Customizing Outlook Features and Installation with the Custom Installation Wizard

Like the rest of Microsoft Office 2003, a Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 installation is highly customizable. By using the Office Custom Installation Wizard, you can specify which features you want installed, whether they should run from the local hard disk or the network, how to customize profiles, and so forth.

Specify installation states for Outlook 2003 features

You can specify installation states for many features in Outlook 2003 when you customize your Office 2003 installation.

To set installation states for Outlook 2003 features

1. Start the Custom Installation Wizard.

2. On the Set Feature Installation States page, click the plus sign (+) next to Microsoft Outlook for Windows to expand the feature tree.

3. Click the down arrow next to the feature you want to set, and then select the installation state to use for that feature.

   For example, you might not want users to install Collaboration Data Objects, if your organization does not use this feature. In this case, you click the down arrow, then choose Not Available, Hidden, Locked in the menu. After deployment, users will not be able to see Collaboration Data Objects as an Outlook feature that they could install.

Specify user settings

If you have specified settings by using the Office Profile Wizard and have saved those settings in an Office profile settings file (OPS file), you can provide the OPS file name on the Customize Default Application Settings page of the Custom Installation Wizard. You can also specify user settings on the Change Office User Settings page. These settings will override choices that are specified in the OPS file.

If you want current user settings to migrate for all users, select the check box next to Migrate user settings on the Customize Default Application Settings page in the Custom Installation Wizard. If you choose to migrate user settings, other customizations to user settings that you specify—including those in an OPS file or selections you make on the Change Office User Settings page—will not override existing user settings.

Caution

User options that are configured by using the Change Office User Settings page become the default settings for users (if you are not migrating user settings). If you want to lock down user settings, you must use Group Policy. For more information about using Group Policy to lock down user settings in Office, see “Managing Users’ Configurations by Policy” in Chapter 18, “Updating Users’ Office 2003 Configurations.”

Customize Outlook profile creation and modification

Outlook 2003 uses profiles to store information about users’ e-mail servers, where their Outlook information is stored (on the server or in a local file), and other options.

Configuring how Outlook handles creating default profiles

If you do not configure default profiles for your users, when users install Outlook 2003 on a clean computer, the Outlook Profile Wizard assists them in creating a profile the first time they start Outlook. If a user is upgrading from a previous version of Outlook or Microsoft Exchange Client, Outlook 2003 (by default) detects the existing profile on the user’s computer and uses that profile instead of creating a new one.

Outlook profile configurations affect how e-mail messages are sent and received. Because profiles are so important, the process to create profiles can be automated—saving users from having to create profiles through the Outlook Profile Wizard. You can use the Office Custom Installation Wizard to create profiles automatically for your users when Outlook starts up for the first time (overriding their existing default profiles), or to modify existing profiles.

After your initial Outlook deployment, you can modify how Outlook manages profile creation by using the Custom Maintenance Wizard to update the original profile configuration information you specified in your transform.

Configuring how Outlook handles existing and new profiles

The Outlook pages in the Custom Installation Wizard provide options for creating Outlook profiles or modifying the settings in existing Outlook profiles. Your options for how to handle Outlook profile settings are shown on the Customize Default Profile page:

• Use existing profiles If an Outlook profile exists, Outlook uses that profile. If an Outlook profile is not found, the Outlook Profile Wizard takes the user through creating a profile.

• Modify Profile Users who have an Outlook profile have their profiles migrated to Outlook 2003 (a typical scenario). Settings you define in the Custom Installation Wizard automatically create new default user profiles for users who have no profile when Outlook first runs.

• New Profile Current Outlook users will get new profiles (a less common scenario). This option creates a new default user profile for all users. Existing profiles remain on the user’s computer but are not the default profiles used by Outlook.

• Apply PRF Imports the options you save in an Outlook profile file (PRF file). To import these settings the next time you run the Custom Installation Wizard, enter the file name here.

Note that with both the Modify Profile and New Profile options, you can define new Exchange Server connections for new and existing users.

Defining and customizing an Outlook profile file (PRF file)

A simple way to create a PRF file that is compatible with Outlook 2003 is to step through the Custom Installation Wizard to specify Outlook profile settings. Then, when prompted, export the settings to a PRF file.

You can modify this PRF file in a text editor to include other customizations. For example, you may have profile customizations in a PRF file from an earlier version of Outlook that you want to incorporate in your Outlook 2003 deployment. Manually editing the Outlook 2003 profile file gives you maximum flexibility for customizing your Outlook profile settings.

Now you can use the PRF file to define Outlook user profile options. For example, in the Custom Installation Wizard on the Customize Default Profile page, select Apply PRF and enter the name of the file.

For more information about creating and using PRF files, see “Customizing Outlook Profiles by Using PRF Files” later in this chapter.

To choose how to customize Outlook profiles in the Custom Installation Wizard

1. In the Custom Installation Wizard, on the Outlook: Customize Default Profile page, click the option for how you choose to customize your users’ profile information—Modify Profile, New Profile, or Apply PRF.

   Note that if you select Modify Profile or New Profile, you are prompted to specify user profile settings in subsequent pages of the wizard. If you choose Apply PRF, the settings in your PRF file establish the profile customizations for the transform.

2. If you select Modify Profile, Outlook uses the default name for Outlook profiles, Microsoft Outlook, to save the profile information for users without an existing profile.

3. If you select New Profile, enter a profile name for saving the new user profile information.

4. If you select Apply PRF, enter (or browse to) the name of the PRF file to use.

Note

If you use New Profile to create new Outlook profiles or if you change an existing Exchange server account by using Modify Profile, a new OST file is created. This can be problematic if you plan to deploy with the Cached Exchange Mode feature turned on. For more information about best practices for setting up Cached Exchange Mode for groups of users, see “Setting Up Outlook 2003 Cached Exchange Mode Accounts” later in this chapter.

Configure Exchange settings for user profiles

You have several options for configuring Microsoft Exchange Server connections for users (including not configuring connection information). You can make configuration changes for new Exchange users and for existing users.

• For users who do not have an Exchange Server connection configured, you can specify a user name and server name, as well as offline settings.

• For users with an existing Exchange Server connection, you can keep that connection or replace the current Exchange Server configuration with a new one.

To specify Exchange settings for Outlook user profiles in the Custom Installation Wizard

1. In the Custom Installation Wizard, on the Outlook: Specify Exchange Settings page, click Configure an Exchange Server connection.

   Note that if you chose New Profile on the previous page, this configuration will apply to all Outlook users.

2. Use the default %UserName% variable setting for the user’s logon name.

   You can choose to use another system variable name if, for example, you have a separate user name for Outlook access. Use =%UserName% to help prevent prompting for ambiguous user names. For more information about preventing prompts to resolve user names when Outlook starts up, see “Ensuring a Quiet Installation and Startup for Outlook” in Chapter 8, “Special Deployment Scenarios for Outlook 2003.”

3. Enter the name of an Exchange server on your network.

   This will be replaced with the specific Exchange server for each individual user when Outlook first starts.

4. Specify a default download mode for Cached Exchange Mode.

5. Click on More Settings to configure offline and RPC over HTTP settings, then click OK.

6. Select Overwrite existing Exchange settings if an Exchange connection exists to use the Exchange Server connection you have defined for all users.

   This only applies when modifying a profile. If you are defining new default profiles, the one you define will be used for all users.

7. Click Next.

For more information about configuring Cached Exchange Mode for your deployment, see “Setting Up Outlook 2003 Cached Exchange Mode Accounts” later in this chapter.

For more information about configuring RPC over HTTP for your deployment, see “Configuring Outlook 2003 for RPC over HTTP” in Chapter 8, “Special Deployment Scenarios for Outlook 2003.”

Add and customize accounts for Outlook user profiles

You can add account definitions to Outlook user profiles. For example, you might create a POP3 e-mail account or configure an Internet Directory Service (LDAP) to add to user profiles.

To add and customize Outlook accounts

1. In the Custom Installation Wizard, on the Outlook: Add Accounts page, select Customize additional Outlook profile and account information.

2. To create a new account for user profiles, click Add.

3. Select an account from the list, and then click Next.

4. Follow the directions shown to configure the account.

   The additional information required varies depending on the account type that you choose.

5. When you click Finish, the account appears in the table on the Outlook: Add Accounts page.

   When an account is added, the column If Account Exists is populated with one of two values—Do Not Replace or Replace. This applies only when you have chosen to modify user profiles (Modify Profiles).

6. To modify an account you have created, click on the account name in the list and then click Modify.

7. To delete an account you have created, click on the account name in the list and then click Delete.

8. In the Deliver new mail to the following location field, the value <default> is displayed.

   With this option, new mail is delivered to a user’s existing default mail delivery location. For new users, <default> means that mail is delivered to the server. To change the location for new mail delivery, click the drop-down arrow and click a new location.

   Note that if you have not added any accounts to the profile, no additional locations are displayed in the drop-down list.

9. When you are finished adding and modifying accounts, click Next.

Add and customize Send/Receive groups for Exchange users

You can create Send/Receive groups for Exchange users and specify the characteristics you want for each group—for example, how often to execute a Send/Receive, which folders to include in a Send/Receive, whether to download full details for the Offline Address Book, and so on.

To add and customize Send/Receive groups for Exchange users

1. In the Custom Installation Wizard, on the Outlook: Specify Send/Receive Groups (Exchange Only) page, select Configure Send/Receive Settings.

2. To create a new Send/Receive group, click New and enter a name in the New Group Name box.

3. To configure an existing Send/Receive group, select the group in the list and click Modify.

4. Specify options for a Send/Receive group, such as the folders to include in the group when Outlook executes a Send/Receive.

5. Click OK to return to the main Send/Receive configuration page in the wizard.

6. Specify settings for a Send/Receive group, such as how often to execute Send/Receive for this group.

7. Specify options for downloading the Exchange Address Book for this Send/Receive group.

8. Click Next to configure more options in the Custom Installation Wizard.

Remove extra mail accounts and export user profile settings

If you are modifying user profiles, you can choose to remove extra mail accounts for Lotus cc: Mail or Microsoft Mail from your users’ profiles.

To remove extra mail accounts

• In the Custom Installation Wizard, on the Outlook: Remove Accounts and Export Settings page, click the check boxes to select the accounts you want to remove from user profiles.

On this page of the wizard, you can also choose to save to a PRF file the current Outlook user profile settings that you have configured in the previous four pages in the Custom Installation Wizard. This is optional and does not affect your user profile customizations.

Note

Any changes you make after exporting the current settings will not be updated in the exported PRF file.

To save Outlook user profile settings to a PRF file

1. In the Custom Installation Wizard, on the Outlook: Remove Accounts and Export Settings page, click Export Profile Settings button.

2. Enter (or browse to) the file name and location for the PRF file and click Save.

   Later, you can manually edit this file (for example, using Notepad) to make changes not available through the Custom Installation Wizard. To include your updates, you must import the revised PRF file by using Apply PRF on the Outlook: Customize Default Profile page.

3. Click Next.

Note

This process is a fast way of creating a PRF file for use in your deployment. Create your preliminary configuration by specifying Outlook options in the Custom Installation Wizard, then export the settings. After saving the file, open it with a text editor and make any additional changes you choose. For more information about working with PRF files, see “Customizing Outlook Profiles by Using PRF Files” later in this chapter.

Customize default migration and e-mail settings

In addition to configuring Outlook user profile information, you can specify whether to migrate users’ Personal Address Books. You can also specify default e-mail settings—the default settings for the editor Outlook will use in composing messages and for the message format in which Outlook will send messages.

To set Outlook migration option and default settings

1. In the Custom Installation Wizard, on the Outlook: Customize Default Settings page, you can select the check box to have users’ Personal Address Books converted to Outlook Address Books when Outlook first runs.

2. Next, choose default settings options. Set the Outlook default e-mail editor by clicking the drop-down arrow and choosing an option.

3. Set the Outlook default e-mail format by clicking the drop-down arrow and choosing an option.

4. Click Next to continue setting options for your Office transform.

Note

If you selected Migrate user settings on the Customize Default Application Settings page, then users’ current settings will override what you specify on this page. If you did not select Migrate user settings, your selections here will override users’ current settings.

Specify registry key settings

If there are registry key settings that you want to include in your Outlook deployment, you can specify them on the Add/Remove Registry Entries page of the Custom Installation Wizard.

For example, you might want to reset folder names for all users when you deploy Outlook to synchronize users’ folder names to the User Interface Language of their version of Outlook. This could be useful, for example, if a corporate-wide process has initialized new mailboxes before new users have started Outlook for the first time. In this case, the mailboxes will end up with default folders in the language of the server. (Note that users can, instead, specify the /resetfoldernames option on the Outlook.exe command line to synchronize the folder names on their computers.)

To reset folder names when deploying Outlook

1. In the Custom Installation Wizard, go to the Add/Remove Registry Entries page.

2. Click Add to add a registry entry for ResetFolderNames.

3. On the Add/Modify Registry Entry page, select or type the following:

   • Under Root:, select HKEY_CURRENT_USER.

   • Under Data type:, select Dword.

   • In the Key: field, type Software/Microsoft/Office/10.0/Outlook/Setup.

   • In the Value name: field, type ResetFolderNames.

   • In the Value data: field, type 1.

     Any non-zero value will cause Outlook to synchronize the user’s folder names to the User Interface Language of Outlook.

4. Click OK to save the entry.

Resources and related information

The Custom Installation Wizard offers a wide range of configuration options for defining and modifying user profiles. For more information about creating and using PRF files, see “Customizing Outlook Profiles by Using PRF Files” in the next section.

If your organization uses Exchange 2003 or later, you can deploy Outlook 2003 with Cached Exchange Mode. It is important to use a systematic rollout strategy when deploying Cached Exchange Mode so the Exchange server can smoothly manage updating users’ local computers with copies of their mailboxes. For more information, see “Setting Up Outlook 2003 Cached Exchange Mode Accounts” later in this chapter.

Outlook 2003 includes new features that you can configure to best suit your organization’s needs. For more information, see “Configuring User Interface Options in Outlook 2003” later in this chapter.

You have a number of options for configuring Send/Receive groups for Exchange users. For more information, see “Configuring Exchange Server Send/Receive Settings in Outlook 2003” later in this chapter.