Exchange Messaging Outlook October 4 2007

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Exchange Messaging Outlook
Volume 12, Number 13

Issue Date October 4 2007

This issue sponsored by: SonaSafe for Exchange Server ♦ Sherpa Software ♦ Sperry Software

Today's highlights:

Send using Ctrl+Enter
Prevent Accidental Sending
Using Rules
Outlook 2007 Search Results are Incomplete
Exporting Messages and Dates

Regular features:

New utilities
Updated utilities
Other Resources
New Exchange Knowledge Base Articles
New Outlook Knowledge Base Articles

Send using Ctrl+Enter

Most of the questions I get about using Ctrl+Enter to send email are about how to turn the feature off, as many people don't like it and accidently hit it, a user wanted to know how to show the warning dialog after telling Outlook not to show it:

"I turned off (permanently) the ctrl-enter to send warning in Outlook 2007. Is there a registry key or other way to re-enable the warning? I keep accidentally sending messages but I want to be able to send using ctrl-enter, I just want the warning with the yes/no choice before actually performing the send. While initially annoying, I greatly appreciate the warning now."

The feature is controlled by the CtrlEnterSends DWORD found at
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Preferences.
Delete CtrlEnterSends then restart Outlook and the next time you press Ctrl+Enter, you'll see the warning dialog. Restarting Outlook is necessary as it only reads this registry key on start up.

Outlook 2007 users who hate this feature and want to disable the ability to use this keystroke to send, can go to Tools, Options, E-mail options, Advanced Options and disable Ctrl+Enter for sending. It's last in the list. In older versions a registry key is used to disable the Ctrl+Enter key.

It's part of the Outlook ADM pack and administrators can push it out with group policy, while standalone users can create the following registry key. (If the Office key doesn't exist, you'll need to create it and the subkeys.)

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Outlook\DisabledShortcutKeysCheckBoxes
String Value: CtrlEnter
Value Data: 13,8

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\DisabledShortcutKeysCheckBoxes
String Value: CtrlEnter
Value Data: 13,8

These are the keys for Outlook 2003, change the 11.0 to 10.0 for Outlook 2002, or to 9.0 for 2000.

Don't forget to restart Outlook for the changes to take effect.

Prevent Accidental Sending

If you're accidently sending messages using other keys there are a couple of other workarounds you can use to stop the message from being sent.

One method is to type random characters in the CC field so it won’t resolve. This stops the send and brings up the address book dialog. You can also use the option to check spelling before sending then intentionally misspell a word.

Another method is with an After sending rule, with the action to Defer delivery by a specified number of minutes. While you can defer delivery for up to 120 minutes, 1 to 2 minutes will give you plenty of time to get the message out of the Outbox.

Using an after sending rule gives you a little extra time if you want to edit messages before they are sent.

Using Rules

Problem: Rules are moving messages to other folders but you'd like to see the desktop alert that shows the sender and subject for a few seconds in the lower right corner of your screen. Or you only want the desktop alert to display for messages from certain people.

Solution: Create a rule with the action to display a desktop alert. It's the last action in the list.

The action to display a message in the new item alert window displays the message (or list of messages) in a small window similar to the reminder window. Unlike the desktop alert, it stays on the screen until you close it. All versions of Outlook support this action, while only Outlook 2003 and 2007 support desktop alerts.

Problem: You're going on vacation and want to handle incoming messages differently, depending on the sender. If the e-mail is from anyone in the Global Address Book or from specific external addresses, it gets forwarded two co-workers and those senders receive a reply telling them that their e-mail has been forwarded. Everyone else gets a reply containing my return-to- work date.

Solution: You can create rules using the Out of Office Assistant, using some of the same options available in Outlook's Rules Wizard. It will require creating multiple rules in either case. Rules Wizard allows you to choose an address book, which can be better if you want the rule to apply to a large number of addresses and you'll need to create a reply template but you may need to leave Outlook logged into your mailbox for the rules to work. You should select Stop processing on each rule. The third rule will apply to all messages not affected by the other rules.

I highly recommend not sending Out of Office replies to everyone, instead use rules to limit the response to specific people. Also, you should verify with your administrator that replies to Internet address are not disabled. And finally, remember that Out of Office sends just autoreply to each address, not one for each message they send you.

Outlook 2007 Search Results are Incomplete

If you are using Outlook 2007 and the Instant search results either return nothing or are incomplete, try letting the search service rebuild the indexes.

Delete all files and folders in these directories:
C:\programdata\microsoft\search\data\temp
C:\programdata\microsoft\search\data\applications\windows

Then reboot and let it start to index all over again.

Exporting Messages and Dates

What options do you have when you need to export messages and Outlook doesn't include the date field in the export?

There are two ways to do this, both involving one of my favorite tricks: copy and paste.

If you need the message body (the Message field), you'll want to use Export, which will keep the entire message body in one cell. After exporting to Excel or CSV format and opening the file in Excel, copy the date column and paste it in the workbook. I recommend creating a view that includes the major fields, such as Subject and From, so that you can easily confirm the dates in the correct row.

If you only need selected fields, create a view with just those fields and select all, then copy and paste into any application.

New Utilities

Action Project Manager
http://www.outlooksync.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&Itemid=129
Action Project Manager for Microsoft Outlook is a utility software for project management, planning, scheduling and tracking individual tasks for small organizations and Individuals. You can create task and track till its completion by sharing between multiple users, monitoring it as a centralized system and keeping track of the proceedings. It ensures an on time delivery of projects and meeting the expected output for a successful Project management. For Outlook 2000, 2002, 2003, 2007. Beta.

CodeTwo Public Folders
http://www.codetwo.com/pages/products/public_folders.php
CodeTwo Public Folders synchronizes data between many Microsoft Outlooks on different computers within a network without the Exchange server. Data is synchronized automatically in the real-time and the process is transparent for the user. The software allows creating public folders in Outlook, in which many network users can share data and work on it simultaneously. It provides a group of users with an opportunity to transform Outlook into a group work tool without the expensive and complicated Exchange Server.

Exchange 2003 IMF Keyword Manager
http://www.accendo.co.uk/blog/?p=4
Exchange 2003 IMF Keyword Manager provides a GUI for creating the MSExchange.UceContentFilter.xml custom weighting file. Free.

Feed2Outlook
http://e-gadgets.freehostia.com/addins.htm#feed2outlook
Feed2Outlook passes articles from Rooster RSS reader to Outlook Inbox. Articles can be routed On Delivery (When downloaded), On Request (Menu item click), On Display (When the article is opened).

Group Schedule Publishing Service
http://www.completesoftware.dk/default.asp?id=25&mnu=4
The GSPS product makes it possible to define and deploy an unlimited number of Schedule Groups to all Microsoft Outlook clients and keep them up-to-date.

More Productive Tools for Outlook
http://www.moreproductivenow.com/software.htm
More Productive Tools for Outlook is an innovative tool that expands your ability to get information into and out of Outlook quickly and effectively. More Productive Tools provides you with a vast array of capabilities to make your Outlook use more productive and efficient. Supports Outlook 2000, 2002 (XP), 2003 and 2007. Currently Free. Beta

Xonbi
http://www.xobni.com/
Add-in to organize, search, and navigate your Outlook inbox. Features in Xobni include lightning fast email search, attachments are available instantly without searching, phone numbers extracted from emails, contact details pop into the sidebar, conversations are threaded. Beta.

Updated Utilities

SpeedFiler
http://www.claritude.com/products/sf/speedfiler-addin.htm
SpeedFiler is an Outlook add-in that makes it extremely easy to file email, and is especially useful for capturing outgoing messages before they get dumped in the catch-all Sent Items folder. SpeedFiler's super-fast find-as-you-type folder selection window makes filing almost effortless, even for people who have lots of folders in a deep hierarchy. Now supports Outlook 2007, includes ribbon support. Trial version available. Version 2.

Updater for Outlook
http://www.teamscope.com/otherpro/updater.asp
Updater for Outlook allows you to perform data manipulations on any Outlook object including custom (user-defined) fields and forms and the multi-valued Keywords data type.

Other Resources

DELPHI Sample Message Store
http://www.imibo.com/imidev/delphi/DownToTheMetal/Default.htm#DELPHI%20Sample%20Message%20Store
Sample message store project, based on an old Microsoft example for building a Message Store. The message store is based on the file system. Each folder is a directory and each message is a file. Additional files hold properties of folders and of the message store itself. Supports all versions of Outlook, including Outlook 2007. Also available: DELPHI Peer Transport Provider and DELPHI Flat File Address Book Provider.

Microsoft Active Directory Topology Diagrammer
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=cb42fc06-50c7-47ed-a65c-862661742764&displaylang=en&tm
The Active Directory Topology Diagrammer reads an Active Directory configuration using ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), and then automatically generates a Visio diagram of your Active Directory and /or your Exchange 200x Server topology. The diagrams include domains, sites, servers, administrative groups, routing groups and connectors and can be changed manually in Visio if needed.

New Exchange Knowledge Base Articles

A mailbox store in a recovery storage group cannot be dismounted, and the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service cannot be shut down on an Exchange 2003 server
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=941385

After you recover the clustered mailbox server in an Exchange Server 2007 single-copy cluster configuration, the expected registry entries are not created
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940631

E-mail messages in the Drafts folder display incorrect sent dates after you use Microsoft Transporter Suite for Lotus Domino to migrate a mailbox to Exchange 2007
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940048

Entourage cannot send messages or receive messages after you fail over an active node to a passive node in an Exchange 2007 cluster
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=941707

Event ID 7514 is logged when a custom word list file is larger than 128 KB on an Exchange 2003 server
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=941856

How to make a upgrade in place of Exchange 2007 Standard to Exchange 2007 Enterprise
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=556026

Microsoft Transporter Suite for Lotus Domino cannot migrate mailboxes from Lotus Domino to Exchange Server 2007 if the mailboxes in Lotus Domino contain a folder that has a blank name
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=940056

The Exchange 2003 Setup program deletes all empty folders and empty subfolders in the Exchange 2003 installation folder when you remove an Exchange 2003 component
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=942691

New Outlook Knowledge Base Articles

Error message when you start the Business Contact Manager for the first time in Office Outlook 2007: "Database creation was unsuccessful"
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=942496

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Updated Jul 15 2008

Exchange Messaging Outlook Volume 12, Number 13