Exchange Messaging Outlook
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Today's highlights:
Regular features:
DST (again)I promised myself I would not mention the upcoming time changes
anymore, but it's beginning to look like it’s going to be the
nightmare Y2K wasn't and decided it was worth mentioning one
last time. I promise.
If you're confused by what needs to be done to avoid problems, Microsoft has a wizard to guide you as well as several webcasts available for administrators. Keep in mind that the chances are good you'll have at least some problems, unless you have few appointments in the affected time frame. The short version of the DST update instructions is:
Preparing for Daylight Saving Time changes in 2007 http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_topissues Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center Wizard http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst If you aren't sure what you need to do, use the wizard. Webcasts for daylight saving time changes in 2007 http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_webcasts Included are replays for previous webcasts. A virtual machine is available to help you deploy daylight saving time 2007 calendar updates in an Exchange organization http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=933185 Video Demo: How to rebase a Resource Calendar using the Outlook Time Zone Update tool and the /FORCEREBASESUPPRESSALL switch http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/03/01/436164.aspx Video demos for running Exchange and Outlook DST 2007 tools http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/02/21/435543.aspx Some of the common problems we're seeing when the Windows DST update patch is installed on some computers and not others include the following: 1. Meeting times are wrong for some recipients. 2. Appointments may be correct in Outlook but off an hour in OWA if the Exchange patch was not installed. 3. If you use a PDA to sync two desktops, appointments can be off one hour if both computers and the PDA were not updated. Typically, users or administrators check the time zone and daylight time settings, knowing it’s always the cause of such problems, but unfortunately don't think about checking to see if all machines involved have the time zone patches installed. If one system is updated and the other is not, the meeting times will be off an hour during the period of March 11 - April 1. Another issue that has been reported is that when meeting requests are updated new copies of the meeting request being sent and the organizer may be changed. Outlook 2007 Slowness Solved?Many Outlook 2007 users are complaining about how slow Outlook
is. It takes "forever" to send and receive; it takes "forever"
to open messages. The standard fix is a new profile, especially
if the current profile was used with a previous version of
Outlook or moved from another machine using Save My Setting or
Windows East Transfer wizard. While this helps some people, it
may not be enough, as a new profile reuses some files from the
old profile, including extend.dat, outcmd.dat, views.dat, and
frmcache.dat. Reusing your PST may also contribute to slowness.
Based on reports in the Microsoft public newsgroups, deleting or renaming these four files definitely speeds Outlook up. It certainly makes sense to me that any of these could be a problem, especially extend.dat and outcmd.dat. Extend.dat holds information about installed add-ins. Outcmd.dat is toolbar customizations, which are not supported the same way, thanks to extensive use of the ribbon. Frmcache.dat is custom form data, this too is known to become corrupted now and again. Views.dat is less problematic, but like the others, Outlook will create a new one when it needs it. Not every installation will have all four of these files, since Outlook only creates them if needed, such as when you customize a toolbar or install a custom form. You may need to show hidden files and folders to find these files (Windows Explorer, Tools, Folder Options). Extend.dat is located in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook Views.dat and Outcmd.dat are located at C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook Frmcache.dat is at C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Forms Note that in Vista, the two Application Data folder paths are now under C:\users. The Outlook and Forms folder are under C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\ and C:\users\username\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft, however, unless you first installed Outlook 2003 then upgraded it to Outlook 2007 or used Easy Transfer to move your profile, these files are unlikely to cause problems in Vista. Should you reuse your PST when you upgrade?Experts (myself included) have always recommended reusing an
existing personal message store (PST) when moving Outlook to a
new machine. Our reasoning was that importing and exporting
misses certain hidden files, like published custom forms, and
messes up Archiving because of new modified dates, making it
better to just connect the old PST to the profile and set it as
the default delivery location. While this advice still holds
true when you are staying with the same version of Outlook, it
looks like it might be better to make a new PST when you change
Outlook versions, especially when moving to Outlook 2007.
The reason for this is two-fold. First, although Outlook 2007 uses the same Unicode format PST that Outlook 20003 introduced, it also adds additional data to the PST. Secondly, most of the people who complain about Outlook 2007 being slow say it’s much faster when they tried a new PST. While you can open a PST created in Outlook 97 or any previous version with Outlook 2007, it's better if these older PSTs are not your default message store, if for no other reason than new PSTs can hold much more data and offer Unicode support. If you do create a new PST, you can either import the contents of the old PST or open it in your profile using File, Open, Outlook Data File, and copy messages and folders you created to the new PST. Printing Problems when IE7 is InstalledA common complaint lately goes like this: "Sometimes when I
print an HTML message in Outlook 2003, it does not print the
headers (From, Sent, To, Subject) at the top. I can sometimes
get this to print properly by going File, Print, Options Tab,
Print Links. Also, I noticed Print Preview is not available."
The printing error sometimes happens when you have installed Internet Explorer 7. If you are one of the affected, see the following KB article for a hotfix. The e-mail message header does not print when you try to print an e-mail message by using either Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 or Microsoft Outlook Express http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931657/ If you are in a rush and don't have time to install the hotfix, selecting two messages to print is reported to print correctly. Print preview is a totally different, unrelated problem. Preview is never available for HTML messages with Outlook 2003 and earlier versions, only plain text and RTF. It does work in Outlook 2007 thanks to the use of Word's HTML rendering engine. Unfortunately the trade off for print preview is all message formats use Outlook's very limited print dialog. The common trick of converting a message to HTML so you have better control over the printout no longer works. I don’t know about you, but I’d gladly trade print preview for better printing options. Sharing Calendars with Outlook 2007One great feature in Outlook 2007 is its ability share calendars
by publishing them to the Internet. The published calendar will
update the server hourly so all calendars shared in this manner
are automatically updated.
You can publish and share your calendars free using Office Online - all you need is a Windows Live account (Passport). But what if you want to share with other local user accounts and really don't want to make everyone go out to the Internet to check the calendar? Not a problem. Publishing works with any WebDAV capable server, such as Internet Information Server (IIS), which is included in Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Pro and Vista. After installing IIS, publish calendars by right clicking on the calendar you want to publish and choose Publish to Internet, Publish to WebDAV server. Enter the location of your server in this format: http://computername/folder_name. With the correct permissions, the calendar is accessible from any computer in your local network. Not only does this work with Outlook 2007, the published calendar can be subscribed in Vista's Calendar, Apple's iCal, Entourage or any calendar application that supports subscriptions. For instructions on configuring IIS for calendar publishing, see Share Calendars with Local Users using Internet Publishing http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/ol2007/publishcal.htm |
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New Utilities |
ADSynch Light |
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Updated Utilities |
MIMEsweeper for Exchange http://www.clearswift.com/products/msw/exchange/default.aspx Attachment and content filtering on internal and external Exchange Server mail, based on policies. Supports integration with various antivirus solutions. It simplifies content security, blocking viruses, inappropriate language, illegal files and confidential information as it moves through Exchange mail servers. PROMODAG Reports http://www.promodag.com/products/reports/description.aspx PROMODAG reports for Exchange server measures the usage of your Exchange electronic messaging system, analyze traffic patterns and establish the cost of using the system. Reports analyses and reports on all types of Exchange traffic. Version 7.6 |
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Other Resources |
Webcasts for daylight saving time changes in 2007 http://support.microsoft.com/gp/dst_webcasts A list of webacasts and replays covering the upcoming DST changes. How to rebase a Resource Calendar using the Outlook Time Zone Update tool http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/03/01/436164.aspx From the Microsoft Exchange team's blog, You had me at EHLO: Video: How to rebase a Resource Calendar using the Outlook Time Zone Update tool and the /FORCEREBASESUPPRESSALL switch. More video instructions for DST issues can be found at http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/02/21/435543.aspx. |
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New Exchange Knowledge Base Articles |
You are logged off unexpectedly when you try to perform another action after you
try to view an e-mail message that includes an embedded graphic in Outlook Web
Access http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=928872 A user can still send or receive e-mail messages successfully after you set a message size delivery restriction to 0 KB for an Exchange Server 2003 mailbox http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=932440 Common Mistakes When Upgrading Exchange 2000/2003 To a Exchange 2007 http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=555854 Update for daylight saving time changes in Newfoundland in 2007 for Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=931915 The Exchange 2003 database does not mount, and event IDs 9518 and 9519 are logged in the Application log http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=930241 Exchange System Manager in Exchange Server 2003 stops responding when you try to access Exchange Help after you install Internet Explorer 7 http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=932513 You may experience issues when you have many public stores on many Exchange Server 2003 servers in a large mail organization http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=922894 |
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New Outlook Knowledge Base Articles |
Description of the hotfix package for the Time Zone Data Update tool for
Microsoft Office Outlook http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=933146 Description of the Office 2003 post-Service Pack 2 hotfix package: February 12, 2007 http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=932844 Description of the Office 2003 post-Service Pack 2 hotfix package: February 13, 2007 http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=932839 Description of the Outlook 2003 post-Service Pack 2 hotfix package: February 16, 2007 http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=932962 A virtual machine is available to help you deploy daylight saving time 2007 calendar updates in an Exchange organization http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=933185 Description of the Office 2003 post-Service Pack 2 hotfix package: January 26, 2007 http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=931662 Plot lines that contain labels disappear when you edit a Microsoft Excel chart or a Microsoft Graph chart in an Office 2003 program http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=931663 |
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More Information |
ISSN 1523-7990 |