Microsoft Outlook

Part of MS Office, an exchange, imap and POP3 Client

Configuring Outlook 2003 to access a remote Exchange server via HTTPS:

This assumes the Exchange server is correctly set up.

If the exchange server doesn't have its own seperate registered domain name, C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts needs an entry for the IP address and domain name of the certificate made by the exchange server because the cert doesn't work for IP only. So even if the domain is blah.local you need that association for the cert to work.

In IE, hit the https web address of the exchange server and verify the certificate works. If it doesn't tell IE to continue to the site despite the cert being bad, and then click on the little warning bar to the right of the address and tell it to install the cert.

Right click the Outlook icon (Outlook must NOT be running), select Properties

Add a profile (any name will do) if one doesn't already exist

email accounts, Add a new... , MS Exchange..., enter the local name for the exchange server and the user name. Enable local copy if this is your computer.

Security tab, check Encrypt Information

Connection tab, LAN, ...using HTTP

Exchange Proxy Settings..., web address of your exchange server. If there is no registered domain, use the domain you entered in the hosts file. Check Mutually authenticate... and enter "msstd:" followed by the same web address

Change the Authentication to Basic.

Open outlook and log in.

Also:

• http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Outlook_2003_Connect_Exchange_2003.html Using Outlook 2003 to connect to Exchange 2003 using RPC over HTTPS
• http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Troubleshooting-RPC-over-HTTPS-Part1.html Troubleshooting RPC over HTTPS (Part 1)
• http://www.msexchange.org/tutorials/Troubleshooting-RPC-over-HTTPS-Part2.html Troubleshooting RPC over HTTPS (Part 2)

Outlook Automation

Also:

• ol-spam-rpt.vbs An automated SPAM reporting script

Form actions can be changed after Tools / Form / Design by Tools / View script and Script / handeler. Then by Script / Object browser. The MAPIItem object contains all the mail fields including ReceivedOnBehalfOfName

VBA macros, etc.. can be signed with a "fake" Digital Certificate generated by a program called SelfCert.exe which is installed as part of Office XP. I found it under Start / Programs / Microsoft Office / Microsoft Office Tools / Digital Certificates for VBA projects. The resulting certificate will not be trusted untill it is installed in the root servers list which is at Internet Options / Content (NOT Security) / Certificates / Trusted Root Certifications Authorities. This is basically telling your computer to trust code you sign.

As of 2002, any thing (anything) that tries to access the following fields will get you a dialog box that asks you to confirm access to this information. This effectivly kills any automation using these items:

• The AddressEntries collection or any AddressEntry object.
• The Recipients collection or any Recipient object.
• The following properties of a ContactItem object:

  Email1.Address
  Email1.AddressType
  Email1.DisplayName
  Email1.EntryID
  Email2.Address
  Email2.AddressType
  Email2.DisplayName
  Email2.EntryID
  Email3.Address
  Email3.AddressType
  Email3.DisplayName
  Email3.EntryID
  NetMeetingAlias
  ReferredBy

• The following properties of a MailItem object:

  SentOnBehalfOfName
  SenderName
  ReceivedByName
  ReceivedOnBehalfOfName
  ReplyRecipientNames
  To
  Cc
  Bcc

• The following properties of a AppointmentItem object:

  Organizer
  RequiredAttendees
  OptionalAttendees
  Resources
  NetMeetingOrganizerAlias

• The following properties of a TaskItem object:

  ContactNames
  Contacts
  Delegator
  Owner
  StatusUpdateRecipients
  StatusOnCompletionRecipients

• The GetMember method of a DistListItem object.
• The ContactNames property of a JournalItem object.
• The SenderName property of a MeetingItem object.
• The SenderName property of a PostItem object.
• The GetRecipientFromID property of a Namespace object.
• The Execute method of an Action object.
• The Formula property of a UserProperty object.

The only way to effectively get around this is to use a new API which is only accessable from C# or C++. There is a "wrapper" for this API that allows scripts to access the objects while still providing some security: Outlook Redemption is available at http://www.dimastr.com/redemption/

See also:

• Top Ten Knowledge Base Articles for Outlook Developers
• Questions about Customizing or Programming Outlook 97  Outlook 98
• Resources for Custom Forms and Programming in Outlook 98
• http://www.slipstick.com/sitemap.htm
• http://www.nthelp.com/OEtest/oe.htm How Outlook helps spammers target you.
• http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/esecup.htm Outlook security issues and workarounds.

Questions: