, Windows Messaging and Microsoft Outlook, both for users of Windows 95 and NT 4.0 and for organizations using Microsoft Exchange Server.
Today's highlights:
Regular features:
With this issue of Exchange Messaging Outlook, the 17th, we begin a new year! The first issue was sent on April 30, 1996. We've grown to nearly 500 subscribers, many of them Microsoft Exchange Server Public Folders with the potential to reach dozens, if not hundreds or thousands of people.
This newsletter will be taking a brief break for the next two weeks as I travel to Redmond for the Microsoft MVP Summit, an annual gathering of many of the people you find answering questions on the newsgroups. In the meantime, Outlook users should be on the lookout for a new version of the Internet Mail Enhancement Patch (IMEP).
I posted a new article today at http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/insword.htm on the intricacies of generating a new AddressLayout AutoText entry to change the defaults for addresses added with the Insert Address button in either Word 7.0 or Word 97. While the Microsoft Knowledgebase has a couple of good articles on the subject, they don't tell the whole story. We found several more fields you can use and give you a chart matching the available AddressLayout fields with the corresponding fields in the Personal Address Book or Outlook Contacts.
Using Outlook to Schedule Report Transmissions
I finally wrote my first Outlook VBScript (all three lines of it) in response to a question on the microsoft.public.outlook97.usage newsgroup as to how Outlook might be used to send the same file to the same group of people every day at the same time. Assuming you have a scheduler (such as NT Workstation 4.0), this turns out to be incredibly easy to do by combining a form with a tiny bit of VBScript with one of the Outlook command line switches.
Step 1: Create an ordinary message with the recipients, subject and any cover note text. Use Tools | Check Names to resolve the addresses. Use File | Save to save a copy of this as a draft somewhere in your Outlook folders, in case you want to modify it later. You could also use File | Save As to save it as an Outlook template .oft file.
Step 2: Choose Tools | Design Outlook Form, then Form | View Code. Paste this bit of code into the Script Editor:
Function Item_Open() Item.SendEnd Function
This will cause this item to be sent as soon as it's created. Choose File | Close to close the Script Editor.
Step 3: Choose File | Publish Form As. Give it a name, such as Network Status Report. This will also cause it to have a Message Class of IPM.Note.NetworkStatusReport (or whatever you named it). Publish it in Personal Forms.
Step 4: Create a shortcut to Outlook.exe using the /c and /a command switches, which are documented in the "Control what happens when you start Outlook" help topic:
<path>\Outlook.exe /c IPM.Note.NetworkStatusReport /a <path>\<filename>
where <path>\<filename> is the particular attachment you want to send.
When you run this shortcut, it creates a message with the predetermined recipients, subject, cover note and attachment, then sends it into the Outbox. Creating it first as a shortcut gives you a way of testing it. Once it works the way you like, you can use the command line with any scheduler. Naturally, you'll need to have Outlook running for the item to actually be delivered.
Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0 books
The Exchange Server 5.0 books are starting to appear. Barry Gerber's updated Mastering Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0 is out from Sybex. At the Exchange Center Bookstore, we're tracking others due this spring and summer. Your book orders through the Bookstore, help support the work of the Slipstick Systems Exchange Center to bring you the most complete and up-to-date information about Exchange and Outlook.
Don't forget that the new Exchange 5.0 client features are covered in my Microsoft Exchange User's Handbook.
WordLookIn is a utility for inserting selected Microsoft Outlook Contacts fields into bookmarks in a Word template. http://home.on.rogers.wave.ca/pmsche/wordlookin/WordLookInstall.html
Today's Outlook displays a summary of your day's tasks, appointments, and other info in an executive summary desktop frame. It provides easy access to creating new Outlook items such as mail, contacts, and appointments, as well as one-click access to displaying your Outlook folders. From the Microsoft Exchange Application Farm at ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/services/TechNet/samples/BOES/BO/MAILEXCH/exchange/appfarm/.
Also at the AppFarm, you'll find new add-ons to enhance Exchange Server's web publishing and messaging functions using ActiveServer components.
ActivFax, a new utility for automatically printing faxes received with Microsoft Fax. Requires Imaging for Windows. Be sure to follow the instructions in the readme. http://www.technocorp.co.za/junior/downloads/d1.html
PilotMirror, an Outlook to PalmPilot conduit from Chapura (http://www.chapura.com/).
CryptoEx beta release 4.0 adds more options to this PGP add-on for Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook. After the commercial release, there will be a freeware version limited to encrypting only messages without attachments. http://www.glueckkanja.de.
Schedule+ Address Book Provider. This update (Release 1.4 of Version 1.64), fixes a compatibility problem with Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0 clients and improves sorting of e-mail and fax entries. http://www.thinkage.on.ca/shareware/schabp/schabchg.htm
Get the answers from the Microsoft Exchange, Windows Messaging and Microsoft Outlook FAQs at http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/faqs.htm.
The Microsoft Outlook FAQ has a Table of Contents at http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/outlfaq.htm to help you find answers faster. New and updated items are at the bottom of the page.
Ask new questions and provide other feedback for the Slipstick Systems Exchange Center FAQs at http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/faqfdbk.htm.
ISSN 1523-7990
Copyright 1996-2006, Slipstick Systems and CDOLive LLC. All rights reserved.