RSSExchange Messaging Outlook Volume 13, Number 15
Issue Date August 14 2008
This issue is sponsored by Sperry Software
Today's Highlights:
Convert a Mailbox to a Resource Room
A reader asked: "Using Exchange 2007, is there a way to convert user mailboxes into room resources, so that existing calendar info isn't lost, which is what would happen if I removed the existing mailbox and created new mailboxes of the Room resource type?"
Sure, use the Exchange Management Shell to convert mailboxes to resources. The process removes the associated user account from the mailbox but leaves the mailbox intact.
In the management shell,
enter the following command
Set-Mailbox mailbox_alias
-Type Room
To verify the mailbox is a resource, you can
use the following command:
Get-Mailbox mailbox_alias |
select Name,IsResource
The Exchange Management console will show the resource type; Active Directory Users and Computers will show the account associated with the mailbox as disabled.
In addition to Room, valid mailbox types you can convert to or from are Regular, Equipment, and Shared.
Outlook 2007 Out of Office Failure
When your Exchange 2007/Outlook 2007 users get the following message "Your Out of Office settings cannot be displayed, because the server is currently unavailable. Try again later." and your Autodiscover service is configured correctly, verify that an external URL is configured.
To check, enter this command
in the Exchange management shell
Get-webservicesvirtualdirectory | fl
identity,internalurl,externalurl
When the server is
configured correctly, the command returns results similar to the
following, with URLs in both the InternalUrl and ExternalUrl
fields.
Identity : Server_name\EWS (Default Web Site)
InternalUrl :
https://server_name.your_domain.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx
ExternalUrl : https://owa.your_domain.com
The EWS
service is the web service that allows access to the OOF, so
you'll need to make sure you specify the correct URL for that
service. If the external URL is missing, set it using the
following command (all one line):
Set-WebServicesVirtualDirectory
-Identity "Server\EWS (Default Web Site)" -InternalURL
https://server_name.your_domain.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx -ExternalURL
https://owa.your_domain.com -BasicAuthentication:$true
Overview of the Autodiscover Service
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb124251.aspx
A new feature is available that enables Outlook 2007 to
use DNS Service Location (SRV) records to locate the Exchange
Autodiscover service
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940881
The hotfix needed is included in the update rollup for Outlook
2007, KB 939184:
Description of the update rollup for Outlook
2007: June 27, 2007
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939184/
Some Outlook 2007 users are confused after searching for appointments from the Day/Week/Month view. The search switches from the Day/Week/Month grid to a table view to display the search results and users don't know how to get back to the Day/Week/Month view they were using.
When you are finished looking at the search results, the search needs to be cleared by clicking the x in the right side of the search field. The search should also clear when you change folders and return to the calendar. In a few cases it does not-- those users will need to reapply the Day/Week/Month view using View, Current View and may need to reset the views by opening Outlook using the /cleanviews switch.
Outlook Quick Tip: Setting a Default Category
Do you want to apply one category to all new calendar events while reserving Quick Click category for a second category?
You can do this by publishing a custom form with the default category applied.
A hotfix is available for Outlook 2007 that
enables certain MAPI applications to create new
items in a .pst file after the PstDisableGrow
registry entry is configured
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=954268
How to implement a PST override handler to
bypass the PSTDisableGrow policy in Outlook 2007
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=956070
OOF Automation
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/exchange/OOF_Automation.aspx
OOF (Out Of Office) Automation is a
VBScript-based automation of switching the OOF
Assistant on automatically when the respective
user has entered an "away" appointment and back
to off when there is no "away" appointment
anymore.
OOF-Reset
http://www.selisoft.com/en/oof-reset/index.phtml
Reset the Microsoft Exchange Out of Office
Assistant to send Out of Office notification
mails more than once.
ParadiSearch
http://www.paradisoft.com/paradisearch.asp
Lightning Fast Search Add-on For Outlook
ParadiSearch is a search add-on for Outlook.
Integrated into Outlook's user interface. Choose
which Outlook store to index, Index attachments.
Supported languages: English, French, German,
Italian and Spanish. FREE. Works with Outlook
2002/2003/2007. Requires.NET Framework 2.0 or
later. Beta. Version 0.6
PST Upgrade Tool
http://www.pstupgrade.com/
SysTools
Software PST Conversion tool converts Ansi PST to
Unicode PST and Vice versa. Software efficiently
performs conversion of Ansi PST (Outlook
2000/2002/XP) to Unicode PST (Outlook 2003/2007).
Conversion of Unicode PST (Outlook 2003/2007) to
Ansi PST (Outlook 2000/2002)
RSS Popper
http://www.paradisoft.com/rsspopper/rsspopper.asp
RSS Popper is a news aggregator add-in for
Outlook. News items delivered directly to Outlook
as e-mails. No need to use a separate program for
reading RSS anymore. All RSS/RDF/Atom formats are
supported. Outlook Express version also
available. Version 0.37
SharedLook
http://www.paradisoft.com/outlook-to-sharepoint.asp
SharedLook allows Outlook users to quickly
and easily upload Outlook e-mail messages and
attachments directly into SharePoint. Just click
a toolbar button or menu item and select the
target location. Browse hierarchies of multiple
SharePoint Portals and WSS sites. Send one or
more e-mail messages, calendar items or contacts.
All items saved in their original format, opened
for viewing in Outlook. No server side
installation required. Languages supported:
English, German. Works with Outlook XP, 2003 or
2007 and SharePoint 2003 or 2007, WSS 2 or 3.
SysTools Address Book Recovery
http://www.addressbookrecovery.com/
Address Book Recovery software to recover
contacts from corrupt or damaged address book of
Outlook, Outlook Express, Lotus Notes, Incredimail.
SysTools vCard Export Tool
http://www.vcardexport.com/
SysTools
vCard Export tool to convert Outlook Contacts to
vCard File. Software also allows you to convert
Outlook Contacts to Windows Address Book (WAB) &
Excel file.
SYNCING.NET for Outlook
http://www.syncing.net
SYNCING.NET for
Outlook is a full featured solution for
synchronization of Microsoft Outlook data between
multiple computers. All data is transmitted
directly between the computers via LAN/WLAN
and/or the internet (peer-to-peer). Once
selected, the Outlook data is synchronized
completely automatically. Users don't need to do
anything more and can work with Outlook as usual.
Any changes to Outlook items are transferred
immediately to all members of the sync network.
Outlook
2007 Add-Ins: RulesAddin, TravelAgencyAddin, and
PrepareMeAddin
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb226710.aspx
The Outlook 2007 Sample Add-Ins are a
learning tool that will help you understand some
of the important new features in the Outlook 2007
object model. Each sample is available in a
version for Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office
Second Edition (VSTO 2005 SE) in addition to the
version based on the Outlook 2007 Sample: Visual
Studio 2005 Templates. They provide information
on Using the Rules object model, which allows you
to programmatically create or access most rules
supported by the Outlook Rules Wizard (Rules
sample), Implementing a form region for an
Outlook contact item (Travel Agency sample) and
Adding a custom task pane to an Outlook
AppointmentItem (Prepare Me sample)