Microsoft Exchange Connectivity Analyzer Tool – Client

The Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer Tool is a downloadable client program that is used to identify connectivity issues that occur between email clients and a server that is running Microsoft Exchange Server. The tool can also be used to identify connectivity issues between email clients and Office 365. The tool can be used both by email users, to identify common problems, and by IT Administrators, to troubleshoot issues that are affecting their Exchange Server deployments.

The Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer Tool simulates several client logon and mail flow scenarios. When a test fails, many of the errors message provide troubleshooting tips to help the user or IT Administrator to resolve the problem.

This tool is a companion tool to the Remote Connectivity Analyzer website. Whereas the Remote Connectivity Analyzer website enables IT Administrators to pinpoint connectivity issues by simulating connectivity from a location outside the customer environment, the Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer Tool lets both email users and IT administrators run the same tests within the user’s environment.

You must be running one of the following operating systems:

• Windows 8
• Windows 7
• Windows Server 2008
• 64-bit edition of Windows Vista

Download the client tool (Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer (Beta) here.

Connectivity check as follows

Select one of the option below to continue to next screen

Enter the credential you want to check for connectivity issues

Enjoy!!

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What’s new with Microsoft Remote Connectivity Analyzer? A lot!

They have done it again.. now with a lot of option

Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer (beta), a portable version of the Remote Connectivity Analyzer website, and a short 49 second video that introduces the Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer.

Read more…click here

Microsoft Connectivity Analyzer Pre-Requisites

1. The tool supports the following operating systems: 64bit Windows 7, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008+
2. Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 is required.
3. Browsers requirements:

The installation will work on all modern browsers. However…

• If you are using Google Chrome, you will need to install ClickOnce for Google Chrome
• If you are using FireFox, you will need to install Microsoft .Net Framework Assistant for FireFox.

Good work folks!!!

Import contacts into Outlook from Excel

Exporting from Excel

1. If row 1 of your spreadsheet contains column descriptions, such as “Name,” “E-mail Address,” and so on, skip to step 3. If it does not, add one that does by right-clicking the 1 to the left of the first row, and then clicking Insert.
2. In the new blank cells at the top of each column, type a description for that column, such as “Name,” “E-mail Address,” “Company,” “Phone Number,” and so on.
3. On the File menu, click Save As.
4. Choose a folder to save to from the Save in drop-down list, type a name for the file, such as “Contacts,” in the File name box, and in the Save as type drop-down list, click CSV (Comma delimited).
5. Make a note of the folder location, and then click SAVE.

Importing into Outlook (older versions)

1. If you are importing into an existing Contacts folder, skip to step 3. To create a new folder in Outlook, click Folder List on the View menu, unless the Folder List is open already.
2. Right-click the Contacts folder, and then click New Folder, type a name for the new folder, and then click OK.
3. On the File menu, click Import and Export, click Next, click Comma Separated Values (Windows), and then click Next.
4. If the file that is displayed is not the correct file, click Browse, browse to the folder noted in step 3, and then double-click the file to select it.
5. If you are importing into a new folder, the Options settings is irrelevant because there are no duplicates. If not, choose the most logical selection. Click Allow duplicates if you are not sure, and then click Next.
6. Click the Contacts folder, or other contacts-type folder that you have created, to import into, and then click Next.
7. If you are not sure that the column names in the first row of the spreadsheet will map correctly to the Outlook fields, click Map custom fields to verify them.

   NOTE: If Map custom fields is unavailable, you have chosen a non-contact-type folder to import into. Click Back, and then choose the correct folder. If you are satisfied with the mapping, click OK to close the Map Custom Fields dialog box, and then click Finish.

Importing into Outlook 2010

1. If you are importing into an existing Contacts folder, skip to step 4.
2. Create a new folder in Outlook 2010
3. Right-click the Contacts folder, click New Folder, type a name for the new folder, and then click OK.
4. Click the File tab in the Ribbon, and then click Open on the menu.
5. Click on Import tab. The Import and Export Wizard opens.
6. If the file that is displayed is not the correct file, click Browse , browse to the folder that is mentioned in step 3, and then double-click the file to select it.
7. If you are importing into a new folder, the Options settings are irrelevant because there are no duplicates. If you are not importing to a new folder, choose the most logical selection. Click Allow duplicates if you are not sure, and then click Next .
8. Click the Contacts folder or another contacts-type folder that you have created, and then click Next.
9. If you are not sure that the column names in the first row of the spreadsheet will map correctly to the Outlook fields, click Map custom fields to verify them.

Attachments not showing in Microsoft Outlook

Interesting topic

ISSUE: When an user sends email with  attachment Microsoft Outlook clients don’t see paperclip nor attachment but the size of the mail shows there is more then just text. The attachment is visible in OWA. When forwarding the message from OWA the attachment shows up in outlook.

FINDINGS: I think the issue related to misformed MIME. The content type of the email is not correct; it is multipart/related, and should be multipart/mixed.

• It may or may not be an issue on your end, incorrectly formatted mime messages sent by the sender can cause it not to render correctly in Outlook.
• Things like the sender running third party apps such as disclaimers can mess up the mime formatting.
• RFC 2387 describes the intended use of multipart/related:
  • “The Multipart/Related media type is intended for compound objects consisting of several inter-related body parts. For a Multipart/Related object, proper display cannot be achieved by individually displaying the constituent body parts.”
  • Exchange handles multipart/related specially – i.e. it considers all attachment parts inside multipart/related as “inline”. Such attachments are normally hidden from the attachment list and supposed to be accessible from the body itself, like inline images. Some clients, like OWA, can determine whether attachments are really “inline” by analyzing a message body – if they don’t find any reference to such attachment in a body they fix it by displaying it in attachment list. Other clients like Outlook will trust how attachments are marked by Exchange and hide them.

• A “correct” way to structure message would look like this:
  • Multipart/mixed
  • Multipart/related
  • Text/html – message body
  • Any inline attachments referenced from the body
  • Any normal attachments, like application/msword

 SUGGESTION: Add a Transport Rule to simply “force” us to use multipart/mixed (Only when the mail is coming from the specific domain) and that will make the attachment visible in Outlook.

SOLUTION: Launch Exchange Management Console

• Expand Organization Configuration
• Select Hub Transport
• On the right-hand Action Pane, select New Transport Rule …
• Give the rule a name
• Select when the From Address contains Specific Word click the highlighted “Specific words”, Type “contoso.com”
• click Add, click OK, and then click Next
• Select “set header with value,” click the highlighted “header” text, type
• Content-Type, click OK
• Click the highlighted “value” text, type multipart/mixed, click OK, and then click
• Next
• On the “Exceptions” page, simply click next
• At the final “Create Rule” page
• Click New, and then click Finish

Office 365 System Requirements – Client side

If you ever look at all the migration that we do, we have to completed the biggest challenge; clients has been getting the system requirements ready for Office 365.

 Click here to know more from my dedicated blog for O365 users.

Enjoy!!!

Office 365 – Migration approach

This page has been move to a dedicated page..click here.

OAB…long time to download?

An offline address book (OAB) is a copy of a collection of address lists that has been downloaded so that a Microsoft Outlook user can access the information it contains while disconnected from the server. Microsoft Exchange generates the new OAB files, compresses the files, and then places the files on a local share. Exchange administrators can choose which address lists are made available to users who work offline, and they can also configure the method by which the address books are distributed.

Pretty straight forward explanation of OAB replication on Exchange 2010 SP2 Rollup Update…Thanks to Greg Taylor, Principal Program Manager @ Exchange Customer Experience, who explained on EHLO…click here to read more of this article

One important thing to share :

Important:

OAB data is produced by the Microsoft Exchange System Attendant service running as Local System. If an administrator uses the security descriptor to prevent users from viewing certain recipients in Active Directory, users who download the OAB will be able to view those hidden recipients. Therefore, to hide a recipient from an address list, you set the HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled parameter on the Set-PublicFolder, Set-MailContact, Set-MailUser, Set-DynamicDistributionGroup, Set-Mailbox, and Set-DistributionGroups cmdlets. Alternatively, you can create a new default OAB that doesn’t contain the hidden recipients. Click here to understand more on offline Address Book

PST Capture Tool – We ask, Microsoft Exchange team delivers it!!!

EHLO, our Exchange Halo team!!! always listening for feedback on what we’re doing well and delivers the tool best for us. As more and more of us evaluate and deploy the email archiving, retention and discovery capabilities of Exchange Server 2010 and Exchange Online, we understand that Personal Folders (.pst files) remain a challenge for us. The ability to search our network to discover and then import .pst files across your environment is critical, and that you need an admin-driven and straightforward tool for doing these things….here comes the EHLO.. In July 2011, Exchange team announce that later this year they will  be adding a new tool to our already rich portfolio of planning and deployment tools. This new tool, PST Capture, will be downloadable and free, and will enable you to discover .pst files on your network and then import them into both Exchange Online (in Office 365) and Exchange Server 2010 on-premises.

And now the EHLO action…..!!!!

PST Capture tool helps us search your network to discover and then import .pst files across your environment – all from a straightforward admin-driven tool. PST Capture will help reduce risk while increasing productivity for your users by importing .pst files into Exchange Online or Exchange Server 2010 – directly into users’ primary mailboxes or archives.

PST Capture documentation, Click here

To download PST Capture (Microsoft Exchange PST Capture is used to discover and import .pst files into Exchange Server or Exchange Online), click here

System requirements – Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise

• Review the Technical Documentation prior to installation of Microsoft Exchange PST Capture
• Exchange Server 2010, if used to import to Exchange Server 2010 mailboxes or archives
• Exchange Online (Office 365) subscription if used to import to Exchange Online (Office 365) mailboxes or archives
• Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or 3.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
• Microsoft Outlook 2010 x64 (only required on the host computer where you install the Central Service and Console)

Thank you Microsoft Exchange Team!!!!

Update your Active Directory Picture – Free Tool

A cool tool (AD Photo Edit) which you can use to update your profile picture and have the picture displayed on your Lync Online home page or SharePoint site. This beautiful tool uploads a picture into the thumbnailPhoto attribute in Active Directory user properties.

This information is then synchronized with the Cloud through the Microsoft Online Services Directory Synchronization tool. You can download the AD Photo Edit from here. Once the tool is installed AD Photo Edit automatically detects and connects to your Active Directory. If you want to upload the domain users photo, you need to have administrative credential. Users are selected by using their “username”. There are free edition, which upload photos individually and bulk edition which is a paid edition.

When you update the photo, your user properties will be filled with values as show in the picture below, (If you already attach a picture, this tool will display the existing picture and you can change it with the new one). if there are no picture attached to your profile, this field will show as <not set>.

Enjoy!!!

Configure Automatic Replies for an user in Exchange 2010 – Using Exchange Control Panel (ECP)

In previous versions of Exchange, you would need to access the user’s mailbox to be able to do this.  Without access to the mailbox, you can’t modify data in it.

Two ways for an exchange/domain administrator to access an user mailbox:

1. Grant yourself full Access mailbox permission to the user’s mailbox.
2. Change the user’s password and log in as the user.

The first option grants the administrator access to all of the data in the user’s mailbox.

The second option grants the administrator access to all of the data that the user account can access within your company and locks the user out of his own user account.

Configure auto-reply options using the ECP

In Exchange 2010 SP1, you can configure auto-reply options for your users without using either of the above options.

Login to ECP through owa as Administrator or member of that group. Click options (right side top) and select “See all options”, From this screen, where “Manage Myself”, click “Another User” -> select the user you want and double click on the user. This will open his mail option ECP, and click “Tell people you’re on vacation” -> and select Automatic Replies and fillout the information and click Save.

Thats it!!!!

Configure auto-reply options using the Shell Command

This command schedules internal and external auto-replies

Example, if a user is going on leave from  11/11/2011 to 12/10/2011: (MM/DD/YYYY format)

Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration leaveusername@domain.com –AutoReplyState Scheduled –StartTime “11/11/2011” –EndTime “12/110/2011” –ExternalMessage “External OOF message here” –InternalMessage “Internal OOF message here”

For detailed syntax and parameter descriptions, see Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration (Applies to Exchange Server 2010 SP1).

This command retrieves auto-reply settings for a mailbox.

Get-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration leaveusername@domain.com

This command disables auto-reply configured for a mailbox:

Set-MailboxAutoReplyConfiguration leaveusername@domain.com –AutoReplyState Disabled –ExternalMessage $null –InternalMessage $null

Great leap…Enjoy!!!!