Microsoft KB Archive/175676

= OL97: Summary of Changes in Outlook 8.03 =

Article ID: 175676

Article Last Modified on 10/27/2000

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Outlook 97 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q175676



SUMMARY
This article summarizes improvements, new features, and corrected problems in Microsoft Outlook 97 version 8.03. This version of Outlook is only available in Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 and Service Pack 2 for Microsoft Exchange Server 5.0, and enables Outlook to take advantage of Microsoft Exchange Server enhancements.



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:

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Microsoft Corporation

Outlook 97 Update

PO Box 1095

Buffalo, NY 14240-1095

In Canada:

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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.

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