********************
Exchange and Outlook UPDATE, Outlook Edition--brought to you by Exchange & Outlook Administrator, the print newsletter with practical advice, how-to articles, tips, and techniques to help you do your job today. http://www.exchangeadmin.com
********************
~~~~ THIS ISSUE SPONSORED BY ~~~~
Who's Helping You Move to E2K? Learn more. http://www.quest.com/landing/winnetmag_exchange041503.asp
HP & Microsoft Network Storage Solutions Road Show http://www.winnetmag.com/roadshows/nas (Below COMMENTARY)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~ SPONSOR: QUEST SOFTWARE: EXCHANGE 2000 MIGRATION WHITE PAPER ~~~~ Who's helping you move to Exchange 2000? Don't let an Exchange migration disrupt your business! Ease your Active Directory and Exchange 2000 anxiety by putting Quest Software's field-proven methods and tools to use. Download our technical brief, "Migrating to Exchange 2000 Using FastLane Migrator," and get a clear grasp on the typical migration scenarios and best practices for migrating an entire organization to Exchange 2000, using our industry-leading tool. Download the brief NOW: http://www.quest.com/landing/winnetmag_exchange041503.asp
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
April 15, 2003--In this issue:
1. COMMENTARY - Personal Distribution Lists
2. ANNOUNCEMENTS - Couldn't Make the Microsoft Mobility Tour Event? - Sample Our Security Administrator Newsletter!
3. RESOURCE - Tip: Setting Reminders for Journal Items
4. NEW AND IMPROVED - Give Outlook a New Look
5. CONTACT US See this section for a list of ways to contact us.
********************
1.
COMMENTARY
(contributed by Sue Mosher, News Editor, [email protected])* PERSONAL DISTRIBUTION LISTS
Personal distribution lists (DLs) are one Outlook feature in which what you see isn't necessarily what the recipients get. Many Exchange Server users expect personal DLs to work like Global Address List (GAL) DLs, which put only the DL name, not the names of all the individual recipients, in the To box. However, Outlook always expands a personal DL when you send the message, which probably isn't what you want. Even non-Exchange users frequently ask how to make Outlook put only the name of a personal DL in the To box.
If you have a personal DL named Customers that holds 100 names, for example, and you put "Customers" in the To box, each recipient will see 100 names in the To box. Some of your customers might not be keen on their names and email addresses being publicized in this fashion. Having 100 recipients on a message also makes a messy printout.
One way to avoid the problem of recipients being seen when you send to a personal DL is to put the DL name in the Bcc box instead of the To box. You still should put an address in the To box because many spam filters reject messages with no explicit To recipient. So, send the message to yourself. (This technique has the added benefit of sending you a copy of the message so that you can see exactly what the intended recipients got.) If you think that addressing the message to yourself looks odd, you can create an Outlook contact in which the Full Name is the display name you want to show in the To box but the email address is your address.
Another common frustration is that DLs can hold a maximum of about 130 addresses. The Microsoft article "OL: (CW) Problem Adding a Large Number of Items to a Distribution List" ( http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=238569 ) explains that the limit relates to the maximum size of an Exchange property store (about 8KB). The exact number of DL members thus depends on how much information Outlook is saving for each member.
One workaround is to use nested DLs--one master personal DL whose members consist of other DLs. Nested DLs are a nightmare to maintain, however. When you need to remove a member, you quickly find that there is no easy way to search all the child DLs to find out which one contains the address you need to delete.
In general, I find that maintaining DLs is more trouble than it's worth, except for very small DLs whose membership rarely changes. An alternative to personal DLs is to use Outlook categories--creating an Outlook contact for and assigning the same category to each person you want to include on a particular DL. When you want to send a message to that group of people, display your Contacts folder in the By Category view, and select everyone in that category. Choose Actions, New Message to Contact to create a message whose To box contains the email address of each person in the category. You can then copy and paste those addresses to the Bcc box and put your own address in the To box. The potential disadvantage of this method is that contacts who have two or three email addresses will receive the message two or three times. Depending on your situation, this result might be a useful feature or something you need to correct by deleting the extra addresses.
Do you have any gripes about personal DLs or other ideas for making them do a better job for you? Drop me a line at [email protected].
Regarding "Introducing Business Contact Manager," April 8, 2003, http://www.exchangeadmin.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=38625 , Microsoft's initial list of product editions was incorrect. BCM won't be available as a standalone product. Microsoft will include it only in the Small Business and Professional editions of Office 2003.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~ SPONSOR: HP & MICROSOFT NETWORK STORAGE SOLUTIONS ROAD SHOW ~~~~ JOIN THE HP & MICROSOFT NETWORK STORAGE SOLUTIONS ROAD SHOW! Now is the time to start thinking of storage as a strategic weapon in your IT arsenal. Attend the HP & Microsoft Network Storage Solutions Road Show, and learn how existing and future storage solutions can save your company money--and make your job easier! There is no fee for this event, but space is limited. Register now! http://www.winnetmag.com/roadshows/nas
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
(brought to you by Windows & .NET Magazine and its partners)* COULDN'T MAKE THE MICROSOFT MOBILITY TOUR EVENT? If you were too busy to catch our Microsoft Mobility Tour event in person, now you can view the Webcast archives for free! You'll learn more about the available solutions for PC and mobile devices and discover the direction the mobility marketplace is headed. http://www.winnetmag.com/seminars/mobility
* SAMPLE OUR SECURITY ADMINISTRATOR NEWSLETTER! If you spend the better part of your day dealing with security concerns such as controlling user access, viruses, and tightening your network's permeability, then you can benefit from the type of information we publish each month in Security Administrator. Every issue shows you how to protect your enterprise with informative, in-depth articles, timely tips, and practical advice. Sample our most recent issue today! http://www.secadministrator.com/rd.cfm?code=fsei253xup
3.
RESOURCE
(contributed by Sue Mosher, [email protected])* TIP: SETTING REMINDERS FOR JOURNAL ITEMS
Q: I use Outlook's Journal to record all my activities each day and produce a monthly status report for my boss. Many times, I would like to flag a journal entry for a follow-up or reminder. Currently, I create a new Task and set a reminder, but this seems like a duplication of work. Can you suggest a better way?
A: Because Outlook provides no way to set reminders for journal items, you can't avoid some duplication of effort. To make this chore less cumbersome, try dragging the journal entry to the Tasks folder. This action will create a new task with the same subject as the journal entry. The body of the task will contain detailed information about the journal item. All you need to do is add the reminder and save the task.
See the Exchange & Outlook Administrator Web site for more great tips from Sue Mosher. http://www.exchangeadmin.com
4.
NEW AND IMPROVED
(contributed by Carolyn Mader, [email protected])* GIVE OUTLOOK A NEW LOOK XemiComputers offers DeskLook 2.0, a system-tray program that displays Outlook data in an Outlook Today-type view and adds the current, previous, and next months' calendars. DeskLook displays information transparently on top of any wallpaper you choose. The software works with Outlook XP and Outlook 2000. Prices start at $19.90 for a single-user license, and volume discounts are available. For more information, send an email message to [email protected]. http://www.xemico.com/desklook/index.html
5.
CONTACT US
Here's how to reach us with your comments and questions:* ABOUT THE COMMENTARY -- [email protected]
* ABOUT THE NEWSLETTER IN GENERAL -- [email protected] (please mention the newsletter name in the subject line)
* TECHNICAL QUESTIONS -- http://www.winnetmag.com/forums
* PRODUCT NEWS -- [email protected]
* QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR EXCHANGE AND OUTLOOK UPDATE SUBSCRIPTION? Customer Support -- [email protected]
* WANT TO SPONSOR EXCHANGE AND OUTLOOK UPDATE? [email protected]
********************
Receive the latest information about the Windows and .NET topics of your choice. Subscribe to our other FREE email newsletters. http://www.winnetmag.com/email
|-+-|-+-|-+-|-+-|-+-|
Thank you for reading Exchange and Outlook UPDATE. __________________________________________________________ Copyright 2003, Penton Media, Inc.
