A complete primer on Delegate access and permissions

Problem: Client wants to give access to his Calendar in Outlook to his secretary in order manage meetings and also his Inbox. How is this done?

Resolution: Client must give delegate access to anyone who needs to open and at least view any folder in his mailbox. To give someone delegate access, do the following:

(1) On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Delegates tab.
(2) Click Add.
(3) In the Type name or select from list box, type the name of the delegate you want to set permissions for or just select a name from the Global Address Book.
(4) Click Add and then click OK.
(5) Click a type of permission for each Microsoft Outlook folder you want the delegate to have access to. For more information about delegate access permissions, look at the table below.

(6) To send a message to notify the delegate of the delegate status and permissions you set, select the Automatically send a message to delegate summarizing these permissions check box.
(7) If you want your delegates to view your private items, select the Delegate can see my private items check box.
(8) Click on OK and then OK again. The permissions have been set.

How to setup offline email folders

Problem: Client’s PC was reimaged and now his offline folders are gone and he cannot synchronize his email folders.

Resolution: Client’s Outlook must be setup to have offline email folders. To do that, do the following:

(1) Make sure the client is in the Inbox folder.
(2) On the Tools menu, click Services.
(3) Double-click on Microsoft Exchange Server.
(4) Click the Advanced tab.
(5) Click the Offline Folder File Settings box.
(6) In the File box, type the path to the file you want to use as the offline folder file or just keep the default path. Click on OK.
(7) Check off the box that says Enable offline use.
(8) Click on OK and then click on OK again.
(9) You’ll notice that now there are small blue arrows on each folder or shortcut in Outlook. This is an indication that offline folders have been enabled and you can now synchronize between the server and your offline folders.

Longevity of messages in the Recover Deleted Items folder

Question: How long before messages are purged from the Recover Deleted Items folder?

Answer: Once you empty the Deleted Items folder, they are placed in the Recover Deleted Items folder and then purged after 7 days. After that, the only way to recover mail items is to restore the entire mailbox. This request would go to LAN Third Level.

Email attachment limitations

Question: What’s the limit on mail attachments going out of the company?

Answer: As of 3/5/01, 12 meg.

Automatic mail forwarding outside the company

Question: Can someone have email automatically forwarded to another email address outside the company?

Answer: Yes. using the Rules Wizard.

Using Sent To brings up Outlook Express instead of Outlook

Problem: When client clicks on File – Send To – Send as Attachment from any Office 2000 application, instead of Outlook 2000 coming up Outlook Express or the Internet Connection Wizard comes up.

Solution: Open Internet Options in the Control Panel. Click on the Programs tab and make sure that email is set to Microsoft Outlook.

Using the Inbox Repair Tool

Problem: Outlook returns a message stating that you have to run the Inbox Repair Tool to fix a problem with your personal folders.

Solution: The Inbox Repair Tool is like a Detect and Repair for personal folders but you don’t run this from within Outlook. Actually, you’ll need to close out of Outlook. But before doing so, check the location of your personal folders from within Outlook by right-clicking your personal folders, select Properties and click on Advanced. After you take note of the path, close Outlook.

Click on Start, go to Find and select Files or Folders. In the C drive, search for SCANPST.EXE. When the file is found (it may find more than one, that’s OK), double-click it. The following window will appear:

Click on Browse and select the Personal Folders file using the path you got before. Once selected, just click on Start and let it run. The length of time the scanning and repairing takes usually depends on the size of the personal folders file. Once it’s complete, just click on Close and restart Outlook. The personal folders file should be ok now.

Getting Undeliverable messages from the System Administrator

Problem: Client sends out an email or meeting request and someone else is receiving it or client gets an undeliverable email from the SysAdmin about someone (not the recipient).

Solution: This is almost always either a Delegates issue or a Permissions issue. Check the client’s Delegates by clicking on Tools – Options – Delegates and checking to see who may have access to their Inbox or Calendar. Also check the Permissions by having them right-click on the Inbox, Calendar and Mailbox and check the Properties. In the Properties box there is a tab for Permissions. It should only have a Default of none unless they really want someone to have access to their Inbox/Mailbox.

Can’t see emails in Inbox

Problem: Client opens their Inbox or any other folder in Outlook and can’t see any emails although they’re sure that they had some.

Solution: Most likely a Filter problem. Make sure client is in the mail folder. Have them click on View – Current View – Messages. That should cause all the emails to come back to view.

Autosignature isn’t appearing anymore

Problem: Client calls stating that the AutoSignature isn’t appearing anymore in emails.

Solution: Have client go into Tools, Options and click on the Mail Format tab. Make sure that Use Microsoft Word to edit email messages and Don’t use when replying or forwarding are both not checked.

How to fax from Outlook

Problem: Client wants to know how to fax from Outlook 2000?

Solution: Simple. The proper format for sending a FAX from outlook is to open a new message and enter into the "To" field as follows: [FAX: recipient_name@1-555-5555]

The number should always be 11 digits 1 -area code- number. You will receive a welcome message after sending the FAX. Then you will receive a status message indicating whether the operation was successful.

Nothing happens when clicking on hyperlinks in e-mail

We started noticing this problem recently with Outlook on Line. Here is the fix:

1. Click Start , point to Settings and then click Control Panel
2. Double-click to open Internet Options
3. On the Programs tab, ensure that Internet Explorer should check to see whether it is the default browser is enabled
4. Click Reset Web Settings
5. In the Reset Web Settings dialog box, click to clear the Also reset my home page check box.
6. Click Yes , click OK , and then click OK again to apply the settings and close the dialog boxes
7. Click Start , and then click Run
8. In the Run dialog type regsvr32 urlmon.dll , and then click OK
9. Click OK to acknowledge the success of the Urlmon.dll registration

Calendar - Clients are getting invitations to meetings that they are not invited to

Problem: Clients are getting invitations to meetings that they are not supposed to go to.

Solution: Chances are someone has set this person up as his/her delegate. Check under Tools/Options/Delegates and see if there are any unusual properties in there. Make sure to check the person who is supposed to go to that meeting’s machine as well.

Calendar - Reserving a resource room

Problem: Client’s are trying to schedule a resource room for a meeting and are getting the message that the resource cannot be booked because Restrictions in Access to this room prevented delivery.

Solution: Many rooms that appear to be available in Outlook are really ‘owned’ by an employee or a group who is responsible for booking meetings for that room. Tell the client to look for a sign in the room stating who to contact in order to use that room. If there is no sign, they should be able to figure out who the owner would be based on the department where the meeting room is located. Have them see the the floor administrator.

Contacts - Address List

Problem: Contacts or personal contacts list doesn’t show up as part of the address list.

Solution: Right click the contact folder, select properties, and go to the Outlook Address Book tab. Check off “Show this folders as an e-mail Address Book”

Personal Folder CD Back-up

Problem: A client burns their PST file onto a CD for storage and when they want to retrieve it, they are unable to open it from the CD.

Solution: A PST file cannot be read only. By definition, a file on a cd is read only and therefore they need to copy the file onto their hard drive, right click on the file and change the attributes on the file so that it is no longer marked read only.

*Note - An access database also will not open if it is read only. Therefore the same rules apply here as for pst files.