Block large attachments on the client (not the Exchange server)

Craig wrote:

Hi,

Does anyone know a method of blocking users attach files over a certain size
to a message in Outlook?

I know the message size can be configured in Exchange however I am looking
for a client based solution as I don't have control over the Exchange server
settings which is currently set too large at 30mb.

I would like to prevent users from composing new emails which are over 15mb
without touching Exchange, so it needs to be a client side Outlook addin or
setting.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Craig

What TYPE of attachments are these piggish users sending in their e-mails?
Will they compress a lot? If so, you might get away with using an add-on
that automatically compresses (zips up) the attachments to make the e-mail
size smaller. For example, BxAutoZip (available in a free version), can be
configured to automatically compress all attachments exceeding some
threshold in size into one .zip file. Of course, since this is an add-on
that adds a toolbar with the intention of cooperative use by the user, the
users of Outlook where you install the add-on could always reconfigure or
disable it. If the attachments are highly compressible then this might
alleviate your problem of the mail server's size limit exceeding your wants.
Not all e-mails will compress down to half their size (from the 30MB limit
down to your self-imposed 15MB limit) but reducing the size of the e-mail
should help.

If the mail server is configured for a maximum size of 30MB for an e-mail,
why do you care about some arbitrary 15MB limit? After all, you state that
you are not the admin of the Exchange server so you are also not involved in
dictating the traffic volume on the network, either. If your concern is
that your employees might send e-mails that exceed the per-message receiving
quota at some customer's mail server (i.e., the recipient cannot accept
e-mails that big) then the recipient's mail server will reject your
employee's e-mails and send back a DSN (disposition status notification)
e-mail telling them that their e-mail got rejected because it was too big.
The employee then gets feedback that they are being sloppy in trying to use
e-mail as a file transfer mechanism for which it wasn't designed. The
employee gets the feedback and will have to decide how to reform regarding
their e-mail habits.

Trusting all macros is not a good choice (and at least one security software
changes it to signed only), but the option to always ask works well if you
don't want to bother signing macros.

My preference is always be alerted if macros are installed, so I have it set
to always ask.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Outlook Tips: http://www.outlook-tips.net/
Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center: http://www.slipstick.com/

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"VanguardLH" wrote in message
...
Diane Poremsky [MVP] wrote:

You'll need to use VBA to catch them.
http://www.slipstick.com/mail1/lgmail.asp

rather than pop up the warning and allow the sender ot continue, change
the
code to cancel the send.

Question: Since you are adding a macro, and because of macro security,
wouldn't you want to digitally sign your code to eliminate the security
warning (and to avoid having to trust all unsigned macros from any
source)?

http://www.howto-outlook.com/howto/selfcert.htm

It also depends on how static your VBA project is. I play with VBA code all
the time and would have to re-sign constantly, a real PITA. So I go for
prompts too

--
Ken Slovak
[MVP - Outlook]
http://www.slovaktech.com
Author: Professional Programming Outlook 2007.
Reminder Manager, Extended Reminders, Attachment Options.
http://www.slovaktech.com/products.htm


"Diane Poremsky [MVP]" wrote in message
...
Trusting all macros is not a good choice (and at least one security
software changes it to signed only), but the option to always ask works
well if you don't want to bother signing macros.

My preference is always be alerted if macros are installed, so I have it
set to always ask.

--
Diane Poremsky [MVP - Outlook]
Outlook Tips: http://www.outlook-tips.net/
Outlook & Exchange Solutions Center: http://www.slipstick.com/

Ken Slovak - [MVP - Outlook] wrote:

It also depends on how static your VBA project is. I play with VBA code all
the time and would have to re-sign constantly, a real PITA. So I go for
prompts too

I'm hoping that the OP is being offered solid code for the macro. They
shouldn't have to change anything within it but just following the
instructions on how to add the macro to Outlook. The user asking for a
solution doesn't really want to be involved with VBA, debugging, or getting
prompted repeatedly. However, going through the process to add the macro is
a bit scary for most Outlook users and having to go through the signing
process just exacerbates that process, yet I would never recommend always
trusting unsigned macros.

Craig,
If you want to allow your users to send large attachments without going through Exchange, you could set up a corporate FTP server, and then have the users use an Outlook Add-in that will upload the files securely to that FTP server, and then send the email to the user as normal. This will free up your exchange server. Recipients do not have to use Outlook, they can use the File Part Assembler.
It will also support using Google Docs as storage. All file types/sizes are supported. You can get more information he http://apps.snickitybit.com/products...nthandler.html

Thanks,
Eddie



Craig wrote:

Block large attachments on the client (not the Exchange server)
02-Dec-09

Hi,

Does anyone know a method of blocking users attach files over a certain size
to a message in Outlook?

I know the message size can be configured in Exchange however I am looking
for a client based solution as I do not have control over the Exchange server
settings which is currently set too large at 30mb.

I would like to prevent users from composing new emails which are over 15mb
without touching Exchange, so it needs to be a client side Outlook addin or
setting.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Craig

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