Determine which features to enable or customize in Outlook 2010
Applies to: Office 2010
Topic Last Modified: 2011-08-05
Some features that you might have to configure and deploy with Microsoft Outlook 2010, such as Contact Cards and the Outlook Social Connector, are discussed in this article. For security and protection features, see Plan for security and protection in Outlook 2010.
You can customize the installation of Outlook 2010 by using Group Policy or the Office Customization Tool (OCT). To enforce settings, use Group Policy with the Outlook 2010 Group Policy template (Outlk14.adm), and for some settings, such as those for Contact Cards, the Microsoft Office 2010 Group Policy template (Office14.adm).
For information about how to download the Outlook 2010 administrative template, and about other Office 2010 Administrative Templates, see Office 2010 Administrative Template files (ADM, ADMX, ADML) and Office Customization Tool.
For more information about Group Policy, see Group Policy overview for Office 2010 and Use Group Policy to enforce Office 2010 settings.
To configure default settings, in which case users can change the settings, use the OCT. The OCT settings are in corresponding locations of the Group Policy settings on the Modify user settings page of the OCT. For more information about the OCT, see Office Customization Tool in Office 2010.
Contact Cards and Outlook Social Connector are two new features that you can configure by using Group Policy and the OCT. The Outlook 2010 features, Quick Steps and Clean Up, cannot be configured by using Group Policy or the OCT. Also, the MailTips feature is only administratively configurable through Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. However, users can customize their settings for these three features in Outlook 2010. To access user settings for Clean Up and MailTips, on the File tab, click Options, and then click Mail. To manage Quick Steps in Outlook 2010, on the Home tab, in the Quick Steps group, click the lower-right expand button.
For more information about how to configure MailTips in Exchange Server 2010, see Understanding MailTips (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkId=181931) and Managing MailTips (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkId=181934).
In this article:
AutoArchive
Contact Cards
Conversation view
Global Address List synchronization
Internet Calendars
Instant Search
Navigation Pane
Outlook Social Connector
Search Folders
SharePoint Server Colleague add-in
AutoArchive
Outlook 2010 AutoArchive helps determine how e-mail is managed in user mailboxes. You can configure AutoArchive settings for users in your organization, determining, for example, how frequently to run AutoArchive and whether to prompt users before they run AutoArchive.
If you plan to deploy Outlook 2010 with Exchange Server 2010, consider using the Exchange Server 2010 Personal Archive feature instead of Outlook 2010 AutoArchive. For more information, see Understanding Personal Archive: Exchange 2010 Help (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=169269).
For planning compliance and archiving considerations, see Plan for compliance and archiving in Outlook 2010.
By default, AutoArchive is turned on and runs automatically at scheduled intervals, removing older and expired items from folders. Older items are those that reach the archiving age that a user specifies (the default archiving age varies by the kind of Outlook item). Expired items are mail and meeting items whose content is no longer valid after a certain date, such as a mail item set to expire two months ago that still appears in a user's Inbox.
Users can specify an expiration date on items in Outlook 2010 at the time they create or send the item or at a later date. When the item expires, it is unavailable and shows in the folder list with a strike-through mark on the item.
When AutoArchive runs, it can delete items or move items to an archive folder, depending on the settings that you specify.
The archive file is an Outlook data file (.pst file) that appears as Archive Folders in the Outlook 2010 folder list. The first time that AutoArchive runs, Outlook 2010 creates the archive file automatically in the following location:
%UserProfile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook\Archive.pst
You can lock down the settings to customize AutoArchive by using the Outlook Group Policy template (Outlk14.adm). The settings are found under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Outlook 2010\Outlook Options\Other\AutoArchive. Or, you can configure default settings by using the Office Customization Tool (OCT), in which case users can change the settings. The OCT settings are in corresponding locations on the Modify user settings page of the OCT.
The settings that you can configure for AutoArchive are shown in the following table.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
Turn on AutoArchive |
Sets AutoArchive to run for users, with a frequency specified by the Run AutoArchive every <x> days setting. |
Run AutoArchive every <x> days |
Specifies an AutoArchive interval in number of days. |
Prompt before AutoArchive runs |
Notifies users that AutoArchive will run. |
Delete expired items (e-mail folders only) |
Deletes expired e-mail messages, instead of moving them to an archive folder. |
Archive or delete old items |
Moves Outlook items to the archive file or delete the items. |
Show archive folder in folder list |
Displays the archive folder in the user's Outlook folder list. |
Clean out items older than |
Specifies how long to keep items before archiving or deleting them. |
Permanently delete old items |
Permanently deletes items, instead of moving them to the Deleted Items folder. |
Contact Cards
In Microsoft Office 2010, Contact Cards appear when you rest the mouse pointer over a name, for example a sender’s name in an e-mail message or the author’s name in an Office 2010 document. If you install Office 2010 with Office Communicator 2007 R2, Office or Communicator Server 2007 R2, Contact Cards displays a person’s availability and lets you easily start a conversation directly through instant messaging, voice call, or video. When you expand the Contact Card, you can view the Contact, Organization, and Member Of tabs. The Contact tab is the default view and it displays information such as department, office location, and work telephone number. The Organization tab displays the contact’s manager and contacts that share the same manager. The Member Of tab displays the distribution lists for which the contact is a member.
In Office 2010, you can customize Contact Cards to turn off certain features and specify where presence icons are displayed. For the Contact tab on the Contact Card, you can replace labels and values. The specific settings that you can configure for Contact Cards are described in the following two sections. Note that there is a known issue with the Group Policy and OCT settings for customizing the Contact tab; however, a workaround is available. To customize the Contact tab, you must manually deploy the appropriate registry keys. See Contact Card Contact Tab customization workaround (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=184612).
Contact Card
In Group Policy, the settings in the following table are found under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office 2010\Contact Card. The OCT settings are in corresponding locations on the Modify user settings page of the OCT.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
Configure presence icon |
Specifies where the presence icons are displayed. Display all Displays the presence icons. Display some Displays only in the Contact Card and in lists in Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products. Display None Presence icons are not displayed. |
Display legacy GAL dialog |
Displays the global address list (GAL) dialog box instead of the Contact Card when users double-click a contact in Outlook. |
Do not display Hover Menu |
Stops the Hover Menu from displaying when a user pauses on a contact’s presence icon or display name with the cursor. |
Do not display photograph |
Prevents display of the contact photograph on the Contact Card, e-mail header, reading pane, fast search results, GAL dialog box, and File tab. |
Remove Member Of tab |
Removes the Member Of tab on the Contact Card. |
Remove Organization tab |
Removes the Organization tab on the Contact Card. |
Turn off click to IM option |
Removes the Instant Messaging (IM) option from the Contact Card and Outlook ribbon. |
Turn off click to telephone |
Removes the telephone option from the Contact Card and Outlook ribbon. |
Turn off presence integration |
Turns off IM presence integration for Office 2010 applications. |
Contact tab
There is a known issue with the Group Policy and OCT settings for customizing the Contact tab; however, a workaround is available. To customize the Contact tab, you must manually deploy the appropriate registry keys. See Contact Card Contact Tab customization workaround (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=184612).
The following Contact tab settings under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office 2010\Contact Card in Group Policy and in the corresponding locations on the Modify user settings page of the OCT will be fully functional in a later release of the Administrative Templates.
To customize the Contact Card Contact tab in Outlook 2010, use the replace MAPI property settings option. To customize the Contact Card Contact tab for other Office 2010 applications such as Microsoft Word 2010, use the replace AD attribute settings option.
For information about Active Directory attributes, see Property Sets in Exchange 2007 (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=183812) and Attributes defined by Active Directory (Windows) ( https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=183814). For information about MAPI properties, see Mail User Properties (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=183815)
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
Move Calendar Line |
Enable and set the line number to move the Calendar field value to another location on the Contact Card. This action replaces the field value that was in that location. |
Move Location Line |
Enable and set the line number to move the Location field value to another location on the Contact Card. This action replaces the field value that was in that location. |
Replace Label - Title |
Enable and enter a new label name for the Title (title, department) field. |
Replace Label - Office |
Enable and enter a new label name for the Office (office location) field. |
Replace Label - Work |
Enable and enter a new label name for the Work (work phone) field. |
Replace Label - Mobile |
Enable and enter a new label name for the Mobile (mobile phone) field. |
Replace Label - Home |
Enable and enter a new label name for the Home (home phone) field. |
Replace Label – E-mail |
Enable and enter a new label name for the E-mail (e-mail address) field. |
Replace Label - Calendar |
Enable and enter a new label name for the Calendar (calendar free/busy information) field. |
Replace Label - Location |
Enable and enter a new label name for the Location (location information) field. |
Replace AD attribute – “title, department” |
Enable and enter the Active Directory (AD) attribute to replace the Title field value. For example, to display the e-mail alias, enter the AD attribute: sAMAccountName. If you enable this setting, also set Replace MAPI property – “title, department”. |
Replace AD attribute – “office location” |
Enable and enter the Active Directory (AD) attribute to replace the Office field value. If you enable this setting, also set Replace MAPI property – “office location”. |
Replace AD attribute – “work phone” |
Enable and enter the Active Directory (AD) attribute to replace the Work field value. If you enable this setting, also set Replace MAPI property – “work phone”. |
Replace AD attribute – “mobile phone” |
Enable and enter the Active Directory (AD) attribute to replace the Mobile field value. If you enable this setting, also set Replace MAPI property – “mobile phone”. |
Replace AD attribute – “home phone” |
Enable and enter the Active Directory (AD) attribute to replace the Home field value. If you enable this setting, also set Replace MAPI property – “home phone”. |
Replace AD attribute – “e-mail address” |
Enable and enter the Active Directory (AD) attribute to replace the E-mail field value. If you enable this setting, also set Replace MAPI property – “e-mail address”. |
Replace AD attribute – “calendar free/busy information” |
Enable and enter the Active Directory (AD) attribute to replace the Calendar field value. If you enable this setting, also set Replace MAPI property – “calendar free/busy information”. |
Replace AD attribute – “location information” |
Enable and enter the Active Directory (AD) attribute to replace the Location field value. If you enable this setting, also set Replace MAPI property – “location information”. |
Replace MAPI property – “title, department” |
Enable and enter the MAPI property to replace the Title field value. For example, to display the e-mail alias, enter the MAPI property: 0x3a00001f. If you enable this setting, also set Replace AD attribute – “title, department”. |
Replace MAPI property – “office location” |
Enable and enter the MAPI property to replace the Office field value. If you enable this setting, also set Replace AD attribute – “office location”. |
Replace MAPI property – “work phone” |
Enable and enter the MAPI property to replace the Work field value. If you enable this setting, also set Replace AD attribute – “work phone”. |
Replace MAPI property – “mobile phone” |
Enable and enter the MAPI property to replace the Mobile field value. If you enable this setting, also set Replace AD attribute – “mobile phone”. |
Replace MAPI property – “home phone” |
Enable and enter the MAPI property to replace the Home field value. If you enable this setting, also set Replace AD attribute – “home phone”. |
Replace MAPI property – “e-mail address” |
Enable and enter the MAPI property to replace the E-mail field value. If you enable this setting, also set Replace AD attribute – “e-mail address”. |
Replace MAPI property – “calendar free/busy information” |
Enable and enter the MAPI property to replace the Calendar field value. If you enable this setting, also set Replace AD attribute – “calendar free/busy information”. |
Replace MAPI property – “location information” |
Enable and enter the MAPI property to replace the Location field value. If you enable this setting, also set Replace AD attribute – “location information”. |
Conversation view
The Conversation view provides a threaded view of e-mail messages in an Microsoft Outlook folder. To access the Conversation view in Outlook 2010, click View, and then select the Show as Conversations check box.
The settings that you can configure for Conversation view in Group Policy and the OCT are shown in the following table. In Group Policy, the settings are found under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Outlook 2010\Outlook Options\Preferences\E-mail Options. The OCT settings are in corresponding locations on the Modify user settings page of the OCT.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
Configure Cross Folder Content in Conversation view |
Enable and select the e-mail folder content to include in Conversation view. On and cross-store E-mail displayed is from all connected Outlook data files whether they are cached on the local computer or online. Off E-mail displayed in Conversation view is only from the current folder (such as the Inbox). On and current E-mail displayed in Conversation view is only from the current Outlook data file being viewed. On and local E-mail displayed is only from the current Outlook data file being viewed and any other local Outlook data file (such as a personal data file (.pst)). |
Do not use Conversational arrangement in Views |
There is a known issue with the explanatory text for this setting, which will be corrected in a later release of the Administrative Templates. If you do not configure this setting, the Outlook 2010 views will display Date view as the default. Enable to turn off Conversation view to prevent users from using Conversation View in Outlook 2010. Disable to turn on Conversation View as the default Outlook 2010 view. |
Global Address List synchronization
Outlook 2010 synchronizes its Contacts folder entries to contacts in the Exchange Global Address List (GAL) when they have matching SMTP addresses. This synchronization is one-way: from the GAL to the Outlook Contacts folder.
Discrepancies in contact phone numbers might arise when the phone entries in users’ Outlook Contacts folder are created in a different format from the one that is used in the corporate GAL. For example, a locale might require one type of phone number prefix format for calling from within the country and another prefix format for calling from outside the country. If a user creates his or her Outlook 2010 contacts with the prefix formats that are required to dial from outside the country, a “move correction” takes place when Outlook 2010 contacts are updated by using details from the GAL.
In a move correction, the telephone numbers that the user creates in his or her Outlook contacts are overwritten and moved to an adjacent phone number field. For example, the telephone number in the “Business” field is moved to the “Business 2” field. For more information about move corrections, see Contact corrections Outlook makes during GAL synchronization.
After synchronization, you cannot reverse the changes in bulk. However, a user can manually update Outlook contacts, or if there are many differences, the user’s Exchange mailbox can be restored. A programmatic solution is possible, but requires complex data validation to pull the previous values from the Notes field. These solutions quickly become unfeasible for a large enterprise.
However, if contact synchronization is a large issue in your organization, you can disable GAL synchronization for Outlook 2010, either before you deploy Microsoft Office 2010, or when you see potential for this situation occurring.
Contact corrections that Outlook makes during GAL synchronization
If an Outlook contact is updated through GAL synchronization, Outlook “corrects” contact fields that do not match by using one of the following methods:
Normal correction In a normal correction, Outlook logs the old value of the field in the Notes field and then updates the field by using the new value from the GAL.
Move correction In a move correction, Outlook moves the old value of the field to an adjacent field. If this action is unsuccessful, Outlook performs a normal correction. If all fields in a contact group are full, the move correction becomes a normal correction
For the following fields, a move correction is the default correction method that is used. For all other fields Outlook always performs a normal correction.
Business Phone Group
Business Phone
Business 2 Phone
Other Phone
Home Phone Group
Home Phone
Home 2 Phone
Other Phone
Mobile Phone Group
Mobile Phone
Other Phone
Business Address Group
Business Address
Other Address
Home Address Group
Home Address
Other Address
Configuring GAL synchronization
By default, GAL synchronization is enabled in Outlook 2010. You can disable GAL synchronization with Outlook contacts by configuring the Block Global Address List synchronization setting in Group Policy. After you apply this Group Policy setting, users cannot change the configuration.
If you use the OCT to disable GAL synchronization, users can enable it in the user interface (UI). To do this, they click the View tab on the ribbon, click the drop-down arrow next to the People Pane button, select the Account Settings command from the list, and then click the Settings button at the bottom of the Social Network Accounts dialog box.
You can configure the GAL synchronization settings in the following table. In Group Policy, you can find the settings under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Outlook 2010\Outlook Social Connector. The OCT settings are in corresponding locations on the Modify user settings page of the OCT. For the steps to configure these settings, see Disable global address list synchronization for Outlook 2010.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
Block Global Address List synchronization |
Blocks the synchronization of contacts between Outlook and the GAL. If you disable or do not configure this setting, GAL synchronization is allowed. |
Set GAL contact synchronization interval |
Controls how often (in minutes) contact information is synchronized between Outlook and connected social networks. By default, if you disable or do not configure this policy, contact information is synchronized one time per day or every 1,440 minutes. |
You can configure GAL sync to prompt before updating, instead of updating without prompting, (which is default behavior) by configuring the registry settings that are listed in the following table. For the steps to deploy the registry data, see Disable global address list synchronization for Outlook 2010.
| Root | Data type | Key | Value name | Value data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
HKEY_CURRENT_USER |
DWORD |
Software\ Microsoft\Office\Outlook\SocialConnector |
ScheduleContactGALSync |
Configures the GAL synchronization configuration. However, the user can override the configuration through the user interface by clicking the View tab on the ribbon, clicking the drop-down arrow next to the People Pane button, selecting the Account Settings command, and then clicking the Settings button in the Social Network Accounts dialog box. 0 = Do not synchronize contacts with the GAL 1 = Automatically update contacts with the latest GAL information 2 = Prompt before updating contacts with the latest GAL information |
HKEY_CURRENT_USER |
String |
Software\ Microsoft\Office\Outlook\SocialConnector |
GalSyncExcludedLocales |
For country codes, see ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=197158). Important This registry value is only honored when the ScheduleContactGALSync key does not exist. The ScheduleContactGALSync is created if the user manually sets GAL synchronization options through the user interface. |
Internet Calendars
An Internet Calendar (iCal) is a calendar that you can publish to an Internet site, where other users can view it or subscribe to it. You can create an iCal from your calendar, send it as an attachment in an e-mail message, upload to Office.com, or upload it to a WebDAV server to publish it. You can also receive an iCal file as a file attachment in an e-mail message or download an iCal file to subscribe to a third-party calendar. For more information, see Introduction to publishing Internet Calendars (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=193168).
With Outlook 2010, you can customize iCal subscription features. You can disable iCal subscriptions in Outlook 2010 if, for example, you are concerned about bandwidth usage and want to delay introducing iCal subscriptions. By default, iCal subscriptions are enabled. You can also deploy iCal subscriptions as default subscriptions that users can change or delete. Or, you can lock down iCal subscriptions so that users cannot make changes or remove them. However, users can add new iCal subscriptions. By default, there are no iCal subscriptions. However, users can add and remove them.
Outlook 2010 sets the synchronization interval so that each iCal subscription is updated at the publisher's recommended interval. Users can override the default interval unless you disallow that option. If users set the update frequency to a short interval, it can cause performance problems.
By enabling the Override published sync interval option in Group Policy, you can enforce the publisher's update intervals so that users cannot change the intervals. This setting is used for all iCal subscriptions. You cannot set this option differently for different subscriptions.
The settings that you can configure for iCal in Group Policy and the OCT are shown in the following table. In Group Policy, the settings are found under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Outlook 2010\Account Settings\Internet Calendars. The OCT settings are in corresponding locations on the Modify user settings page of the OCT.
| Options | Description |
|---|---|
Automatically download attachments |
Automatically downloads attachments (such as graphics) on Internet Calendar appointments. |
Default Internet Calendar subscriptions |
Enable and add the URLs that are to be added to each user's profile as an Internet Calendar subscription. |
Disable roaming of Internet Calendars |
Enable so that Internet Calendars are available only on the client that originally linked them. |
Do not include Internet Calendar integration in Outlook |
Prevents users from subscribing to Internet Calendars in Outlook. |
Override published sync interval |
Prevents users from overriding the sync interval published by Internet Calendar providers. |
Instant Search
In Microsoft Outlook 2010, users can use the Instant Search feature to quickly locate an item, such as an e-mail message, a task, or an appointment. Items that match the search are highlighted. Users can filter results by typing additional letters (known as wordwheeling).
Instant Search in Outlook 2010 works by accessing indexed content. Indexing Outlook content results in quicker search results. By default, the text of all unrestricted Outlook items — including attachments — is indexed, a process that starts when Outlook 2010 runs for the first time. You can turn off full text indexing, or you can turn off only attachments indexing. Indexing occurs in the background and only when there is additional processing capacity available on the user's computer.
The following Windows settings determine how Outlook manages search indexing:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Search\PreventIndexingOutlook
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Search\PreventIndexingEmailAttachments
Encrypted items and items that are restricted by using Information Rights Management (IRM) are not indexed.
If you install Outlook 2010 on a computer that is running Windows Vista or Windows 7, you can configure searching indexing options for Outlook by using Group Policy or the OCT.
The settings that you can configure for Instant Search are shown in the following table. In Group Policy, the settings are found under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Outlook 2010\Outlook Options\Preferences\Search Options. The OCT settings are in corresponding locations on the Modify user settings page of the OCT.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
Change color used to highlight search matches |
Selects the background color that will be used for highlighting matches in search results (default is yellow). |
Do not display hit highlights in search results |
Turns off search hit highlighting. |
Do not include display search results as the user types |
Prevents display of search results as the user types a search query (turn off Word Wheel functionality). |
Do not include the Online Archive in All Mail item search |
Sets the default action in All Mail Item search not to include search results from the Online Archive. |
Expand scope of searches |
Expands the scope for Instant Search to all folders in the current module (for example, Mail or Calendar). By default, Instant Search in Outlook returns results only from the selected folder. |
Prevent clear signed message and attachment indexing |
Prevents indexing of the body and attachments of clear-text signed messages. The sender, subject line, and date continue to be indexed and searchable. |
Prevent installation prompts when Windows Desktop Search component is not present |
Prevents display of a dialog box that asks whether users want to download Windows Desktop Search (if it is not already installed). Also removes the links in Outlook that let users download Windows Desktop Search. |
Turn off automatic search index reconciliation |
Turns off the automatic verification of the integrity of the Outlook search index, which runs every 72 hours. |
Navigation Pane
You can configure the modules in the Navigation Pane in Outlook 2010 (such as Calendar, Mail, and so on) to appear in a specific order for users, or to display only certain modules.
You can use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) Add registry entries option to distribute registry keys that specify how modules are displayed. You cannot use Group Policy to lock down Navigation Pane options.
The following table lists the registry settings that you can configure for a custom installation.
| Root | Data type | Key | Value name | Value data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
HKEY_CURRENT_USER |
REG_DWORD |
Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Preferences |
NumBigModules |
Controls how many large buttons (each representing a Navigation Pane module) appear on the Navigation Pane. The default is 4. The maximum number that you can specify to be displayed is 8. |
HKEY_CURRENT_USER |
REG_SZ |
Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Preferences |
ModuleOrder |
Determines the order in which the modules are displayed on the Navigation Pane. The data is an ordered list of indexes, where each position represents a Navigation Pane module, and the number in that position determines where the matching module appears. The default is 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. The index positions match this list: Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes, Folder List, Shortcuts, Journal. For example, if the user switches Mail to be the third module showing, and Contacts to be the first, the registry value has this data: 3,2,1,4,5,6,7,8 |
HKEY_CURRENT_USER |
REG_SZ |
Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook\Preferences |
ModuleVisible |
Determines whether a module is visible on the Navigation Pane. The values match the positions that are used in the module ordering list. The default is 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0. For example, the first position determines whether Mail is shown. By default, the Journal is not shown in the Navigation Pane. You can choose to not display other modules also. For example, to not display Contacts, Tasks, Notes, or Shortcuts, set this data: 1,1,0,0,0,1,0,0. |
Outlook Social Connector
The Outlook Social Connector (OSC) is an add-in that exposes social network data including friends, profiles, activities, and status information from social networks in Outlook 2010. In the People Pane at the bottom of an e-mail message, you can see information about the sender such as their picture, name, and title; view your communication history with this person including meetings and attachments; and view their activity feeds from social networks.
You can create an OSC provider to synchronize and surface social network updates in Outlook. Popular social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Windows Live are offering providers for the OSC. You can also use OSC provider extensibility to build providers for line-of-business applications or internal corporate websites and to integrate their services into Outlook. For more information, see Outlook Social Connector 1.1 Provider Reference (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=208703).
To take advantage of the features that are available with the Outlook Social Connector, you must run Outlook 2010 in Cached Exchange Mode with Windows Desktop Search and have Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 My Site configured for users. In this configuration, local items — such as e-mail messages, meetings, and attachments from the sender — will be included in the communication history. Additionally, with My Site configured you can view the activity feed from the sender’s My Site.
If you run Outlook 2010 in Online Mode, only items related to the sender that are stored on the server will be shown in the communication history. Also, only activity feed information about the sender from on-demand social network providers, such as Facebook, can be shown. Activity feeds from My Site will not be available.
To include information from users’ My Site in the Outlook Social Connector, you must run Outlook 2010 in Cached Exchange Mode with Windows Desktop Search and set the MySiteHost registry key as described in the following table.
| Root | Data type | Key | Value name | Value data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
HKEY_CURRENT_USER |
REG_SZ |
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\common\Portal\Link Providers\MySiteHost |
URL |
Your My Site URL – for example, http://Office/MySite. |
HKEY_CURRENT_USER |
REG_SZ |
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\common\Portal\Link Providers\MySiteHost |
DisplayName |
Optional: The name to display to the user in the Outlook Social Connector – for example, MySite. |
You can control the social network providers from which users can view activity feeds. You can prevent activity feeds from all social network providers by enabling the Prevent social network connectivity setting in Group Policy. Or, you can deploy specific providers by using the Specify list of social network providers to load setting in the OCT and prevent other providers from being installed by using the Block specific social network providers setting in Group Policy.
You can also control whether to allow the Outlook Social Connector or social network providers to prompt users for updates or manage the updates yourself by using the Do not show social network info-bars setting in Group Policy.
The settings that you can configure for Conversation view in Group Policy and the OCT are shown in the following table. In Group Policy, the settings are found under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Outlook 2010\Outlook Social Connector. The OCT settings are in corresponding locations on the Modify user settings page of the OCT.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
Block Global Address List synchronization |
Blocks synchronization between Outlook and the global address list. |
Block network activity synchronization |
Blocks synchronization of activity information between Outlook and social networks. |
Block social network contact synchronization |
Blocks synchronization of contacts between Outlook and social networks. |
Block specific social network providers |
Specify the list of social network providers to block by Program ID (ProgID). A provider’s ProgID is registered under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\SocialConnector\SocialNetworks. |
Do not allow on-demand activity synchronization |
Prevents on-demand synchronization of activity information between Outlook and social networks. |
Do not download photos from Active Directory |
Does not download contact photos from Active Directory. |
Do not show social network info-bars |
Prevents displaying information-bar messages that will prompt users to upgrade the Outlook Social Connector when updates are available or to install or update social network providers. |
Prevent social network connectivity |
Turns off social network connectivity in the Outlook Social Connector. Outlook Social Connector will still allow personal information management (PIM) aggregation so that users can view information about a chosen contact from their Outlook 2010 data files (for example, e-mail messages exchanged and meetings with that contact). |
Set GAL contact synchronization interval |
Controls how often contact information is synchronized between Outlook and connected social networks (in minutes). By default, if you disable or do not configure this policy, contact information is synchronized one time per day or 1,440 minutes. |
Specify activity feed synchronization interval |
Controls how often activity feed information is synchronized between Outlook and connected social networks (in minutes). By default, if you disable or do not configure this policy, activity information is synchronized every 60 minutes. |
Specify list of social network providers to load |
Enter a list of social network providers (by ProgID) that will be loaded by the Outlook Social Connector. A provider’s ProgID is registered under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\Outlook\SocialConnector\SocialNetworks. |
Turn off Outlook Social Connector |
Turns off the Outlook Social Connector. |
Search Folders
Outlook folders are where items are stored — such as new e-mail messages (Inbox folder), sent e-mail messages (Sent Items folder), or saved e-mail messages (folders that you can create). Search Folders are virtual folders that contain views of all e-mail items that match specific search criteria. E-mail messages are not stored in Search Folders.
Search Folders display the results of previously defined search queries of your Outlook 2010 folders. The e-mail messages remain stored in one or more Outlook folders. Each Search Folder is a saved search that is kept up to date. By default, Search Folders monitor all Outlook folders for new items that match the criteria of the Search Folder. However, you can configure which folders are monitored. In Outlook 2010, click Folder, and then click Customize This Search Folder.
When users create a Search Folder, they have several default Search Folder options to choose from, such as Mail with attachments or Mail from specific people. They can also create custom Search Folders. To create a Search Folder in Outlook 2010, click Folder in the ribbon, and then click New Search Folder.
By default, Search Folders remain active for 1,000 days. You can configure how long Search Folders remain active for Cached Exchange Mode accounts and for online Exchange Server accounts. You can specify the number of days after which Search Folders become dormant — that is, items listed in the Search Folder are no longer up to date with current searches of Outlook folders. A dormant Search Folder appears in italic in a user's navigation pane. When a user opens a dormant Search Folder, the view is refreshed and the elapsed time count begins again.
The time period that you specify with this setting begins the last time that a user clicked the Search Folder. You can specify a different number of days for users in Exchange Online Mode and in Cached Exchange Mode. Separate counts are maintained for each Search Folder for each mode. If you enable and specify zero days for the option Keep search folders in Exchange online, Search Folders in Exchange Online Mode are always dormant. Similarly, if you specify zero days for the option Keep search folders in offline, Search Folders in Cached Exchange Mode are always dormant.
You can also limit the number of Search Folders allowed in each user mailbox, or you can disable the Search Folders user interface completely.
Note
If users use Search Folders in Online Mode (using a mailbox on the Exchange Server) instead of in Cached Exchange Mode, the number of users who can be supported by the Exchange Server might be decreased.
The settings that you can configure for Search Folders in Group Policy and the OCT are shown in the following table. In Group Policy, the settings are found under User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Outlook 2010\Search Folders. The OCT settings are in corresponding locations on the Modify user settings page of the OCT.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
Do not create Search Folders when users start Outlook |
A known issue exists for this policy setting. Default Search Folders are removed in Outlook 2010. This policy does not affect new or existing profiles in Outlook 2010. |
Keep search folders in Exchange online |
Specify the number of days to keep a Search Folder active when Outlook is running in Online Mode. |
Keep search folders offline |
Specify the number of days to keep a Search Folder active Outlook is running in offline or cached mode. |
Maximum Number of Online Search Folders per Mailbox |
Specify the maximum number of Search Folders for Exchange. Does not affect the number of Search Folders on a client computer. |
SharePoint Server Colleague add-in
The Microsoft SharePoint Server Colleague add-in in Outlook 2010 scans the user’s Sent Items folder to look for names and keywords along with the frequency of those names and keywords. The list of possible colleagues is updated periodically and stored under the user’s profile on the user’s local computer. This list is accessed through the Add Colleagues page on a user’s SharePoint My Site intranet site where they can choose the colleagues that they want to add to their My Site page. The user can approve or reject contact names and keywords adding them to the Ask Me About Web Part. For more information, see Plan user profiles (SharePoint Server 2010) (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=182364) and Manage the information you share through your My Site and profile (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=198208).
By default, the SharePoint Server 2010 Colleague add-in is installed and turned on when you install Outlook 2010. However, to use the SharePoint Server 2010 Colleague add-in, you must have both SharePoint Server 2010 and Outlook 2010 installed. You must also deploy the My Site URL registry data that is listed in the following table. For the steps to deploy the registry data, see Enable SharePoint Server 2010 Colleague in Outlook 2010.
| Root | Data type | Key | Value name | Value data |
|---|---|---|---|---|
HKEY_CURRENT_USER |
REG_SZ |
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\common\Portal\Link Providers\MySiteHost |
URL |
Your My Site URL – for example, http://Office/MySite. |
HKEY_CURRENT_USER |
REG_SZ |
Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\14.0\common\Portal\Link Providers\MySiteHost |
DisplayName |
Optional: The name to display to the user – for example, MySite. |
The settings to disable or lock down the SharePoint Server Colleague add-in by using Group Policy are listed in the following table and are found under the Microsoft Office 2010 settings: User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Microsoft Office 2010\Server Settings\SharePoint Server. Or, you can configure default settings by using the Office Customization Tool (OCT), in which case users can change the settings. The OCT settings are in the corresponding location on the Modify user settings page of the OCT under the Microsoft Office 2010 settings. For the steps to configure these settings, see Configure Colleagues for My Site.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
Enable Colleague Import Outlook Add-in to work with Microsoft SharePoint Server |
Enable this setting to turn on the SharePoint Server Colleague add-in for Outlook 2010. Disable this setting to turn off this feature. If you do not set this option, the Colleague add-in is turned on by default. |
Maximum number of days to scan from today to determine the user’s colleagues for recommendation |
Enable this setting to specify how many days prior to today to scan the Outlook sent items for the user’s colleague recommendation list. For example, if you use the default, which is 20 days, the SharePoint Server Colleague add-in will scan items sent in the last 20 days. The larger the number of days specified, the more accurate the recommendation. The smaller the number of days, the faster the recommendations are generated. |
Maximum number of items to scan from today to determine the user’s colleagues for recommendation |
Enable this setting to specify the maximum number of sent items to scan for the user’s colleague recommendation list. |
Maximum number of recipients in an Outlook item to scan to determine the user’s colleagues for recommendation |
Enable this setting to specify the maximum number of recipients in an Outlook sent item to scan for the user’s colleague recommendation list. |
Maximum number of rows fetched per request while populating a lookup in the SharePoint list control |
Enable this setting to specify the maximum number of rows to retrieve per request while populating the SharePoint list control. |
Minimum time before starting Colleague recommendation scan |
Enable this setting to specify the minimum idle time (in milliseconds) to wait before the SharePoint Server Colleague add-in begins to scan the Outlook Sent Items folder. |
Minimum time to wait before rescanning the Outlook mailbox for new recommendations |
Enable this setting to specify the minimum time (in hours) to wait before rescanning the Outlook Sent Items folder for new colleague recommendations. |