Greetings! Welcome to Vol. 3, No. 1 of Exchange Messaging Outlook, 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:
Did you notice that the Subject above reads "Vol. 3, No. 1"? That's right -- EMO has just turned the bend into Year 3! Who are you -- the keen observers of Microsoft's efforts to create a one-size, fits-many e-mail program? There are nearly 1,500 EMO subscribers, with more than a few Exchange Server Public Folders. Several companies with large Exchange installations are strongly represented (you know who you are). We have subscribers from all continents except Antarctica.
This newsletter is still not as regular as I'd like it to be. That's one of our goals for the next year -- to bring you news of Exchange and Outlook in a more timely, predictable fashion. For more on our efforts to improve service, read about the Growing Pains Survey below.
If you haven't ordered the Outlook 98 CD and want to pick up one free (or almost free -- for the cost of a magazine), check out any of the following magazines, which are including the Outlook 98 CD with current or recent issues:
In the U.S., PC Computing, June issue
In the U.K., PC Direct, PC Pro and Internet Works, June issues
In Australia, Australian Personal Computer, May issue
The number-one reason for getting the CD is to avoid having to download Outlook 98 from the web again in case you ever need to reinstall. But what else is on the CD? It includes the main Outlook 98 installation files, including Internet Explorer 4.01; Service Pack 3 for Windows NT 4.0 (in \En\Nt4sp3\I386, required for Outlook 98); and a Valupack folder with subfolders containing these add-ons:
\Ccmail -- Outlook supoort for Lotus cc:Mail
\Cdo -- Help file for Microsoft Collaboration Data Objects
\Corpldap -- Microsoft LDAP Directory, for Corporate/Workgroup mode (add to your profile after installing)
\Dataacc --- Microsoft Data Access Pack with drivers importing and exporting data to/from various databases, including Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, dBase and FoxPro.
\Fareast - Font and code page support for Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean. (I guess I won't know how it works until someone sends me a message in Chinese.)
\Hpc -- Tool to fix problems with the "Windows CE Inbox Transfer" command. Check the CD's readme.txt for details.
\Winfax -- Utility to allow you to access Outlook contact fax numbers from within WinFax Pro, if you upgrade from WinFax SE in Internet Mail Only mode or use WinFax Pro as a MAPI service in Corporate/Workgroup mode.
Does the Outlook 98 license allow you to use the CD to install Outlook on more than one machine? Well, maybe. It depends on whether you are upgrading and from what.
If you installed it for the first time or as an upgrade from Office 97 or Outlook 97, you can install it on only one computer and if you have a portable computer, put a second copy there for your exclusive use.
You can also put the CD in a shared network CD drive for other people to install from, but they have to have a valid license. I would assume that having a license for Office 97 or Outlook 97 means you have a license for Outlook 98.
If you have Exchange Server 5.x, you can install Outlook 98 subject to the language in the license for Exchange Server. If you have Exchange Server 4.0, I can use Outlook 98 on any machine that has a Client Access License for Exchange Server.
The same licensing applies to downloaded copies, even if you downloaded the full copy of Outlook 98 from the FTP site during the few hours that it was available. You can't redistribute it to other people. They have to download their own copy or get the CD.
Downloading Outlook 98 still means getting only the English-language version. Other language versions are apparently starting to become available on CD. Check out these sites:
Germany -- http://www.eu.microsoft.com/germany/office/outlook/bestell.htm
France -- http://www.microsoft.com/france/outlook/dispout.htm
For the past few months, a key member of the Exchange/Outlook community has been on the sidelines. The Microsoft Exchange Forum mailing list has continued to run, but its home site at http://www.msexchange.org has been offline during the move to new servers. We're delighted to report that it's back for good and you can once again search the archives of the irreplaceable mailing list and browse the Exchange Server FAQ for common issues. Congratulations to founder Peter Bowyer for his successful move.
Still more group schedule viewers
Group calendars must rank as the #1 Feature that Microsoft Forgot in Exchange Server and Outlook, given the amount of ingenuity that is going into alternatives. Why so many approaches? Well, a group calendar means different things to different people.
Some people want to collect a group of calendars into one big public Calendar folder. Others want to view several users' calendars simultaneously, but don't need a central repository.
Some are content with just an at-a-glance view of who's here and who's not. The latest entry in that arena is In/Out Board - Wherabouts (http://www.c2c.co.uk/inout.htm).
If you're handy with Visual Basic, you can start writing your own application with a jumpstart from source code provided by Rich Eveleigh at http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/olgroupcal.htm.
For a large-scale solution, Global Calendar (http://www.completesoftware.dk/prod01.htm) synchronizes users' mailbox Calendar folders with a public Calendar folder.
We've also been tweaking our own Availability Viewer at http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/olforms/availvue.htm based on the great feedback we received after its debut in the Exchange Administrator Newsletter from Windows NT magazine.
Other potential solutions, 10 in all, are listed at http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/outlhow4.htm#scheduleall. One important thing to remember: You'll get pop-up reminders only for appointments that are listed in the Calendar folder in your mailbox.
Many thanks to Automated Profile Management (http://www.desktopstandard.com) and their Profile Maker application for sponsoring the Client Issues and Server Issues pages at the Slipstick Systems Exchange Center during the past month. If your company provides Exchange or Outlook products and services, there's no better place than www.slipstick.com to tell the thousands of users and administrators who visit each week. Write me at sponsor@slipstick.com for details.
Another way you can support the work of the Slipstick Systems Exchange Center is to purchase books through our online bookstore at http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/exchbstr.htm, affiliated with amazon.com. We've done a bit of sprucing up to add a section on Outlook 98 books, one for MCSE training aids and a search function you can use to look for any type of book at amazon.com, not just Exchange and Outlook books.
Two of the most eagerly awaited new books are Greg Todd's revised Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 Unleashed and the new edition of Building Applications with Microsoft Outlook 98.
The Unleashed book clearly explains what you need to know to install and care for an Exchange Server. As it walks through the various functions and options available, you get specific examples of when you might need to use them, not just screen shots and the mechanics.
Building Applications is one of just three books available on developing for the Outlook or Exchange environment. (The other two are Ben Goetter's Developing Applications for Microsoft Exchange with C++ and Michael Amundsen's MAPI, SAPI and TAPI: Developer's Guide.) Microsoft Press has let a number of titles go out of print, including Inside MAPI, but the Inside MAPI web site is still alive and well at http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/lest/inmapi.htm.
Score one small plus, one big minus for Microsoft's proofing tools
First the bad news: As part of the Outlook 98 add-on components, Microsoft posted the proofing tools for a dozen or so different languages. I grabbed the Russian spell checker while it was available. But if you didn't visit the components site during its first few weeks, you missed the chance to get these spell check files. Microsoft pulled them from the site. I'm told they won't be back, at least not as free downloads.
This is only one instance in a disturbing pattern of carelessness and worse at microsoft.com. Pages are constantly being removed or renamed without notice and without redirecting you to a new location. Indexes aren't updated in a timely fashion either, so you cannot count on being able to successfully search for a missing page. Even the ability to search the Microsoft Knowledgebase for the most recent Outlook 98 articles was broken for a couple of weeks. Another example: Crystal Reports for Microsoft Outlook is no longer available for download from the Office Resource Kit pages. You can get it now only by purchasing the Microsoft Office 97 Resource Kit book. (If the policy for hosting third-party material is going to change, that's a decision Microsoft has the right to make. But it shouldn't be applied retroactively to existing content.)
What can you do? For starters, if you find bad links in the Support Online site, you can submit them to mtscf@microsoft.com.
Now, the good news. MVP Athena keeps an eye on the some of the local Microsoft web sites around the world. She's the one who found the Italian and French versions mentioned earlier. At the Microsoft Benelux version of the Office Update site, she stumbled across something called the Office Language Selector. Get it from http://www.eu.microsoft.com/benelux/office/update/frb/outlook.htm. You'll need to register with that Office Update site, even if you're already registered at the Office Update pages at www.microsoft.com. Also on this page, you'll find a little utility for converting old CardFile records of contact phone numbers into a comma-separated file that you can import into Outlook.
What about spell checking in Exchange and Windows Messaging? To get spell checking in the operating system version of Exchange/Windows Messaging -- the one that comes with Windows 95 or Windows NT -- you need to either have Microsoft Office or Works and its spell checker installed or get an add-in. See http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/client5.htm#spellcheck. As an alternative, you can also download the full Microsoft Exchange Server client. Be aware, though, that the version available is Exchange 4.0, Service Pack 2, which is a tad old. See http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/exsfaq.htm for details.
I have a certain (small) amount of sympathy with the problems at Microsoft's web site. We've had our own growing pains and are constantly challenged with the need to get news updates into the Slipstick site quickly, while writing more in-depth articles on features and solutions, all the time trying to make it easy for both newcomers and regular visitors to find what they need.
Unfortunately, the combination of the method we use for producing the site and the many broken links that need fixing daily means that the URL Minder notifications you may be receiving often point you to a page where there actually is no new content. One suggestion is that you change your URL Minder settings to send you an update no more than once a week. You can do this by following the link in the next URL Minder notice you receive.
Some time ago, we started adding graphics to highlight new and updated items on pages that didn't have other dating. These graphics remain in place 1-4 weeks, depending on how important the update is and how frequently the particular page changes.
We've now started highlighting updated text in purple and, for those of you with Internet Explorer 4.0, providing a pop-up tip when you point to updated text and links. I haven't found an easy way to provide such a pop-up for Netscape users, but am open to suggestions.
This isn't going to satisfy everyone, of course. I'm open to suggestions, but I'm generally against clutter, frames and anything that steals too much time from finding Exchange and Outlook solutions.
Office Service Release 2 on the horizon
Microsoft is planning a second Office Service release this summer. You can read the few details available so far at http://www.microsoft.com/office/office97/ServiceRelease/SR2/fact.asp. It will not contain Outlook 98, but should have some as-yet unspecified fixes for Outlook 97. Perhaps the most important thing to know about SR-2 is that you can't install it without installing SR-1 first. We recommend that you order the Enterprise Update version of SR-1 to get all the fixes for Outlook and Office, not just the ones in the download. See http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/ol802.htm#order.
In/Out Board - Wherabouts
Add-in to make entering and viewing short-term location information simple with Microsoft Exchange Server.
http://www.c2c.co.uk/inout.htmPABTool
Transfers address book entries between Exchange, Outlook, Netscape and PalmPilot Desktop.
http://http://www6.zdnet.com/cgi-bin/texis/swlib/hotfiles/info.html?fcode=000LYAGlobal Calendar
Synchronizes user mailbox Calendar folders with a global Calendar folder in Public Folders.
http://www.completesoftware.dk/prod01.htmPlanetAll
Synchronize the Outlook 97/98 Contacts folder with your private PlanetAll online address book where recipients can update their own information.
http://www.planetall.com/exp1/EbbSynchronize.HTMLActioneer
Utility to speed up entry of Outlook tasks and other items. Works with Outlook 97 or with Outlook 98 in Corporate or Workgroup mode only.
http://www.actioneer.com/welcome/products/prod_outlook1.htmlTrustedMIME
128-bit S/MIME security even for non-U.S. users.
http://www.sse.ie/trustedmime.htmlCryptoEx
Security add-in for Exchange and Outlook 97/98, supporting PGP, S/MIME and PEM/MTT encryption (the latter two added in version 2.0), available in both personal and corporate versions, with optional key server.
http://www.glueckkanja.de/MaX Compression
Automatically compresses and decompresses file attachments to .zip or self-extracting .exe format. Updated for compatibility with Outlook 97 and Outlook 98 in Corporate/Workgroup mode. Requires Exchange Server or Microsoft Mail Server.
http://www.c2c.co.uk/products/maxcomp.htmReddFish ListServer (ver 1.2.5)
Fixes bugs and adds minor enhancements, including better handling of invalid e-mail addresses, to this mailing list manager for Microsoft Exchange Server.
http://www.reddfish.co.nz/reddfish/listserver.htmAlcom LanFax NT 5.0 (rev 3)
Adds enhanced routing and automatic printing of incoming faxes, plus an assortment of bug fixes, to this fax server that includes MAPI transports for Outlook/Exchange plus a separate program that Windows for Workgroups users can connect with. The three-user/one fax line version is still free!
http://www.alcom.com/products/nt.htmLightning for Outlook (ver 2.0)
Provides quick access to Microsoft Outlook 97/98 tasks, calendar and contacts without loading the entire Outlook application. Right-click on any date on the Lightning calendar to get a summary of your appointments and tasks and the number of unread e-mail messages. Cool features include drag-and-drop from many Windows applications to create new contacts, logging of WordPerfect documents, lots of natural language processing and the ability to use non-standard folders -- even Public Folders -- as the default location for creating new items.
http://www.catalystinnovations.com/index.htmlCyberSecretary
Automates Microsoft Outlook 97/98 with scripts that can be triggered by nearly two dozen outlook events, such as receiving a message or opening a Contact item, or can be scheduled or random.
http://www.voicenet.com/~wheindl/cybersecretary.htmlEnvelope and Delivery Label Add-ins for Microsoft Outlook
Two ActiveX controls that add the ability to print envelopes and delivery labels from Outlook 97/98. Shareware; you must register in order to change the return address. The latest version provides a number of fixes, including a new Contact98.oft template for Microsoft Outlook 98.
http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/mssoutl.htmMapiMate '98
Utility for generating VB or VBA code for MAPI projects through a visual interface. Open a list of folders, search, use the address book, etc. then copy the code into your project.
http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/gallery.htm#mapimate
Search the Slipstick Systems Exchange Center at http://www.slipstick.com/exchange/search.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.
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