The following articles were included in our Exchange Messaging Outlook (EMO) newsletter published on September 7, 2023.
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Today's Highlights »
- New Outlook Questions
- To-Do Bar Calendar
- Outlook Mobile: Account Colors
- Errors Sending Hotmail: SPF Error
Sorry for missing last week. One of the internet providers in this area was installing fiber internet in our neighborhood and made an "oops", knocking out competitor's internet service for several hours in the afternoon and evening.
New Outlook Questions
As more users try the new Outlook “Outlook Pre”, they have questions about where to find options they miss from Outlook for Windows or Windows Mail. For the most part, if you can’t do something using Outlook on the web, you can’t do it with New Outlook for Windows, because New Outlook is Outlook on the web in an app framework. That means no macros, no add-ins.
When you find something in the New Outlook that is annoying, I recommend using Help > Feedback to leave feedback or make suggestions.
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Q: How do I change the display name recipients see?
A: You cannot change the display name at this time. The accounts that are available in this pre-release version are Microsoft cloud accounts and they do not support changing the display name. Outlook will either use your email address or get the name from your mailbox.
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Q: How do I configure New Outlook so I can send files from other Office programs (using File > Send)?
A: At this time, you will need to attach the files yourself if the application does not use the default mail app (and you need to set Outlook Pre as default mail app.)
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Q: Can I do a mail merge using New Outlook?
A: No. you can only mail merge to a MAPI application such as Outlook or eM client.
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Q: I have 4 accounts in New Outlook. Outlook only shows me the contacts saved in an account when I click the To button. How do I browse the other contact folders?
A: Contacts (and auto complete lists) are not shared between accounts in the New Outlook. (It's web mail in an app framework!) If you need the contacts available in other accounts, you need to copy them in the account.
To-Do Bar Calendar
A user recently upgraded from an old Outlook version, where the To-Do Bar calendar displayed upcoming appointments several weeks ahead. The To-Do Bar in newer versions of Outlook lists all of the appointments in the next 7 days, from the date selected. The user wanted to revert to the old method.
This is not possible in the to-Do Bar. You get the next 7 days.
The advantage of the new display is you can view the appointments in any 7-day period without going into the calendar module. Select a date – any date – to see the appointments on that date and the next 6 days, without leaving your Inbox.
The old calendar has one feature I miss – the ability to drag a message to a date to create an appointment on that date.
Outlook Mobile: Account Colors
A user wanted to know how to assign colors to her accounts in Outlook mobile (on iPhone). While the mobile app doesn’t let you choose the colors directly, you can change the color by changing the description. But you can't reuse descriptions as the color goes back to the first color assigned to the description.
The initials used to identify the account are pulled from the description too.
To change the description, go into the app settings (house icon > gear icon) and select the account from the list. The description field is at the top, under the email address.
This doesn't work in Outlook mobile on android – changing the description just changes the description (and the initial in the ball)
Errors Sending Hotmail: SPF Error
Some users with Hotmail.com address are unable to Gmail and some other domains due to SPF records not identifying the IP address as a valid IP for sending email. The affected IP addresses are all IPv6.
Microsoft needs to fix it and until they do, you will not be able to send mail to those affected domains.
Based on the complaints I’ve seen, only Hotmail addresses are affected, sending from an outlook.com alias might work.
The bounce message will look similar to this:
“Your message couldn't be delivered because the recipient's email system wasn't able to confirm that your message came from a trusted location.
For Email Administrators
This error is related to the Sender Policy Framework (SPF). The destination email system's evaluation of the SPF record for the message resulted in an error. Please work with your domain registrar to ensure your SPF records are correctly configured.
[recipient] server returned '550 5.7.23 The message was rejected because of Sender Policy Framework violation. [IPv6 IP] is not allowed to send mail from hotmail.com.“
New & Updated Microsoft 365 & Exchange Server Support Articles
A room or room list disappears in Scheduling Assistant when you create a meeting in Exchange Online - Microsoft Support
Describes a Scheduling Assistant issue that occurs when you create a meeting in Office 365 or Exchange Online. Specifically, a room or room list disappears unexpectedly.
Users in an Exchange Online Protection environment receive NDRs when they send mail to a recipient environment that uses UCEPROTECT for mail security - Microsoft Support
Describes a scenario in which users in an Exchange Online Protection environment receive an NDR when they send mail to a recipient whose messaging environment uses the UCEPROTECT service for mail security.
New & Updated Outlook Support Articles
Outlook Desktop crashes sending a meeting invite that includes a Loop component - Microsoft Support
Users may notice that the incorrect timeslot is selected after clicking a meeting in the Calendar - Microsoft Support What is a Microsoft account? - Microsoft Support
Administering the offline address book in Outlook - Microsoft Support
Describes the offline address book in Microsoft Outlook. Explains how to download, update, and configure it.