MORE INFORMATION
This article includes the following topics:
- Deleted Item Recovery
- "Change-Only" Offline Address Book
- Script Editor for Microsoft Exchange Scripting Agent
- PST and OST Storage Improvements
- Opening Exchange Server HTML Forms
- Improvements in Group Scheduling
- Automation Improvements
- Miscellaneous Improvements and Fixes
Universal Client Install
BCC Recipients Displayed in Sent Items Folder
Public Folders Replicated without Intervening Hierarchy
Synchronization of Public Folders Maintains View Settings
Easier Distribution of Licensed Third-Party Controls on Outlook
Forms
Deleted Item Recovery
Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 enables users to recover items that have
been deleted from their Deleted Items folder. Previously, Exchange
administrators had to restore an entire mailbox to recover a single item.
Outlook 8.03 includes an extension that is automatically installed with
the product that adds the command, Recover Deleted Items to the Tools menu
and the command bar for this feature. The Microsoft Exchange Server
administrator can set the length of time that items remain available to be
recovered. Items deleted out of Deleted Item folders in a personal store
(PST) cannot be recovered.
"Change-only" Offline Address Book
Outlook, when used with Microsoft Exchange Server, enables the user to
download the Global Address List (GAL) for use offline using the
Tools/Synchronize/Download Address Book command. In previous versions of
Outlook, each request to download the address book would download the
entire GAL, resulting in long synchronization times. In Outlook 8.03 and
Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5, only changed items are downloaded, making
downloads from the GAL faster and less bandwidth intensive for remote
users.
Script Editor for Microsoft Exchange Scripting Agent
Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 enables developers to associate VBScript or
JavaScript with a Microsoft Exchange Server folder. This feature provides
a foundation for enabling event-driven and time-driven workflow, or to
provide server-based automatic scheduling of resources such as conference
rooms. Outlook 8.03 includes an extension that is automatically installed
with the product that provides a script editor for development of the
script associated with an Exchange folder.
PST and OST Storage Improvements
For customers using the personal store, or working offline using the
offline folder file(OST) with Microsoft Exchange Server, both of these
stores have been expanded to allow 64,000 items to be stored per folder.
This provides greater flexibility in how users of Outlook can organize
their mail, calendar and personal information using folders.
Opening Microsoft Exchange Server HTML Forms
Outlook electronic forms created using the built-in Outlook forms design
tool can only be used on Win32 desktops where Outlook is installed.
However, Microsoft Exchange Server provides an alternative means of
creating forms for use in collaborative applications - using Active Server
Pages and the Microsoft Exchange Collaboration Data Objects (CDO)
interface to scripted forms that are displayed as HTML in a Web browser.
All three versions of Outlook in Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 (Outlook 97
8.03, Outlook for Win3.1x, and Outlook for Macintosh) have been extended
to support Microsoft Exchange Server HTML forms. These features provide
Exchange sites with more options for developing and deploying electronic
forms.
All three versions of Outlook in Microsoft Exchange 5.5 contain a new menu
item on the Compose menu, Open Web Form, that lets users invoke a
Microsoft Exchange Server HTML form. When a user selects this menu item,
the Web browser registered on the user's computer is automatically opened,
and directed to an internal Web-site containing a directory of HTML forms.
The URL that locates the directory of HTML forms can be set as an option
and can be set in registry keys by the system administrator.
Currently, when an Outlook form is sent to the Win3.x or Macintosh client,
it is essentially unusable - opening the item in the Win3.x or Macintosh
Inbox does not display the actual form as the form designer intended.
However, with Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 the Win3.x and Macintosh
clients will automatically launch an associated HTML form via the browser
when a user opens an Outlook form from their inbox, provided Outlook Web
Access is installed and enabled on the server. This HTML form is created
as an additional design step, and is not automatically generated during
the design of the Outlook form. The Microsoft Exchange Server
administrator associates the HTML form with the appropriate Outlook form
message class.
Improvements in Group Scheduling
Outlook 8.03 release includes a utility to convert Schedule+ SC2 files
into Outlook Calendar folder data. This utility aids in the migration from
Schedule+ to Outlook. In addition, synchronization of "free/busy"
information has been enhanced. In previous versions of Outlook, free/busy
information for the previous month was erased on the Microsoft Exchange
Server on the first day of the new month. This resulted in loss of the
current week's information if the month changed during that week. Outlook
8.03 solves this problem by publishing free/busy information back to the
beginning of the current week if the month changes during that week. This
allows for better tracking and logging of resources and more effective
group scheduling.
Automation Improvements
Outlook 8.03 now allows custom Outlook forms that contain licensed third-
party controls to be distributed without requiring a design license for
the control on each target computer.
Outlook 8.03 now recognizes the click event for all custom ActiveX
controls when they are used on Outlook forms. Previous versions of Outlook
only recognized the click event on a subset of custom ActiveX controls.
Outlook 8.03 now alerts exchange extensions of menu commands that are
invoked through a context menu. This allows extension writers to react
to context menu choices with their extension code.
Versions of Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition later than
1.0 pass parameters by reference. Outlook 8.03 improves the way that
parameters are internally evaluated to be more compatible with the change
in VBScript. The VBScript change can create problems with parameter usage
in older versions of Outlook. In some situations using a version of
VBScript greater than 1.0 with a version of Outlook less than 8.03, code
that uses a parameter, will generate the following error message:
Could not complete the operation. One or more parameter values are
not valid.
Outlook 8.03 corrects this problem.
Outlook 8.03 includes an improvement in the userproperties collection
object. Using Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition, you can now use
the userproperties collection to manipulate a built-in Outlook property.
Although this is not the preferred way to manipulate a built-in property,
Outlook 8.03 now allows the syntax to work. For example, using the
following Visual Basic Scripting Edition code now works:
set myprop = myitem.userproperties.find("subject",false)
myprop.value = "This is a new subject"
Outlook 8.03 includes an improvement for the Find Items feature. Find
Items now finds custom items with built-in field data. In previous
versions of Outlook, if you had a custom application that created MAPI
items with the same field name as an Outlook field (for example,
firstandlastname, companyname), performing a Find Items from Outlook
failed for these items. Outlook 8.03 corrects this problem.
Miscellaneous Improvements and Fixes
Universal Client Install - Outlook 8.03 can be used in conjunction with
the Universal Client Setup process, which runs an installation that will
create a share on a file server that allows an Microsoft Exchange Server
administrator the choice of one or all of the clients.
BCC Recipients Displayed in Sent Items Folder - Opening a mail message in
the Sent Items folder will now display any addressees who were blind carbon
copied (BCC'd) on the message.
Public Folders Replicated without Intervening Hierarchy - In Outlook 8.03,
it is now possible to replicate a public folder for offine usage without
also replicating the parent folders in the public folder hierarchy.
Synchronization of Public Folders Maintains View Settings - In previous
versions of Outlook, synchronization of multiple public folders for
offline usage caused the loss of the current view in all but the last
folder synchronized. No data was lost, but view settings such as font,
gridlines,and such were not maintained. This is fixed in Outlook 8.03.
Upgrade Decision Information
Exchange users are not required to upgrade to Outlook version 8.03.
However, doing so will enable users to take advantage of the new server-
based features available in Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 such as, Deleted
Item Recovery, Microsoft Exchange Scripting Agent, "Change-Only" Offline
Address Book and HTML forms. Outlook 8.03 is completely compatible with
Microsoft Exchange Server versions 4.0 and 5.0. The decision to upgrade
should be based on the need for the Exchange optimizations and new
features listed in the earlier section. Users of Outlook who are not also
users of Microsoft Exchange Server (e.g. users of Outlook with Internet
Mail Providers or other non-Exchange mail providers) should upgrade to
Outlook 8.03 only if they require the additional PST item storage (64,000
items per folder) or the ability to display blind carbon copy (BCC)
recipients on sent e-mail messages.
If you are not using Microsoft Exchange Server and are using a previous
version of Outlook there is no compelling reason to upgrade to Outlook
8.03.
Outlook 8.03 requires a full installation - there is no patching or update
mechanism for installing Outlook 8.03.
Customers who currently have Microsoft Exchange Server (including Microsoft
Exchange Server, version 5.5, and those purchasing Microsoft Exchange
Server with Microsoft BackOffice Server or Microsoft Small Business Server)
or Microsoft Office 97 who wish to order Outlook 97 version 8.03, can do so
by sending in a copy of their dated sales receipt, plus a check or credit
card information for $5.00 US/$7.50 CAN for shipping and handling, and
applicable sales tax. please specify if you require a French Canadian
version. Indicate this offer and send orders to:
In the US:
----------
Microsoft Corporation
Outlook 97 Update
PO Box 1095
Buffalo, NY 14240-1095
In Canada:
----------
Microsoft Corporation
Outlook 97 Update
PO Box 643
Fort Erie, ON L2A 6M1
Credit card orders may be faxed to 716-873-0906.
Make checks payable to Microsoft Corporation. Please allow 2 to 4 weeks for
delivery. For order status information call 1-888-215-7484, Monday through
Friday, 8:00AM to 10:00PM EST. Phone orders will not be accepted. This
offer applies to U.S. and Canadian customers only. For orders outside of
the 50 United States and Canada see your local Microsoft subsidiary. Offer
will expire on 12/31/98.