Upgrading to Outlook 2000

Sharing Information with Microsoft Exchange Client

Microsoft Outlook 2000 recognizes all Microsoft Exchange Client message properties. Although Outlook users can share information with Microsoft Exchange Client users, Microsoft Exchange Client users might not be able to view or use portions of Outlook 2000 messaging information.

When you install and run Outlook, it recognizes and opens all the Exchange Client e-mail folders defined in the mail profile. Outlook 2000 also creates the Outlook­specific folders: Calendar, Contacts, Journal, Notes, and Tasks.

Outlook 2000 recognizes and maintains all specified folder views in Exchange Client, including custom views. While Outlook can create more advanced custom views than Exchange Client, Outlook and Exchange Client can share public folders that might include custom views.

Exchanging messages

In a mixed environment, it is recommended that Outlook users be aware that their co-workers who use Microsoft Exchange Client cannot take full advantage of many Outlook 2000 messaging features, including the following:

Enhanced standard message form

Microsoft Exchange Client users who view messages created in Outlook 2000 see the messages in the Microsoft Exchange Client standard message form, which does not support the advanced features of the Outlook standard message form, such as message expiration. As a result, some of the information in an Outlook message might not be viewable to Microsoft Exchange Client users.

Extended message properties

When a Microsoft Exchange Client user opens an Outlook 2000 message, extended Outlook message properties, such as voting buttons are ignored because they are not recognized by Microsoft Exchange Client. This means that some messages created in Outlook might appear different to Microsoft Exchange Client users. However, Outlook recognizes all Microsoft Exchange Client message properties.

Private items

When an Outlook 2000 user marks an item (such as an e-mail or calendar item) as “Private,” other Outlook users cannot view the item. However, Microsoft Exchange Client users can view the item if they have been granted folder access privileges for the folder where the item is stored. Because Outlook folder-level privacy is absolute, the workaround for this functionality difference is to have Outlook users put private items in a separate folder, which they do not share or for which they have set restrictions.

Non-table views

Microsoft Exchange Client users can display Outlook 2000 table views — views that consist only of rows and columns — if the Automatically generate Microsoft Exchange views check box is selected in the Folder Properties dialog box for the Outlook folder. However, Microsoft Exchange Client cannot display Outlook non-table views (such as the day, week, and month views in the calendar), or card, icon, and timeline views.

When Outlook and Microsoft Exchange Client users access the same set of public folders, Microsoft Exchange Client users cannot display any non-table views created by Outlook users.

Saved views

Outlook 2000 and Microsoft Exchange Client use different formats to create saved views. Outlook supports both formats, so Outlook users can use any Microsoft Exchange Client view. By contrast, Microsoft Exchange Client does not support the Outlook format, so Microsoft Exchange Client cannot use Outlook views.

Outlook users can choose to maintain two copies of all saved table views in a folder automatically — one copy in Outlook format and one copy in Microsoft Exchange Client format. This workaround enables Microsoft Exchange Client users to use Outlook forms, although any Outlook-specific view features, such as formula fields, are not included in the Microsoft Exchange Client copy.

Custom field types

Microsoft Exchange Client users cannot view Outlook 2000 custom field types, such as formula and combination fields.

Attachments

Outlook 2000 can open attachments or objects within e-mail messages created by Microsoft Exchange Client users, and Exchange Client users can likewise open attachment or objects in Outlook 2000 messages. Both Outlook and Microsoft Exchange Client users can attach one message to another message.

Outlook users can also attach other Outlook items (such as a contact) to a message. However, Microsoft Exchange Client users receive these items as text-only attachments.

Sending and receiving vCards

Outlook 2000 allows users to send and receive contact information by using the Internet standard vCard format. Microsoft Exchange Client does not support this feature.

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Using public folders

Outlook 2000 supports all of the custom public folder view features of Microsoft Exchange Server. In fact, Microsoft Exchange Server does not distinguish between Outlook and Microsoft Exchange Client when users open a public folder. For this reason, Outlook and Microsoft Exchange Client users can gain access to a common set of public folders.

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Using other messaging and collaboration features

Some interoperability differences between Outlook 2000 and Microsoft Exchange Client features go beyond the basic capabilities of exchanging e-mail messages and using public folders.

Rules

Microsoft Exchange Client users use the Inbox Assistant to manage rules. By contrast, Outlook 2000 includes an enhanced Rules Wizard. The Outlook Rules Wizard allows users to manage Inbox Assistant rules (server-side rules) in addition to their Outlook rules (client-side rules). The Rules Wizard also allows users to convert Inbox Assistant rules into Outlook rules.

Each time that the Rules Wizard is started, it checks for active Inbox Assistant rules on the user’s computer. If any Inbox Assistant rules exist, the Rules Wizard gives the user the option to convert them automatically to Outlook rules. After an Inbox Assistant rule has been converted to an Outlook rule, users can modify the Outlook rule by using the Rules Wizard.

Forms

Forms created by using the Outlook 2000 forms design environment can be used only by Outlook users. Forms created by using Electronic Forms Designer can be used by both Outlook and Microsoft Exchange Client users. Forms implemented using Exchange Server HTML interfaces can be used by Outlook, but not by Microsoft Exchange Client. Developers can create forms by using the tool that is appropriate for the mix of operating systems in a specific organization.

Microsoft Exchange Server provides an alternative means of creating forms to use in collaborative applications. It does this by using Active Server Pages (ASP) pages and the Microsoft Exchange Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) interface to script forms that are displayed as HTML in a Web browser. Outlook supports Microsoft Exchange Server HTML forms. These features provide Microsoft Exchange sites with an option for developing electronic forms that can be deployed across all operating systems.

WordMail

Microsoft Exchange Client users can choose either Microsoft Word 95 or Microsoft Word 97 for WordMail. Outlook 2000 users, however, must have Microsoft Word 97 installed to create messages using WordMail — although they can receive and read messages composed with either WordMail 95 or WordMail 97.

Voting

By using Outlook 2000, users can easily create and send ballot messages to other Outlook users, and then they can track the voting responses automatically in Outlook. An Outlook user specifies the voting choices when creating the message and then sends the message to other users. When recipients using Outlook receive a voting message, the selections they can vote for appear as buttons in the Outlook message However, when Microsoft Exchange Client users receive voting messages from Outlook users, they receive only the text of the Subject line and the body of the voting message. No voting buttons are displayed.

Microsoft Exchange Client preview pane

Outlook 2000 has a built-in preview pane. The Microsoft Exchange Client preview pane is not compatible with Outlook.

Task delegation

When an Outlook 2000 user delegates a task to a user who is running Microsoft Exchange Client, the recipient receives only an e-mail message that lists the description of the task, start and end dates, and other information as text in the body of the message.

Toolbox   The Microsoft Office Resource Kit for Office 97/98 provides additional file sharing information for Microsoft Exchange Client, including information about using public folders, converting rules to use with the Rules Wizard, and exchanging forms. For more information, see Microsoft Office Resource Kit for Office 97/98.