Exchange Messaging Outlook
Volume 6, Number 5

• New utilities
• Updated utilities
• Other new resources

This issue of EMO looks at the 1-2-3 punch of releases that Microsoft has issued in the last week -- the first update for Outlook 2002, Exchange Server 2000 Service Pack 1, and Outlook 2001 for Macintosh.

Outlook 2002 Update

The first Outlook 2002 update, coming just four weeks after retail release, fixes these performance and functionality issues:

• Delay Occurs When You Open a Message in Outlook 2002 with Instant Messaging Enabled (Exchange Server)
• OL2002: User is Prompted for Password that is Already Saved (Internet mail)
• Moves the Folder List Pane to Show the Target Folder (the feature to expand the folder list when a rule moves an item to a folder, once missing, now restored!)
• Plain Text / JIS Message Is Encoded as Quoted Printable (Japanese)
• Outlook 2002 Issues FindRow Every Minute to the Exchange Server 

See http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q300/5/50.asp for download and enterprise deployment details.

Exchange Server 2000 SP1 Released

Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Exchange 2000 Monday as a multi-file download. U.S. and Canadian customers can also order it on CD. For download and ordering, see http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/downloads/2000/sp1.asp. I assume that international Microsoft sites will be posting similar information soon as SP1 becomes available worldwide.

For the basic fixes and features list, see http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q301/4/52.asp. Many

administrators will be delighted with the return of Mailbox Manager, the centralized housekeeping tool that debuted with Exchange 5.5 SP3, but did not make it into Exchange 2000. Other important new features are support for four-way clustering and an updated anti-virus API.

According to Exchange product manager Paul Bowden, SP1 fixes nearly 2,000 issues. He has posted some detailed information on SP1 that goes beyond what's in the release notes and the MSKB articles. At http://www.exinternals.com/topics/sp1/, you'll find a deployment guide and a detailed list of the fixes and enhancements, arranged by Exchange component.

Since my chief interest is client issues, these updates from Paul's list caught my eye:

Logon failure when mailbox has mail-enabled forwarding address -- If the mailbox has an alternate recipient that is mail-enabled, the user will be able to log on to the mailbox in SP1.

User cannot logon after mailbox is moved -- Users should be able to log onto a mailbox moved to another server after 15 minutes with SP1, not two hours as with the original Exchange 2000 release.

Offline address books -- If you have generated multiple offline address books, SP1 allows you to associate these lists with particular mailboxes. See http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q275/2/03.asp. Other fixes solve problems with offline address books not being generated and with corruption in differential address books.

Recipient Update Service -- SP1 resolves a problem that deleted all proxy addresses for a namespace if you deleted a secondary proxy address via a policy and fixes several other issues with the Recipient Update Service.

Server supports 36 months of free/busy publishing in SP1 -- The 36 months of free/busy publishing from user Calendar folders is an increase from 12.

Message can be received in plain text instead of RTF -- This fix affects messages composed in HTML format and switched to RTF format before sending.

HTML messages in Drafts do not get sent properly -- Changes to HTML messages saved in the Drafts folder now go out with the message, instead of being ignored.

Blank message bodies received in Outlook -- This fixes a problem that could cause messages to lose both body and subject.

Controlling MAPI client version logon -- Administrators can use SP1 to set a server-side restriction on which MAPI clients can log on to the Exchange 2000 server. See http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q289/1/15.ASP and http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q288/8/94.asp.

TNEF message corruption between organizations -- Messages sent between Exchange organizations in rich-text format with multiple attachments could become corrupted. This is fixed in SP1.

Microsoft says that Outlook Web Access has been a big hit, with as many as 72% of Microsoft customers citing OWA as a key driver of their upgrade plans for Exchange 2000. OWA gets its share of SP1 fixes:

Display week numbers -- OWA can display week numbers in the calendar with SP1.

Support for adding attachments on post forms -- You can now post attachments to public folders.

OWA supports 22 languages in SP1 -- SP1 adds 13 new languages.

Interface to Deleted Item Retention area -- The Options page in OWA now provides a way to use the Deleted Item Retention feature.

Rich client for IE5.01 on the UNIX platform

Reminders not being set on new appointments -- Fixed in SP1.

IMAP & POP clients can use OWA for scheduling -- The meeting requests downloaded by IMAP and POP clients include a URL to an OWA page where the user can accept or reject the meeting. Administrators can configure the URL to handle a front-end/back-end server configuration.

Rounding out this flurry of releases is the new Outlook client for Macintosh users who connect to Exchange Server. Outlook 2001 works only with Exchange Server, not with Internet accounts, but brings many welcome improvements in collaboration and other areas. You can download Outlook 2001 from http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/outlook/outlook_main.asp or order it as part of the Exchange Server 2000 SP1 CD set.

I will be speaking on Outlook development at the Office Developer Connections conference Oct. 4-5 in Scottsdale, Arizona -- covering Outlook security, Outlook reports, and what's new for developers in Outlook 2002. The registration page should be available soon at http://www.msofficeconnections.com.

New Utilities

MICROSOFT OUTLOOK 2001 FOR MAC
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/outlook/outlook_main.asp
Final release of the new Macintosh client for Exchange Server. Be sure to read the release notes for details on incompatibility between profiles for the beta version and the final release and other potential problems with calendar data and sharing from the beta.

REPLYMATE
http://www.replymate.com
Save frequently used text in Outlook, then use it in your replies, forwards and new messages. Includes a Hot Paste list with your last 25 texts pasted. Works with Outlook 2000 or 2002.

WEBTEAM CENTRAL
http://www.ms-add-on.com/products_webteam_eng.htm
Consolidated web-based view of Exchange user availability by group, with pop-up text for appointment details where permissions allow.

Updated utilities

Other new resources

INTERNET HEADERS SAMPLE FORM
http://www.slipstick.com/dev/olforms/headers.htm
Sample form by Outlook MVP Ken Slovak that demonstrates how to use CDO to retrieve the Internet headers of a received message

LOOKING OUT FOR CUSTOMERS WITH OUTLOOK
http://www.zdnet.com/smallbusiness/stories/general/0,5821,2779796-1,00.html
How to get the most out of Outlook as a contact manager

OUTLOOK 2002 PERFORMANCE TUNING - WHITE PAPER
http://www.microsoft.com/office/outlook/evaluation/performance.htm
Configuration and usage ideas for optimizing Outlook 2002 performance.

TO ADD ACCELERATOR KEYS TO MICROSOFT OUTLOOK FORM CONTROLS
http://www.slipstick.com/dev/tips/formacc.htm
Tips on how to make your Outlook forms look professional by adding hotkeys to user input controls.

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ISSN 1523-7990
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Updated Apr 07 2008

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