Archive for category Office

Sharing Email Folders, Contacts, and Calendars in Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Entourage

Posted by Mark Raborn in Office on 2009/03/21

One of my clients asked me today about “How To Share Folders in Microsoft Outlook with other Users?”. Here is a collection of links I emailed his team on the topic.

Microsoft Outlook - Sharing Outlook Contacts, Email Folders, and Calendars

Share and Open Other Peoples Folders

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA011134811033.aspx?pid=CH062556151033

Add Another Person’s Mailbox to Your Account

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HP052421391033.aspx?pid=CH063565691033

Open Another Person’s Folder

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HP052421511033.aspx?pid=CH063564631033

Remove Sharing Permissions for a Folder

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HP052421531033.aspx?pid=CH010046031033

Entourage “sharing” for Mac – Delegate ( share ) Entourage Contacts, Mail Folders, Calendars

Delegate mail and calendar management to others

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/help.mspx?target=739ddd43-aec2-4ae9-a70b-5f1f3b9c1db41033&clr=99-2-0&parentid=b550fb45-2e67-4af1-acc5-980320fe5f841033&ep=7&CTT=Category&MODE=pv&locale=en-US&usid=aea3dfb5-9a2c-4583-8b09-2392e5debb13

Entourage and Exchange as powerful partners

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/help.mspx?target=a8a9d809-1f62-43e9-9d86-a81cc43cbab61033&clr=99-2-0&parentid=b550fb45-2e67-4af1-acc5-980320fe5f841033&ep=7&CTT=Category&MODE=pv&locale=en-US&usid=aea3dfb5-9a2c-4583-8b09-2392e5debb13

will add more as time allows,

Mark Raborn
WIGITAL

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The connected state of Office Add-Ins registered in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE cannot be changed

Posted by Mark Raborn in Office on 2009/01/22

Proactively enabling and disabling Addins in Microsoft Office can often help solve a buggy experience with Word, Excel, Outlook and other Microsoft applications that allow Addins.

Sometimes however, an application can be disabled by the Operating System itself. When this occurs, it occurs within “the context of a User account” . This means that it is possible to disable (or have the system automatically disable) an Addin for only one User. This experience can be very frustrating when the User did not want that Addin to be disabled.  Also, any account that is operating under least priviledge (meaing a limited privilege account within the system), may not be allowed to re-enable the Addin.

To Enable Addins for Microsoft Office Programs (when disabled by the system) you must use the RunAs command. The RunAs service is then used to Run the Office program in the “context” of a user account with a higher privilege.

A couple of things are happening here:

1. Even Microsoft Office can limit the ability of a user to control parameters. This is not so much that a User does not have control over their own Word, Excel, or Outlook programs as an example but because “when an Addin becomes disabled, an entry is made in the Registry for that Local Machine”. Registry entries require “privilege” to alter (even from within the menus of Microsoft Office).

2. In earlier versions of Windows (Windows XP, Windows 2000) the RunAs command allowed a program to be launched from the Start menu or from the Programs menu using Run as administrator. Windows Vista will require a little more work by either opening Windows Explorer and navigating to the executable (i.e. WINWORD.exe) and then using RunAs from the (right-click) context menu OR by actually creating a shortcut to that executable in the Quick Launch toolbar (where you can again right-click and select RunAs from there).

RunAs can be a little confusing for people who are new to it. This article at the Microsoft Office Web Site explains more about using RunAs together with Microsoft Office

 What do I do if I get a message that the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE cannot be changed? 

In my particular case today, I have an installation of Microsoft Word 2007 in which the “system” has automatically disabled an Addin for Business Contact Manager “BCM” for Microsoft Outlook. This occured because of a fatal failure between Word and the BCM Addin. When trying to re-enable the Addin, the following ERROR pop-up appears:

The connected state of Office Add-Ins registered in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE cannot be changed

So to ”enable” the BCM Addin in Microsoft Office Word 2007  (example on Windows Vista) do the following :

  • GO TO Start | Computer
  • open the hard drive on which the Office Programs were installed
  • GO TO Program Files | Microsoft Office | Office12 | right-click on WINWORD.exe |from the context menu select Run as administrator | if User Account Control is active select continue
  • Word will launch in the context of the Administrator account
  • click on the Office button and from the bottom right corner of the dialog select Word Options
  • select Add-Ins
  • at the bottom of the Word Options dialog box is the Manage: drop down | select Disabled Items and press the Go button
  • select your Addin from the Disabled Items list (i.e highlight it) and click Enable
  • click OK until you are out of the Word Options dialog
  • close Word and then re-open Word to confirm the Addin has been enabled

Thanks to My Digital Life and the Microsoft Office web site for the help.

 

thanks for reading

Mark Raborn
WIGITAL

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Outlook 2007 Fails due to Full Name and Initials dialog box and RSS Common Feed List pop-up

Posted by Mark Raborn in Office on 2008/07/04

Outlook 2007 UserName UserInitials cause Outlook to FAIL on first launch!

Outlook 2007 setup has a glaring error that has been recurring across installations in both Windows Vista and Windows XP. The error is in reference to the RSS Common Feed List syncronization pop-up and the Outlook Full Name (UserName) and Initials (UserInitials) dialog box.

  • This error does not allow the user to close the program – Microsoft Outlook 2007 SP1
  • This error causes Microsoft Outlook 2007 SP1 to attempt to configure accounts every time it is launched
  • This error causes broken keyboards and bruised knuckles
  • This error appears in Microsoft Outlook 2007 Service Pack 1 and also can appear for new users logging on AFTER Service Pack 1 for Office 2007 has been installed.

Here is what is happening (a WalkThrough):

  • Install Microsoft Office (with Outlook 2007)
  • Launch Outlook for the first time
  • User is prompted with a dialog box to enter Full Name (UserName ) and Initials (UserInitials) for Outlook 2007
    • the User is given “no-time” to enter the data before another pop-up overlays the Outlook UserName UserInitials dialog box
  • the 2nd pop-up overlays the UserName UserInitials dialog box and asks for input choosing whether or not to Syncronize the RSS Common Feeds List between Internet Explorer + Outlook + whatever else in Windows is using the RSS Common Feeds List
  • when the user clicks either YES -or- NO to the RSS Common Feeds list pop-up – THE USERNAME USERINITIALS DIALOG BOX FROM OUTLOOK DISAPPEARS (the one originally “behind” the RSS pop-up) and can no longer be recovered
  • the result is that the User cannot close Microsoft Outlook without terminating the OUTLOOK.EXE process AND the UserName UserInitials dialog box is never offered again to enter the requested data and resolve the issue
  • the sum of this sequence is that Outlook continually fails TO CLOSE, must be launched in Safe Mode continually and frustrates the “heck” out of the User and the Administrator

Solution to Outlook 2007 Full Name-UserName and Initial-UserInitial error

SOLUTION 1

The first solution is the most simple:

  • Close all programs
  • Open any other Microsoft Office Program (i.e. Word, Excel, etc..)
  • When prompted to enter Full Name and Initials, do exactly that and click OK
  • Wait for the program to complete it’s initialization and fully launch
  • Close the program
  • Launch Microsoft Outlook (the issue should be resolved)

SOLUTION 2

  • Go to Start | Run | and type regedit
  • Navigate to the following location:
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Common\
  • In the Common node you will need to create a new key named UserInfo
    • right click the node HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Common\
    • select New and then select Key
    • name they key by typing UserInfo
    • click on the new UserInfo key
    • create three new string values under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Common\UserInfo
    • UserName = (create the UserName string)
      • right click the open area to the right (called the details pane), select New and select String
      • type UserName to name the string and hit enter
      • double click ValueName you just created – i.e. UserName
      • a window will open, under Value data type the real First Name and the Last Name of your user (the users complete full name)
      • click OK
    • UserInitials = (create the UserInitials string)
      • right click the open area to the right (called the details pane), select New and select String
      • type UserInitials to name the string and hit enter
      • double click ValueName you just created – i.e. UserInitials
      • a window will open, under Value data type the real initials of that user (the two or three letters they use)
      • click OK
    • Company = (create the Company string)
      • right click the open area to the right (called the details pane), select New and select String
      • type Company to name the string and hit enter
      • double click ValueName you just created – i.e. Company
      • a window will open, under Value data type the real Company Name
      • click OK
  • NOTE: Be certain to capitalize your ValueNames exactly as shown above
  • Restart Outlook, you should be good to go :)

IMPORTANT: This entire sequence creates the same values as launching another Microsoft Office program as described in SOLUTION 1. It should only be used if all other office programs have been launched and for some reason??? the UserName and UserInitials values were not created.

FURTHER READING

Outlook 2007 won’t close for one user only on Vista

Outlook bypass “please enter your full name and initials below” popup

KB932126 The “Synchronize Outlook RSS Feeds with Common Feed List” setting is not set correctly in the Office Customization Tool and in the Group Policy templates

CLOSING REMARKS

Please comment on this here at Wintivity. Also, if you have other solutions (please let everyone know). You can let Microsoft know by commenting it somewhere in their domains. it would be nice to get it fixed for other users via Windows Update. Thanks

Also, if you are ever in need of expert help, advice or services, please contact us at http://www.wigital.net

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Sharing Microsoft Outlook Folders with others

Posted by Mark Raborn in Office on 2008/06/09

Sharing data with other users can be a real benefit to productivity. Many of us have team members, colleagues, right-hand men and women needing access to (and whom we very much want to give access to ) our contact manager data.

Can we do it? Absolutely.

Recently we wrote an article on how to share Microsoft Outlook Contacts with other users . Visit that article to understand how to share Contacts in Outlook.

This article focuses on the other types of Folders residing in the Outlook directory structure. They are

  • Calendar
  • Inbox
  • Notes
  • Tasks
  • etc…

Sharing these folders requires two major steps (with little ones in between)

The MAJOR STEPS are:

  1. Share the Mailbox and folders of the source user
  2. Change the Mailbox settings of the recipient user and Add the resources from the source user

The minor steps can be fit inside each of the MAJOR ones.

Requirement: sharing contact information in Outlook requires the use of Microsoft Exchange Server.

Here we go:

STEP 1: Sharing Outlook Folders with others – (sharing the source)

You can share Calendar, Email/Inbox, Journal, Notes, Tasks and other folders with users in your Exchange organization. Sharing these folders in Outlook is very similar to sharing folders in the Windows file system with one glaring exception. YOU MUST SHARE THE FOLDERS ABOVE THE TARGET FOLDER YOU INTEND TO SHARE.

As an example, if you had an email subfolder for your online bills, then each folder above your online bills would have to be shared also (using Microsoft Outlook permissions) to allow access to the folder further down the tree.

  • Mailbox (shared)
    • Inbox (shared)
      • my online bills (target Share)

EXAMPLE: Share a Folder in Microsoft Outlook

  • Open Microsoft Outlook
  • Change to Folder view
  • Right click on the Mailbox – Your Username folder and select Properties for Your Username
  • select the Permissions [tab]
  • click the Add button
  • from the Add Users windows, highlight he user you want to share your data with, click Add and click OK
  • now back at the Permissions [tab], highlight the user you just added and set their Permission Level using the drop down menu to Reviewer
  • Now you can proceed to share folders within Microsoft Outlook

To Share Folders in the Shared Mailbox – Your Username (using Inbox as an example)

  • Open Microsoft Outlook
  • Change to Folder view
  • Right click on the Inbox folder and select Properties
  • select the Permissions [tab]
  • click the Add button
  • from the Add Users windows, highlight the user you want to share your Inbox with, click Add and click OK
  • now back at the Permissions [tab], highlight the user you just added to the Inbox and set their Permission Level using the drop down menu to the level you want to grant that user.
  • Permission Level(s) are
    • Owner
    • Publishing Editor
    • Editor
    • Publishing Author
    • Author
    • Nonediting Author
    • Reviewer
    • Contributor
    • None

You can follow this principal with each type of folder and at each level, sub-folder, etc.. (not just the Inbox). So, as you want to share your Calendar, Email/Inbox, Journal, Notes, and Tasks just repeat the procedure above.

A reminder about SubFolders (as in the my online bills example above) be sure to share each folder above the target folder with at least Reviewer permissions. This is required so that the target folder is accessible. Then set the higher share permission on the target folder itself.

Granting higher permissions at the subfolder level does not propagate upward to parent folders. So if you grant Publishing Author to another user for an email subfolder (below the Inbox), they will be Publishing Author at the subfolder only. They DO NOT have the same permission at the Mailbox OR Inbox level, only on the subfolder level. The Mailbox and Inbox will remain at Reviewer (if that’s what you set) just as in previous steps.

STEP 2: Sharing Outlook Folders with others – (setup the recipient to access the share)

Now that the folders have been shared, we must setup the recipient users Outlook to access the shared folders.

  • open Microsoft Outlook
  • on the Tools menu, select Account Settings
  • highlight the Microsoft Exchange based email account, and click Change
  • on the lower right, click More Settings
  • select the Advanced [tab]
  • in the Mailboxes outline, click the Add [button]
  • type the username of the Exchange user from which the folder(s) were shared
  • click Next, click Finish
  • close Outlook and then re-open Outlook
  • the folders should appear on a separate node in your folder tree

That’s it!

If you would like more information about Microsoft Outlook and what it can do in your organization, please contact WIGITAL. We install, configure and optimize Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Mobile devices for networks both small and large. Call us or email us through our website.

FURTHER READING

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Share Microsoft Outlook Contacts with others

Posted by Mark Raborn in Office on 2008/06/09

Outlook is one of the success stories for Microsoft. It is a sound program, offers a wide array of functionality and is relied on by literally millions of people. Outlook does a-lot. There are quite literally hundreds of books published on the program (IMO a real litmus test) demonstrating the reach of Outlook in business.

I run into a lot of Outlook questions.

One of the questions I’m asked most often by my business clients is “can you get the Spywar….” (oh wait – different article). Ah, yes.. here is the question:

How do I share my contact information in Microsoft Outlook with other users?

Requirement: sharing contact information in Outlook requires the use of Microsoft Exchange Server.

For Clients on the Microsoft platform it is likely you are already using Exchange. Exchange is a highly robust Email Server that delivers mail in the Windows environment. It may already be in place within your infrastructure (just check with your System Administrator). If it is, simply follow these directions.

  • Open Microsoft Outlook
  • Change to Folder view
  • Right click on the Contacts folder
  • select Share Contacts
  • in the To… field, type the name of the person in your Exchange organization with whom you want to share your data
    • NOTE: there is a checkbox [ ] Request permission to view receipient’s Contacts folder
    • IF you want to view the contacts of the receipient (the person you are sharing your Contact info with, then click this checkbox
  • click Send

To share your contacts with more than one person

  • Open Microsoft Outlook
  • Change to Folder view
  • Right click on the Contacts folder
  • select Properties
  • select the Permissions [tab]
  • click the Add [button]
  • highlight the users/groups that you want to grant permission to view Contacts, and click Add
  • click OK (this will close the Add Users windows
  • you can now View the Name of the user/group you have added in the Permissions window
  • highlight the user/group
  • using the Permission Level: dropdown menu, selectd the permission level for the user/group
    • PERMISSIONS INCLUDE:
      • Owner
      • Publishing Editor
      • Editor
      • Publishing Author
      • Author
      • Nonediting Author
      • Reviewer
      • Contributor
      • None
  • Observe how each permission level alters Read, Write, Delete items, and Other permission categories
  • click OK to close and apply your settings

Note: these same principals can be used with other Folders in Outlook as well. We have written a separate article on sharing folders (other than Contacts) in Microsoft Outlook. You can share your Inbox, your Tasks, Notes and more. Check out the article here.

If you would like more information about Microsoft Outlook and what it can do in your organization, please contact WIGITAL. We install, configure and optimize Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Mobile devices for networks both small and large. Call us or email us through our website.
FURTHER READING

CLOSING NOTE:

For clients on other Operating Systems than Windows, it is possible Exchange Server can be the Email solution even in a non-Windows specific topologies. Ask your System Administrator (or call WIGITAL) to affirm whether running Exchange is a possibility in your environment. Exchange is a complete unified messaging solution and it does a lot more than just email. :)

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Save Office 2007 documents to .pdf

Posted by Mark Raborn in Office on 2008/03/14

add-in to save Office 2007 files to pdf

Microsoft Office 2007 offers an add-in to save files in the Adobe PDF format.

DOWNLOAD – Microsoft Save as PDF here

Read more about Office 2007 formats and saving to pdf and xps at:

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Workspace at Office Live

Posted by Mark Raborn in Office on 2008/03/07

Live.com services and office.live.com have been progressing for some time (behind the scenes). Lots of people are familiar with Microsoft products like Windows and Word, Excel, etc…. However, for some time now, Microsoft has been developing a very robust and pervasive web services presence in the form of Live.com

 Office.Live.com is one of the latest technologies to come online. Now in Beta, I joined my workspace for the first time today. Here are some links:

If you choose to sign up, you will be able to access your personal workspace by going to

http://workspace.office.live.com

Also, if you have Office XP, Office 2003 and/or Office 2007, you can connect to the workspace using your Office product. You will need to download the Office Live Connector and install it on your computer. Once installed, you can save your documents directly to your Office Live Workspace.

 This technology area will be interesting to watch in the coming months/years as it combines various aspects of Microsoft’s core software (Office, SharePoint, etc…) into web services available to consumers and businesses. Check it out when you have some time.

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Cannot upload Outlook 2003 contacts to SharePoint WSS 3.0

Posted by Mark Raborn in Office on 2007/02/08

It appears the new version of Windows SharePoint Services **does not** support uploading contacts from Microsoft Outlook 2003.

OUTLOOK 2003 read only sync

Outlook 2003 will connect to WSS 3.0 and can download a **read only** copy of a SharePoint Contact List into Outlook 2003. This read only copy will also update automatically with the appropriate logon credentials. The syncronization however does not travel both ways. 2 way sync with Outlook 2003 and WSS 3.0 is not supported.

See some blogs here:

http://frontpages-web-hosting.net/forums/windows-sharepoint-services-version-3-wss-v-3-administration-topics/500-import-outlook-2003-contacts-into-wssv3.html

http://frontpages-web-hosting.net/forums/windows-sharepoint-services-version-3-wss-v-3-administration-topics/299-sharepoint-contacts-list-outlook.html

The new version of Outlook, Microsoft Outlook 2007, has dreamy integration with SharePoint v3.0 and many new intergration features. Outlook 2003 unfortunately, which *could* sync both ways with version 2 of SharePoint , has unfortunately been left behind in some regards. Microsoft did NOT elect to make some of the feature set backward compatible with older 2003 version.

OUTLOOK 2007 To see an outline of compatible features in Outlook 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services see this link:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/CH101032731033.aspx

and a general SharePoint feature .pdf here http://www.bluearcgroup.com/_upload/files/WindowsSharePointServicesDatasheet.pdf

OPINION:

This dropped feature is unfortunate; especialy given that two way sync for Outlook 2003 was built into version 2.0 Microsoft.SharePoint.dll. I presume that Microsoft is forcing an upgrade path to Outlook 2007 specifically and Office 2007 in general. Contact sync is a big deal to most of us and I feel it’s obvious the feature was not overlooked, but omitted.

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