Category: Outlook 2007

How to recover data from an old OST File in Outlook 2007

Issue: User lost calendar data from previous year and wants to recover lost data from an old OST file homed on a different computer
Steps to recover are as follows:
  • Request full access to the mailbox. An Exchange administrator will need to do this
  • Login to network. Open Outlook and create new profile with user information. Do not use auto discovery during setup. Configure manually
  • During profile setup, you will need to have the user’s server name. click on more settings, advanced settings, offline folder settings, click on browse and point to the ost file you need data restored from and click ok
  • Open outlook 2007 and choose the user’s profile you just created
  • You may get this warning message “Outlook is using an old copy of ost file, delete , close outlook and a new one will be created”. Click Ok and Click on File, Work Offline
  • Now export to .PST file by Clicking on File, Import/Export, export to a file, choose personal folder file, select desired folder to export and name the pst file and location
  • Close Outlook, delete the old .ost file. Open outlook, import the .pst file to the user’s folder on exchange server
  • Congratulations. You are done!

Outlook calendar events disappear after some months

issue:  Customer complained that Outlook calendar events disappear after some months
 
2 key things to check as you troubleshoot this:
 
a. autoarchive setting
b. mobile device synchronization
 
Note: Outlook does not delete things from the calendar automatically unless you have configured it to do so. 
 
Resolution:
 
verify autoarchive setting by Right-clicking the Calendar folder , choose Properties.  Select the AutoArchive tab and look to see if autoarchiving is enabled.  If so, disable it.

If AutoArchive is not the issue, confirm is customer synchs with a hand-held device?  That can be a contributing factor.
Mobile devices usually delete the events while the synchronization software ensures event is deleted in Outlook.

User Continually Receives Prompt to Log Into Microsoft Exchange Server

Issue: User is continually receiving a prompt to log into a Microsoft Exchange Server (pop-up window);
Cause: Outlook settings was configured for RPC over HTTPS(outlook anywhere). Outlook anywhere authenticates via Reverse proxy server(ISA server) and would not allow connectivity without valid login credentials. Users on domain do not need to be configured to use outlook anywhere 
Resolution
follow the steps below to resolve issue:
1. In Outlook have user go to Tools -> Account Settings
2. When Account Settings Window opens click the Change Button
3. In lower right corner user should select More Settings
4. When the More Setting Window appears have them choose the Connection Tab
5. Uncheck the “Connect to Microsoft Exchange using HTTP” box located at the bottom.

How to setup rule that enables sent items from shared mailbox show in the sent folder

While in Outlook
Go to Tools -> Rules and Alerts
 
Rules Wizard Pops Up
 
Under Step 1: Box User should select “Move messages from someone to a folder” Under the Stay Organized section
 
User the goes to Step 2: (Box at bottom) ->Click hyperlink “People or Distribution list” link
 
User the goes to Step 2: (Box at bottom) ->Click hyperlink “People or Distribution list” link 
User the goes to Step 2: (Box at bottom) ->Click hyperlink “People or Distribution list” link
 

Type in Name of Shared Mailbox -> Double Click Mailbox Name -> Click Ok

Go back to Step 2:  -> Select “Specified” hyperlink -> Select Sent Folder from Shared Mailbox

Click Ok
Click Finish
Click Apply

Click OK

Enabling LDAP in Outlook 2007

Enabling LDAP in Outlook 2007
To use Outlook 2007 with the domain active directory, you must enable LDAP.
  1. On the Tools menu, click Account Settings… and click the Address Books tab.
  2. Click the New… button. The Directory or Address Book Type screen will appear.
  3. Select the Internet Directory Service (LDAP) radio button and click the Nextbutton. The Directory Service (LDAP) Settings screen will appear.
  4. In the Server Name: field, enter the domain name.
  5. Enable the This server requires me to log on checkbox.
  6. In the User Name: field, enter domainusername
  7. In the Password: field, enter your network login  password.
  8. Click the More Settings… button. The Microsoft LDAP Directory screen will appear.
  9. In the Port: field, enter 636
  10. Enable the Use Secure Sockets Layer checkbox.
  11. Click the Search tab.
  12. Select the Custom: radio button in the Search Base section.
  13. In the Custom: field, enter ou=people, dc=domain, dc=com
  14.  Click the Apply button and click the OK button. You will return to Directory Service (LDAP) Settings screen.
  15. Click the Next button, click the Finish button, and click the Close button.

How To Configure Outlook 2007 For Exchange (Windows XP/Vista)

This article provides instructions for configuring Microsoft Outlook 2007 for use with Microsoft Exchange 2007 server from a computer that’s not part of the domain. Computers joined to the domain do not need to type login credentials for autodiscovery to find mailbox on exchange server.
Important note: you must update Office 2007 prior to configuring Outlook. The Outlook service pack 2 is highly recommended. Please remember to launch Microsoft Word 2007 prior to launching Outlook 2007!
These user domains are provisioned with an autodiscover domain name, i.e. autodiscover.domain.edu and autodiscover.domain.edu. Customers will find that their Outlook 2007 configuration is dramatically simplified and requires only entering an email address in the Outlook configuration screen.
Please follow these steps to configure Outlook 2007 from a computer that’s not part of the domain
Launch Outlook 2007.                                                                                                                          
  1. If Outlook has not been previously used, an Outlook 2007 Startup window will appear. If Outlook has been previously used, go to step 3.
  2. Click the Next button. Under E-mail Accounts, choose the Yes radio button. Go to step 7.
  3. Go to Tools > Account Settings
  4. Click on the E-mail tab.
  5. Click the New… button. The next screen is Choose E-mail Service.
  6. Choose the Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP radio button.
  7. Click the Next button. The next screen is Auto Account Setup.
  8. In the Your Name: field, enter your name as you wish it appear on outgoing messages.
  9. In the E-mail address field, enter your full Exchange email address, e.g.username@domain.edu
  10. In the Password: field, enter your email password.
  11. In the Retype Password: field, enter your email password again.
  12. Click the Next button. The next screen is Online search for your server settings…
    When Outlook connects to the server for the first time it will prompt you for your username and password at autodiscover.domain.com dialog box.
  13. In the User name: field, enter domainusername, making sure to include domain prior to your username
  14. In the Password: field, enter your email password.
  15. Click the OK button.
If Autodiscovery doesn’t locate your mailbox, configure Outlook manually using the steps below
  1. Enable the Manually configure server settings checkbox.
  2. Click the Next button. The next screen is Microsoft Exchange Settings.
  3. Click the More Settings button. The Microsoft Exchange option dialog will load.
  4. Click the Connection tab.
  5. Under Outlook Anywhere, ensure the Connect to Microsoft Exchange using HTTP checkbox is enabled.
  6. Click the Exchange Proxy Settings button. The next screen is Microsoft Exchange Proxy Settings.
  7. In the Use this URL to connect to my proxy server for Exchange: field, enterr the server name.
  8.  Enable the Connect using SSL only checkbox is enabled.
  9. Ensure the On fast networks, connect using HTTP first, then connect using TCP/IP and the On slow networks, connect using HTTP first, then connect using TCP/IP checkboxes are enabled.
  10. Under Proxy authentication settings, select basic authentication
  11. Click the OK button.
  12. Click the Apply button. A dialog box will inform you that you must restart Outlook for these changes to take effect.
  13. Click the OK button.

Success or Failure of a Message Recall

The success or failure of a recall depends on the recipients’ settings in Microsoft Office Outlook. The following four scenarios explain what happens in various situations, and an additional scenario describes the recall of a message sent to a Microsoft Exchange public folder.
Action
Result
You send an e-mail message to someone. You recall the original message and replace it with a new one.
On the recipient’s computer, underTracking Options, the Process requests and responses on arrival check box is selected.
(To view this setting, on the Toolsmenu, click Options, click E-mail Options, and then click Tracking Options.)
Both the original message and the recall message are received in the recipient’s Inbox.
Assuming the original message has not been read, the original message is deleted and the recipient is informed that you, the sender, deleted the message from his or her mailbox.
 NOTE   If the original message is marked as read (viewing in the Reading Pane is not reading in this scenario) when the recall message is processed, the recipient is informed that you, the sender, want to delete the message, but the message remains in the recipient’s Outlook folder.
You send an e-mail message to someone. You recall the original message and replace it with a new one.
On the recipient’s computer, underTracking Options, the Process requests and responses on arrival check box is not selected.
(To view this setting, on the Toolsmenu, click Options, click E-mail Options, and then click Tracking Options.)
Both the original message and the recall message are received in the recipient’s Inbox.
On the recipient’s computer, one of the following occurs:
*  If the recipient opens the recall message first, the original message is deleted, and the recipient is informed that you, the sender, have deleted the message from their mailbox.
*  If the recipient opens the original message first, the recall fails, and both the original and recall messages are available.
 NOTE   If the original message is marked as read (viewing in the Reading Pane is not reading in this scenario) when the recall message is processed, the recipient is informed that you, the sender, want to delete the message, but the message remains in the recipient’s Outlook folder.
You send an e-mail message to someone. You recall the original message and replace it with a new one.
On the recipient’s computer, either by rule or by action of the recipient, the original message is moved to another folder and the recall message remains in the Inbox (or it is moved to another folder as well).
As long as the recall message and the original message exist in separate folders, the recipient receives a message indicating that a recall attempt failed. This occurs regardless of the Outlook configurations and the read status of the message.
The original message and the new message are both available to the recipient.
 NOTE   If the recipient read the original message and then marks it as unread, Outlook treats it as if it had never been read and recalls it successfully.
You send an e-mail message to someone. You recall the original message and replace it with a new one.
On the recipient’s computer, either by rule or by action of the recipient, both messages are moved to the same folder. This results in behavior similar to that which occurs when Outlook is not configured to automatically process messages.
On the recipient’s computer, one of the following occurs:
*  If the recipient opens the recall message first, the original message is deleted, and the recipient is informed that you, the sender, deleted the message from his or her mailbox.
*  If the recipient opens the original message first, the recall fails, and both the old and new messages are available.
 NOTE   If the recipient read the original message and then marked it as unread, Outlook treats it as if it had never been read and recalls it successfully.
You send an e-mail message to a public folder. You recall the original message and replace it with a new one.
One of the following occurs:
*  If the recipient who reads the recall message has read access to all the items in the public folder but did not read the original message, the recall succeeds, and only the new message remains. You, the sender, receive a message indicating that the recall succeeded.
*  If the recipient has already marked the original message as read, he or she is informed that the recall failed, and only the recall message is deleted.
If a user with any other public folder rights opens the recall message, the recall fails, and the user receives a message indicating that the recall failed. Both the old and new messages remain in the public folder.
  NOTES  
*  If the recipient reads the original message and then marks it as unread, Outlook treats it as if it had never been read and recalls it successfully.
*  In the public folder, it is the reader’s rights, not the sender’s, that determine the success or failure of the recall.

Delay the delivery of a single email message in Outlook

Delaying the sending of an email message
If you would like to delay the delivery of an email message within Outlook 2007 follow the steps below:
1.     When you are creating your message, click on the Options tab
2.     In the More Options group, click Delay Delivery .
3.     Click Message Options
4.     Under Delivery options, select the Do not deliver before check box, and then click the delivery date and time that you want.
5.     Click Close
After you click Send, the message will move and remain to the Outbox folder until the delivery time.
Note: If you are using a POP3 account, Outlook must remain open until the message is sent.

Registry change to allow MDB files in Outlook

1.  Close Outlook. 
2.  Open the Registry Editor. 
3.  If you are using Windows XP/Office 2007, expand the branches to HKEY_CURRENT_USER Software Microsoft Office 12.0 Outlook Security
4.  Create a new string value by selecting New and then String Value from the Edit menu.
5.  Name the new value Level1Remove. 
6.  Double-click the new Level1Remove to edit it, and enter the filename extensions you’d like to stop Outlook from blocking. Extensions should be typed in lower case, without the dots (.), and separated by semicolons (;). For example, type 
exe;mdb;vbs to allow .exe, .mdb, and .vbs attachments, respectfully. 
7.  Click Ok and then close the Registry Editor when you’re done. 
8.  The next time you restart Outlook, you’ll now be able to open previously-blocked attachments. 

Important reading on Service Accounts and Delegation

please refer to this document for insights on service accounts, mailbox ownership, delegation, send-as, send-on-behalf, etc. 

 

Understanding & Configuring Service (Department) Mailbox Access Delegation
Terminology
Mailbox Owner: Mailbox ownership is established when an administrator creates a mailbox (mailbox-enables an account) in AD. The owner can login and has full control of the exchange mailbox. A mailbox owner or an administrator can delegate access to other accounts.
Mailbox Delegate: Mailbox designated to act on behalf of a mailbox. Some of the most commonly used options include the ability to read or manager another user’s calendar or to send mail on behalf of another user.
Access levels for sending mail as another user:
Send-on-behalf: This allows the delegate to send mail on behalf of the mailbox owner. The message sent by delegate indicates the sender “on behalf of the owner.
This can be granted using Outlook or by an administrator. Please note that this attribute called “publicdelegate” is written to the AD.
Send-As: This allows delegate to send mail as if they were the mailbox owner. The message sent does not indicate the sender was anyone other than the mailbox owner. This can only be granted by an administrator.
Service Account: A regular mailbox used for departmental use. The name service account is unique.
Service Account manager: Account that has been assigned full Access permission to a service mailbox. This person also has the username and password of the service account mailbox.
Resource Accounts:
Room mailbox: This is mailbox assigned specifically to meeting rooms. Associated users accounts are disabled in AD.
Equipment mailbox: This is a mailbox specific to equipment, for eg TV, Projector etc). Just like rooms, the associated AD accounts are disabled.
 
Delegating Access to users by service account managers
* As a matter of best practice, service account managers need to login to the service account on AD domain as domainservice account before they can start delegation.
* Create Outlook profile for the service account. Remember to login as domainservice account when prompted for login.
* While in Outlook, delegate access as needed to users. (Service account manager needs to add his/her account as a delegate if desired).
 
Basic questions for service account managers to consider before assigning or requesting for permissions:
* Do the users want to send on behalf of the service account?
 
If the answer is yes, the service account manager needs to delegate access to the service account mailbox to the users or the group.
If the answer is no, do not delegate access to users.
 
* Does the account manager want delegates to access inbox, calendar, contacts, etc of the service account?
If yes, while delegating in Outlook; assign the delegates required permissions to the folders as needed. After this is done, the delegates can access the delegated folders by clicking on file, open, other user’s folder, type the account name and choose the folder you want to open.
If no, while delegating in outlook, assign none permissions to all the folders.
 
* Does the service account manager want to assign specific permissions to specific folders beneath the inbox?
If yes, assign folder visible permission to the parent folder and the required permission to the child folder.
 
* Does the service account manager want to open the service account Outlook profile while logged in with his/her AD account?
If yes, administrator will need to assign full access rights to the service account mailbox. By so doing, they can login to the service account using mapi profile and assign outlook folder permissions as desired.
Important Notes/Gotchas:
1. The department account manager needs to add his/her account as a delegate to be able to send on behalf of the service account.
2. Full manage rights enables you to open the mailbox via outlook profile while department manager is logged into AD.
3. Mailbox owner and the administrator are the only ones that can delegate.
4. If rights are delegated properly, delegates can open the folder from
 Outlook. 
5. Send-on-behalf rights just like send-as is an AD attribute. Only Administrators can give send-as rights. Mailbox owners can give send-on-behalf rights using Outlook.
6. Users not on  domain must log in as domainmailbox owner to do delegation. In rare cases, you may experience replication issues. Check to make sure global catalog for  domain is within reach and responding in a timely manner.
7. Occasionally delegation may fail. While there are numerous reasons for such failure, it’s usually related to permissions. This can be fixed by doing this: While in Outlook, change outlook login behavior by clicking on tools, account settings, double click on your email account, click on more settings, click on security tab, Check the “Always prompt for logon credentials”, Click OK.
8. Logging into resource accounts is not required and not supported in Exchange 2007.
9. Note that full manage rights on a mailbox does not give the manager send-on-behalf rights for that mailbox.
10. Mailbox delegates can also open the service mailbox in outlook as secondary mailbox. This can be done by going to Tools, Account settings, double click mail account, more settings, advance tab, and under mailbox click on Add and type the mailbox name. Click OK