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Exchange Messaging Outlook
Volume 7, Number 12

Click for details on The Microsoft Outlook 2000 E-mail and Fax Guide

Greetings! Welcome to Vol. 7, No. 12, 14 Nov 2002, of Exchange Messaging Outlook, a biweekly newsletter about Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook.

Today's highlights:
  • Office 2000 Service Pack 3
  • Customize attachment blocking in SP3
  • Potential NewInspector issues in SP3
  • New registry options in SP3
  • New Microsoft Knowledgebase syntax
  • Welcome OutlookCode.com members

Regular features:

  • New utilities
  • Updated utilities
  • Other new resources

Office 2000 Service Pack 3

Microsoft yesterday released Office 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP3). This set of patches updates Microsoft Outlook 2000 with the latest fixes and establishes a new baseline for all future hotfixes for Outlook 2000. It will update any Office 2000 program on your system, even if the only one you have installed is Outlook 2000.

Users who shunned Service Pack 2 because of its security features when it was released two years may want to consider SP3, which provides a registry setting to unblock certain attachment file types that Microsoft considers dangerous. (More details below.) SP3 is still subject to the "object model guard," which may inhibit the operation of programs that make use of Outlook data and try to send Outlook messages.

SP3 requires Office 2000 Service Release 1/1a, but you do not have to install SP2 first. For more information on where to get SP3, what's fixed, and how to install it both on a client and on an administrative install point, see our full report at http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2000sp3.htm.

Customize attachment blocking in SP3

The hot new feature in SP3 is the ability for Outlook 2000 users to customize the attachment blocking that Microsoft added in SP2, with the same documented registry entry that Outlook 2002 uses. As always, when making a change to the registry, make a backup first. Then follow these steps:

Outlook 2002 and Outlook 2000 SP3 (but not Outlook 98 or earlier Outlook 2000 versions) allow the user to use a registry key to open up access to blocked attachments. (Always make a backup before editing the registry.) To use this key:

  1. Run Regedit, and go to this key:

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Outlook\Security

    (Note that the key for Outlook 2002 uses 10.0 instead of 9.0.)

  2. Under that key, add a new string value named Level1Remove.

  3. For the value for Level1Remove, enter a semicolon-delimited list of file extensions. For example, entering this:

    mdb;url

    would unblock Microsoft Access files and Internet shortcuts.

If you prefer not to edit the registry yourself, keep an eye on http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/esecup/getexe.htm, where we'll post information about updates to the various utilities that can help you manage this setting.

We recommend that you use this feature sparingly and with great care, unblocking only those attachments that you absolutely must see.

Adding a file type to the Level1Remove value moves it to Level 2, which will still require you to save the file to disk before opening it. End users cannot remove a file type from Level 2. That is possible only for Exchange administrators using the security customization tool from the Office Resource Kit.

Potential NewInspector issues in SP3

Developers of add-ins that use the NewInspector event to detect when an Outlook user opens a new item may want to test their programs with SP3 as soon as possible. As the Microsoft Knowledgebase explains, SP3 fixes several issues related to the NewInspector event. In particular, the article OL2000: The NewInspector Event Does Not Run When You Click the Next or Previous Buttons at http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=317975 indicates that SP3 should fire a NewInspector even when the user clicks the Next or Previous button on an open message.

The potential problem is that developers may already have coded a workaround for this situation using other events. In that case, they may need to ensure that their code doesn't react twice -- once with workaround and once with SP3's NewInspector event.

Here are the other articles on NewInspector changes in SP3:

OL2000 The NewInspector Event May Not Fire For a Single Occurrence of a Recurring Appointment
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=272320

OL2000 The NewInspector Event Does Not Start Consistently After You Install the Outlook E-mail Security Update
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=317944

New registry options in SP3

Administrators, in particular, may be interested in these registry settings introduced in SP3:

Level1Remove, Level1Add
OL2000: Cannot Access Attachments
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=318515
Customizes attachment blocking.

ForceFormReload
OL2000 Error Message The Form You Have Selected...Cannot Be Displayed, Please Contact Your Administrator
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=285129
Forces Outlook to reload the original version of a published form if it can't load the cached version

ForcePolling
OL2000 You Cannot Receive New E-mail Notifications
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=311506
Configures Outlook 2000 to poll the Exchange Server instead of using UDP packets to receive new e-mail notifications.

IMAP Use Full Headers
OL2000: (IMO) IMAP Header View Does Not Contain "To" and "Sent" Fields
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=316113
Adds the Sent and To fields to message headers downloaded from an IMAP account

DontEncodeCustomNote
OL2000 How to Send a Custom Form Without TNEF
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=313523
Provides greater control over when Outlook sends TNEF formatting from a custom form

New Microsoft Knowledgebase syntax

If you're a hardcore user of the Microsoft Knowledgebase (MSKB), you probably noticed that the links above use a new format. All articles have dropped the letter prefix, as Microsoft moves toward better coordination among the KBs in different languages. Once the changes are complete, links that are not language-specific should take you directly to the KB article in your own preferred language.

The transition has actually gone quite smoothly. At first, there was a problem with redirects from article links using an older format, but that was reported to the right people at Microsoft over the weekend (thanks Chris!) and fixed on Monday.

The other benefit of the new format is shorter, simpler URLs. I wish Microsoft could do that with other areas of the Microsoft.com site, especially MSDN and TechNet, whose URLs are often too long for a single line in a plain text message.

Welcome OutlookCode.com members

Our new Outlook developer community site at http://www.outlookcode.com is off to a great start, with 227 registered users in just its first two weeks, many of them receiving EMO for the first time today. If you prefer not to register, that's fine, too. No registration is required to enjoy the site's forums and code samples.

Among the code samples posted so far is a snippet from Christian Gram that shows how to deal with time zone differences when creating appointments in another user's Calendar folder with CDO. You'll find it at http://www.outlookcode.com/codedetail.aspx?id=29.

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New Utilities

ANAGRAM
http://getanagram.com/outlookusers/
Converts text in virtually any Windows application into Outlook contacts, appointments, tasks, or notes.

EXMS ENTERPRISE PROVISIONING MANAGER
http://www.discusdata.com/products/EPM.htm
Provision Windows NT and Active Directory accounts and mailboxes according to business rules -- including setting distribution list and security group memberships.

GETTING THINGS DONE OUTLOOK ADD-IN
http://www.davidco.com/products.php
Applies David Allen's workflow methodology to Outlook functionality, using categories, views, and other features.

KNOCKOUT
http://www.sunflowerhead.com/software/knockout/
Free system tray application to monitor the state of Outlook on your machine. Shows you when Outlook is running, even if you can't see any Outlook windows. Allows you to shut down Outlook or Word. Can turn off the "new mail" envelope icon. Very useful for developers.

QUICKICONS
http://www.sunflowerhead.com/software/quickicons/
Create icons to create new Outlook items from the Quick Launch area of the Windows taskbar.

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Updated utilities

CONTACTGENIE IMPORTER
http://www.contactgenie.com/
Version 1.2 of this tool for importing data into Outlook contacts adds support for tab-delimited, custom-delimited, Access, Visual FoxPro, and dBase files. Also makes it possible to run import jobs on a scheduled basis from a command line.

MAIL ESSENTIALS FOR EXCHANGE
http://www.gfi.com/me/
Version 7.1 of this multi-purpose Exchange utility adds more robust anti-spam capability.

MICROSOFT OFFICE 2000 SERVICE PACK 3
http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2000sp3.htm
Major update adding customizable attachment blocking, better handling of forms cache corruption, and many fixes to Outlook and other Office programs. All subsequent updates will require SP3.

OUTINDEX
http://www.outindex.com/
Version 7 Release 4a of this search and bulk mail tool for Outlook makes searches five times faster and adds support for mailing to recipients from external databases.

SAMSUNG CONTACT MAPI SERVICE PROVIDER
http://www.samsungcontact.com/en/news.php?ref=index.php&si=4841953565815882dc20a193f8c7c4dd
Version 7.01 of this component to connect Outlook to a Samsung Contacts mail/calendar/contacts server.

WEBTEAM CENTRAL
http://www.ms-add-on.com/products_webteam_eng.htm
The latest version of this browser-based group calendar application for Exchange adds the ability to send mail and phone messages from the WebTeam Central interface. It also now supports running the WebTeam Service application on a server other than the Exchange server.

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Other new resources

ARE YOU AN OUTLOOK CALENDAR WHIZ
http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/2002/quiz/qolcalendar.aspx
Take the latest quiz!

EXCHANGE 2000 INFORMATION STORE SERVICE PROVIDER PATCH 6332.0
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/release.asp?ReleaseID=44811
Post SP3 patch; includes a hotfix to fix a problem with new mail notifications not getting to clients

MAILBOX SIZE MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
http://www.c2c.com/solutions/MSMS.htm
Vendor white paper on why you need a mailbox management strategy and what factors to consider.

MOVING THE EXCHANGE DATABASES IN EXCHANGE 2000
http://www.msexchange.org/pages/article.asp?id=535
How to article, with screen shots

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More Information

ISSN 1523-7990
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Updated Jul 30 2006

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