Recently one of the developer sent out an email to me stating the he facing issue with Outlook 2007, which blocks access to some of the mail and its attachments. They get the following error message “Outlook blocked access to the following potentially unsafe attachments: []”. He also complained that the Outlook blocks the specific attachment; he cannot save, delete, open, print, or can’t work with the attachment in Outlook. For him it’s quite annoying as he is using Outlook from version 2000 onwards (2000, 2003 & 2007), but he noticed this strange behavior in 2007 and thought it might be a bug or new security feature?
Later i responded him to refer the support KB which states methods that he can use if he have to open an attachment that is blocked in Outlook. Additionally, this article contains information about the kinds of attachments that Outlook blocks. Per KB’s excerpt, it’s bit clearly mentioned that “All versions of Outlook since Outlook 2000 Service Release 1 (SR1) include a security feature that blocks attachments that might put your computer at risk for viruses or other threats. Although Outlook blocks access to the attachment, the attachment still exists in the e-mail message…”.
Also guided him to check whether the mail contains the actual attachment or just a shortcut to a file in Outlook(if we right-click the original file, drag the file to the Inbox folder in Outlook, and then click Send with Shortcut), which may also prompt outlook to throw this message.
Please note: Shortcuts that have file name extensions of .lnk or .url are Level 1 e-mail attachment types and are not available to the recipient.
Hope this helps.
If you’re the Office/Messaging developer and use Outlook 2010 beta for developing applications, then this article is for you. Microsoft published Outlook 2010 – Developer reference. These developer references are in HxS format, as opposed to CHM format. It also contain related information about the Outlook 2010 Object Model changes, which i specified earlier.
You can download the Developer reference from Office 2010: Developer References on the Microsoft Download Center. Please note, in these tables, the status value for a given object model member may be any of the following:
- Changed—The syntax for the member has changed.
- Hidden—The member has been deprecated.
- Removed—The member has been removed from the object model.
Very nice article, that i want to recommend. Happy programming!!
With respect to my previous blog post, i want to add more information regarding the Outlook Object Model changes. Being Messaging developer, it’s a must for us to understand and keep in-track, Outlook 2010 Object Model changes available since earlier versions. I request you to refer the MSDN article which summary of the changes in the Microsoft Outlook 2010 object model as compared to earlier versions of Microsoft Office.
Couple of Outlook 2010 beta users reported that they can’t find the old VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) and Visual Basic Editor in new Outlook 2010? Whether the feature is removed? With respect to my last blog post, VBA is available with Outlook 2010. Let me explain in-detail. We know about how Outlook 2010 applications expose their object models; also we’re eager to calling object methods, setting object properties, and responding to object events. To do so, you must write your code in a place and in a way that Office can understand; typically, by using the Visual Basic Editor. Although installed by default, many users do not know that it is even available until it is enabled on the ribbon.
Opening the Developer Tab
All Office 2010 applications use the ribbon. One tab on the ribbon is the Developer tab, where you access the Visual Basic Editor and other developer tools. Because Office 2010 does not display the Developer tab by default, you must enable it by using the following procedure:
To enable the Developer tab and view Visual Basic Editor, do the following steps:
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On the File tab, choose Options to open the Outlook Options dialog box.
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Click Customize Ribbon on the left side of the dialog box.
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Under Choose commands from on the left side of the dialog box, select Popular Commands.
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Under Customize the ribbon on the right side of the dialog box, select Main tabs, and then select the Developer check box.
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Click OK.
Please note: In Office 2007, you displayed the Developer tab by clicking the Office button, clicking Options, and then selecting the Show Developer tab in Ribbon checkbox in the Popular category of the Options dialog box
After you enable the Developer tab, Bingo, it is easy to find the Visual Basic and Macros buttons.
Developer tab in Outlook 2010
Continue your programming with VBA with Outlook 2010.
Microsoft released environment scanning tool as download for the Assessment planning. As you know the goal of the assessment planning phase is to determine the techniques that will be used to discover applications and customizations that could be affected by an Office upgrade.This tool (along with documentation) assists a customer in the assessment phase of deployment.
It identifies:
- Currently installed applications and installation environment
- Add-ins currently in use by Office clients
- Programs that are not registered as add-ins but still interact with Office programs
- Reports:
- Environmental assessment (potential upgrade issues)
- Add-ins assessment–list of third party programs and information about the compatibility of those programs with Microsoft Office 2010
This tool collects information for the following Office applications:
- Microsoft Office 97, Microsoft Office 2000, Microsoft Office XP, Microsoft Office 2003, 2007 Microsoft Office system, Microsoft Office 2010
In addition, you must have the following applications installed:
- Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, Microsoft Office Excel 2007 (-OR-) Microsoft Excel 2010
Earlier one of my customer reported when he created a simple HTML e-mail using Outlook 2010 beta. It contained a hyperlink and some text with bullet lists, but the size of the message is quite big. He tried with Outlook 2007, the message size was relatively small. It’s researched by Outlook 2010 product team and yesterday we got the updated detailed blog post regarding this, stating it’s fixed in latest Outlook 2010 builds.
Microsoft published the Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and Outlook Standards documentation is intended for use in conjunction with publicly available standard specifications and network programming art, and assumes that the reader either is familiar with the aforementioned material or has immediate access to it. A protocol specification does not require the use of Microsoft programming tools or programming environments in order for you to develop an implementation. If you have access to Microsoft programming tools and environments you are free to take advantage of them.
The Exchange Server and Outlook Standards Documents describe Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and Outlook support for industry messaging standards and Requests for Comments (RFCs) related to iCalendar, IMAP4, and POP3. It assumes that the reader either is familiar with this material or has immediate access to it.
When Outlook 2010 is installed, it sets the new registry key named Bitness, which indicates whether the Outlook 2010 installation is a 32-bit or 64-bit version. This can be useful to administrators who want to audit computers to determine the installed versions of Outlook 2010 in their organizations.
- Registry path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook
- Registry key: Bitness
- Value: either x86 or x64
For more information about Microsoft Office 2010 in 64-bit, see 64-bit editions of Office 2010.
Per Randy’s blog post, Exchange Client Extension (ECEs) deprecation does (for Outlook 2010) matters the developers. For more information please refer the excerpts of the blog post:
“For most Outlook users, this announcement will not concern you. However, if you are a developer that uses Exchange Client Extension interfaces to build a solution in Outlook, then this deprecation is significant because you will have to redesign your solution for Microsoft Outlook 2010.
Exchange Client Extensions (ECEs) represent an extensibility feature introduced with the Microsoft Exchange client in 1995. The Exchange client was a 16-bit mail application running against the earliest versions of Exchange Server. ECEs must be written in native code, typically using C++ and relying heavily on the Messaging API (MAPI). When Outlook replaced the Exchange client, ECEs were used to extend Outlook 97-98 until COM Add-ins replaced ECEs in Outlook 2000 as the primary extensibility technology for Outlook.
ECEs will continue to operate as expected in Outlook 2007 and earlier. However, ECEs will not load in 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Outlook 2010. Outlook 2010 has converted its own ECEs such as Delegate Access, Deleted Items Recovery, Exchange Extensions commands, and Exchange Extensions property pages to native Outlook code.
To redesign your solution, you should consider the following options:
- Rewrite your ECE as a COM Add-in using native or managed code. Unlike ECEs, an add-in represents a strategic extensibility technology that is fully supported in Outlook 2010. Using an Outlook add-in, you can build Outlook form regions and extend the Office Fluent User Interface. For additional information, please visit the Outlook Developer Portal on MSDN.
- Rewrite your ECE as a Windows service application using native code and MAPI. If you are writing a Windows service application, you must use MAPI to access Outlook items rather than the Outlook object model. ”
I am an avid fan of using MS Outlook connector with previous versions of Outlook. Earlier when i was using Outlook Connector 12.1, i can manage my Windows Live Hotmail e-mail, calendar, and contacts from within Outlook. Recently i read blog post by Alessio, that MS had announced the Beta release of Microsoft Outlook Hotmail Connector 14.0 (previously called Outlook Connector) in parallel with the Outlook 2010 Beta. It’s really a nice thing to hear.
What’s new? Outlook Hotmail Connector 14.0 Beta is compatible with Outlook 2003 and 2007, and will replace Outlook Connector 12.1 upon release and provides an improved authentication and synchronization experience.
Better with Outlook 2010: With Outlook Hotmail Connector 14.0 and Outlook 2010, you gain these additional benefits:
- Junk filter settings Your Safe Sender List/Blocked sender list/Safe Recipient lists are synchronized between Outlook and Hotmail.
- Integrated Send/Receive Send/receive works like your other Outlook accounts.
- Integrated connection status Your Hotmail account status appears in the Outlook status bar.
- Rule support for secondary accounts Rules work with the Hotmail account in Outlook even if it’s not your primary account.
Where to download & use the Outlook Hotmail Connector 14.0 Beta: To download the Outlook Hotmail Connector 14.0 Beta manually, go to the Microsoft Download Center.
Outlook Hotmail Connector 14.0 for Outlook 2003, 2007 and 2010 32-bit
Outlook Hotmail Connector 14.0 for Outlook 2010 64-bit
Try this out. Start enjoy with Hotmail Connector and save more time!!
Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) 1.2.1 is a client library that provides a thin wrapper over Extended MAPI functionality. CDO does not install with Outlook 2010, and is available only as a download. For more information, see Collaboration Data Objects, version 1.2.1 in the Microsoft Download Center. CDO is not guaranteed to work correctly in an environment with multiple Exchange accounts. CDO 1.2.1 is a 32-bit client library and will not operate with 64-bit Outlook 2010. Therefore, CDO 1.2.1 is not supported for use with Outlook 2010. Most of the CDO 1.2.1 functionality has been incorporated into the Outlook 2010 object model.
Then, what’s the alternative? As an alternative to CDO 1.2.1, update existing solutions that depend on CDO to use the Outlook object model or to use MAPI directly.
As we know Business Contact Manager (BCM) for Outlook 2010 provides contact management, sales, marketing and project management for the small business or small team. You can download the Beta release of Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2010.
Outlook Object Model Changes
Per Randy’s reference, the Outlook object model has new objects, properties, methods, and events that support new Outlook 2010 features programmatically. Other improvements to the object model address frequent developer requests for specific changes to the Outlook platform.
Some development technologies that shipped/available in earlier versions of Exchange Server are not included in Exchange 2010.
The following technologies were removed from Exchange 2007:
- Exchange providers for Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)
- Collaboration Data Objects for Exchange Management (CDOEXM)
- Collaboration Data Objects for Exchange Workflow (CDOWF)
- Exchange Web Forms
- At Functions
- DAPI.DLL
The following technologies were removed from Exchange 2010:
- Exchange OLE DB Provider (ExOLEDB)
- Exchange store Event Sinks
- World Wide Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)
- CDO 3.0 (CDOEx)
- Item-level permissions
- Exchange Store custom item types
These technologies are not documented in the Exchange 2010 Web Services SDK. Any references to these technologies in the documentation are in error.
For migration information, you can refer the Guide to Exchange Server 2010 Development Technologies.
