Volume 27 Issue 28

Issue Date: September 15, 2022 « Previous Issue | Next Issue »

The following articles were included in our Exchange Messaging Outlook (EMO) newsletter published on September 15, 2022.

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Today's Highlights

Disable the "Send this email during your work hours" notice
Changing the font in Outlook's Notes field
Get a list of Distribution Group members
Ad-Free Outlook is Back
Premium Outlook.com not updated?
Updated Outlook on the web interface

Disable the "Send this email during your work hours" notice

A user asked "I work odd hours and have colleagues all over the world. Each message I send has a notice at the top that suggests delay sending. I want to turn this off."

You can disable the delay delivery message by logging into your Microsoft Viva Insights at https://myanalytics.microsoft.com/?v=settings&s=vivainsights This page also has options to enable (or disable) focused time and update your working hours. (They are the same working hours as set in Outlook on the web's Settings > Calendar > View.)

Expand the Protect Time section and look at the end of the list to find the Delay Delivery switch and slide it off.

If you're unfamiliar with this notice, it is available in Microsoft 365 business mailboxes and allows you to schedule the delivery at a time that aligns with your coworkers working hours.

When you compose a message outside of working hours, a warning appears above the Send button in the Outlook desktop app or Outlook on the web with a suggestion to send later, during working hours. You have the option to schedule the send or dismiss it. You can use the suggested time (the start of your work day) or edit the time.

If the recipient is in your organization, the suggested time is based on his working hours; if you are sending to an internet address, your working time is used.

"Send this email during recipients' work hours: Fri, Sep 16 at 11:00 AM"
"Send this email during your work hours: Fri, Sep 16 at 7:30 AM"

The advantage of using this over using Outlook desktop's built in Delay Send is that the message is held on the exchange server and will send even if Outlook is closed.

If you want to cancel the send, or send it immediately, select or open the message in the Sent Items folder and within a few seconds or so, Send now and Don't send buttons display in the message body.

If you aren't using Exchange online and want to send only during your working hours, you need to use a macro, which I have at Delay Delivery of Messages Sent at Specific Times

Change the font for Appointment and Contact Notes field

A user wanted to know how to change the font attributes in the Notes field in calendar and contacts.

The notes field uses the same font as new email. Change it in File > Options > Mail > Stationery & Fonts. Click the Font button under New email messages. You can choose a different font, a different size or text color.

Note however, that this will change the font used in the notes or body field of all new Outlook items: email, appointments, contacts, and tasks. (It will not change it in Outlook's Sticky notes.)

Changing the default font will not change the font used for notes in existing items, only in newly created items. To change the font in existing items, you need to use a macro.

You also need to use a macro if you want to use a different font for email and appointments.

I have a sample macros in this article, both to change the font only on specific item types and also to update the font on existing items.
Get the code at Changing the font in Outlook's Notes field

Get a list of Distribution Group members

A user wanted to know how to export a list of distribution group members. He specifically wanted the alias and primary SMTP address.

While Exchange online admins can export the members in Azure Active Directory portal, they need to export one distribution group at a time and the fields you see are what you get. Basically, the only useful fields are name and email address.

To export the list, log into The Azure portal and under All Services, select Groups. Select the distribution group you want to export. Under Bulk Operations, select Download members. The values shown on the screen are downloaded.

PowerShell will allow you to export one or more lists and get any field available in the GAL.

I have two versions of the PowerShell, one to export lists of all distribution group messages, each list to a separate CSV file, or export a list by name.

As with the export from Azure AD, you need to have proper permissions to use PowerShell against the Exchange server. If you do not have admin rights, you can get the same information using VBA. It's a little slower that PowerShell, but gets the same information.

Get the code samples at Use PowerShell to get a list of Distribution Group members or Use VBA to Create a List of Exchange GAL Members

Ad-Free Outlook is Back

What goes around, comes around. After discontinuing Ad-Free Outlook when Office 365 subscriptions were introduced, Microsoft brought back ad-free Outlook. The price remains the same - $19.95 US per year. For this, you get Outlook.com without ads and the premium Outlook.com features, mainly a 50 GB mailbox.

To sign up, click on the 3 dots on the right side of the ads at the top of the message list in Outlook.com on the web and select Go ad-free.

If you choose to stick with the free Outlook.com, do not click the Ad button, that loads the advertisement.

I don't recommend clicking the trash can icon to delete the ad either. An ad will come back and you might accidently open the ad instead of deleting it. Just learn to tune it out.

Premium Outlook.com not updated?

If you purchased Microsoft 365 or ad-free Outlook and still have ads, there was a problem provisioning the changes.

The fix is simple: open your Microsoft profile to Services & subscriptions and change your recurring billing settings - turn it off if on, on if off. This will trigger outlook.com to update. (Don't forget to change it back to your preferred setting.)

Updated Outlook on the web interface

Coming soon to Outlook on the web: ribbons. Just like in Outlook desktop, you can use either a full-sized Classic ribbon or a Simplified ribbon. Although it doesn't have near the features available in Outlook desktop, the new ribbons make Outlook on the web look like Outlook desktop.

It began rolling out a few weeks ago. When it is enabled on your Outlook on the web account, you'll have the new ribbons when you view the account in a web browser, in a PWA or in the New Outlook for Windows app.