Configuring folder redirection for Outlook 2007 for mandatory prof

Hello All,
Hope I'm posting this in the right group.
We have been trying to set up mandatory profiles and folder redirection via
Group Policy for all of our users, but have had considerable problems getting
it to work with the latest version of Office and Outlook. The biggest problem
we are having is in redirecting the appropriate customization files for
Outlook. Basically, we've attempted to re-direct all office settings for
users to an Applicaton Data share on the network. However, when using
mandatory profiles, users are finding that if they customize Outlook, those
customizations are lost once they log off and back on. Can anyone tell me how
and where Outlook stores user customization and how we can best re-direct
those settings using Group Policy folder redirection in conjuction with
mandatory profiles? Hope I've provided enough information. Many thanks,
Adam

Personalization and Mandatory profiles don't mix. If you want to allow
personalization why are you setting up mandatory profiles in the first
place?

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more

http://www.msoutlook.info/
Real World Questions, Real World Answers

-----

"Adam" wrote in message
...
Hello All,
Hope I'm posting this in the right group.
We have been trying to set up mandatory profiles and folder redirection
via
Group Policy for all of our users, but have had considerable problems
getting
it to work with the latest version of Office and Outlook. The biggest
problem
we are having is in redirecting the appropriate customization files for
Outlook. Basically, we've attempted to re-direct all office settings for
users to an Applicaton Data share on the network. However, when using
mandatory profiles, users are finding that if they customize Outlook,
those
customizations are lost once they log off and back on. Can anyone tell me
how
and where Outlook stores user customization and how we can best re-direct
those settings using Group Policy folder redirection in conjuction with
mandatory profiles? Hope I've provided enough information. Many thanks,
Adam

Personalization can work with mandatory profiles. With a clever enough
combination of logon scripts, GPOs, and folder redirection, this is
definitely possible (as we've found with other Office apps like Word, i.e.
copying QAT files to the users application data share). We want to set up
mandatory profiles because roaming profiles do not always clean off the
client machine when the user logs off. So we wind up with loads of "orphaned"
profiles on all of our client PCs. Not to mention how big roaming profiles
can become over a short period of time.

"Roady [MVP]" wrote:

Personalization and Mandatory profiles don't mix. If you want to allow
personalization why are you setting up mandatory profiles in the first
place?

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more

http://www.msoutlook.info/
Real World Questions, Real World Answers

-----

"Adam" wrote in message
...
Hello All,
Hope I'm posting this in the right group.
We have been trying to set up mandatory profiles and folder redirection
via
Group Policy for all of our users, but have had considerable problems
getting
it to work with the latest version of Office and Outlook. The biggest
problem
we are having is in redirecting the appropriate customization files for
Outlook. Basically, we've attempted to re-direct all office settings for
users to an Applicaton Data share on the network. However, when using
mandatory profiles, users are finding that if they customize Outlook,
those
customizations are lost once they log off and back on. Can anyone tell me
how
and where Outlook stores user customization and how we can best re-direct
those settings using Group Policy folder redirection in conjuction with
mandatory profiles? Hope I've provided enough information. Many thanks,
Adam

Settings for Outlook are stored in a combination of files, registry and in
the mailbox itself. Which setting are you after?

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more

http://www.msoutlook.info/
Real World Questions, Real World Answers

-----

"Adam" wrote in message
...
Personalization can work with mandatory profiles. With a clever enough
combination of logon scripts, GPOs, and folder redirection, this is
definitely possible (as we've found with other Office apps like Word, i.e.
copying QAT files to the users application data share). We want to set up
mandatory profiles because roaming profiles do not always clean off the
client machine when the user logs off. So we wind up with loads of
"orphaned"
profiles on all of our client PCs. Not to mention how big roaming profiles
can become over a short period of time.

"Roady [MVP]" wrote:

Personalization and Mandatory profiles don't mix. If you want to allow
personalization why are you setting up mandatory profiles in the first
place?

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more

http://www.msoutlook.info/
Real World Questions, Real World Answers

-----

"Adam" wrote in message
...
Hello All,
Hope I'm posting this in the right group.
We have been trying to set up mandatory profiles and folder redirection
via
Group Policy for all of our users, but have had considerable problems
getting
it to work with the latest version of Office and Outlook. The biggest
problem
we are having is in redirecting the appropriate customization files for
Outlook. Basically, we've attempted to re-direct all office settings
for
users to an Applicaton Data share on the network. However, when using
mandatory profiles, users are finding that if they customize Outlook,
those
customizations are lost once they log off and back on. Can anyone tell
me
how
and where Outlook stores user customization and how we can best
re-direct
those settings using Group Policy folder redirection in conjuction with
mandatory profiles? Hope I've provided enough information. Many thanks,
Adam

Thanks Roady,
The major complaints we've had from users who've been put on mandatory
profile are that their signature files, the reading pane preferences, and
customized settings to the folder list view (buttons added/removed) all
disappear after logoff/logon. If we could find these settings, we could add a
line to the logon VB script to copy them to the application data share. It
may or may not work, but we'd certainly like to give it a shot if it will get
us away from roaming profile hell! Regards,
Adam

"Roady [MVP]" wrote:

Settings for Outlook are stored in a combination of files, registry and in
the mailbox itself. Which setting are you after?

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more

http://www.msoutlook.info/
Real World Questions, Real World Answers

-----

"Adam" wrote in message
...
Personalization can work with mandatory profiles. With a clever enough
combination of logon scripts, GPOs, and folder redirection, this is
definitely possible (as we've found with other Office apps like Word, i.e.
copying QAT files to the users application data share). We want to set up
mandatory profiles because roaming profiles do not always clean off the
client machine when the user logs off. So we wind up with loads of
"orphaned"
profiles on all of our client PCs. Not to mention how big roaming profiles
can become over a short period of time.

"Roady [MVP]" wrote:

Personalization and Mandatory profiles don't mix. If you want to allow
personalization why are you setting up mandatory profiles in the first
place?

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more

http://www.msoutlook.info/
Real World Questions, Real World Answers

-----

"Adam" wrote in message
...
Hello All,
Hope I'm posting this in the right group.
We have been trying to set up mandatory profiles and folder redirection
via
Group Policy for all of our users, but have had considerable problems
getting
it to work with the latest version of Office and Outlook. The biggest
problem
we are having is in redirecting the appropriate customization files for
Outlook. Basically, we've attempted to re-direct all office settings
for
users to an Applicaton Data share on the network. However, when using
mandatory profiles, users are finding that if they customize Outlook,
those
customizations are lost once they log off and back on. Can anyone tell
me
how
and where Outlook stores user customization and how we can best
re-direct
those settings using Group Policy folder redirection in conjuction with
mandatory profiles? Hope I've provided enough information. Many thanks,
Adam

Instead of going this way I would still recommend to use roaming profiles.
With all the GPOs, scripts, redirections and other customized things you are
creating an (in my view) unmanageable situation which will be difficult to
maintain and troubleshoot. Even when you solve this you are bound to break
something else or find something else that is missing.

Why not create a simple startup script that checks how many roaming profiles
are stored on the machine and when they've been used last. Then set a
condition for it to delete some when there are for instance more than 10
roaming profiles on it, the profiles hasn't been used for over a month or
when the combined total of folders are larger than 10GB.

This way you wouldn't bug your users, you'd still have a clean PC and a very
easy to manage script and environment.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more

http://www.msoutlook.info/
Real World Questions, Real World Answers

-----

"Adam" wrote in message
...
Thanks Roady,
The major complaints we've had from users who've been put on mandatory
profile are that their signature files, the reading pane preferences, and
customized settings to the folder list view (buttons added/removed) all
disappear after logoff/logon. If we could find these settings, we could
add a
line to the logon VB script to copy them to the application data share. It
may or may not work, but we'd certainly like to give it a shot if it will
get
us away from roaming profile hell! Regards,
Adam

"Roady [MVP]" wrote:

Settings for Outlook are stored in a combination of files, registry and
in
the mailbox itself. Which setting are you after?

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more

http://www.msoutlook.info/
Real World Questions, Real World Answers

-----

"Adam" wrote in message
...
Personalization can work with mandatory profiles. With a clever enough
combination of logon scripts, GPOs, and folder redirection, this is
definitely possible (as we've found with other Office apps like Word,
i.e.
copying QAT files to the users application data share). We want to set
up
mandatory profiles because roaming profiles do not always clean off the
client machine when the user logs off. So we wind up with loads of
"orphaned"
profiles on all of our client PCs. Not to mention how big roaming
profiles
can become over a short period of time.

"Roady [MVP]" wrote:

Personalization and Mandatory profiles don't mix. If you want to allow
personalization why are you setting up mandatory profiles in the first
place?

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more

http://www.msoutlook.info/
Real World Questions, Real World Answers

-----

"Adam" wrote in message
...
Hello All,
Hope I'm posting this in the right group.
We have been trying to set up mandatory profiles and folder
redirection
via
Group Policy for all of our users, but have had considerable
problems
getting
it to work with the latest version of Office and Outlook. The
biggest
problem
we are having is in redirecting the appropriate customization files
for
Outlook. Basically, we've attempted to re-direct all office settings
for
users to an Applicaton Data share on the network. However, when
using
mandatory profiles, users are finding that if they customize
Outlook,
those
customizations are lost once they log off and back on. Can anyone
tell
me
how
and where Outlook stores user customization and how we can best
re-direct
those settings using Group Policy folder redirection in conjuction
with
mandatory profiles? Hope I've provided enough information. Many
thanks,
Adam

As for signitures, you should set up Application data redirection on the user GPO. Also check if this works correctly, and the signature should be saved in %APPDATA%\Microsoft\signatures\ (variable for: \\server\share\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft).

Note: For layout options you could use something like the "Profile Custumization Wizard" in Office Resource Kit.

Note: Some view settings are stored on the exchange server.



Posted as a reply to:

Configuring folder redirection for Outlook 2007 for mandatory prof
04-Dec-07

Hello All,
Hope I'm posting this in the right group.
We have been trying to set up mandatory profiles and folder redirection via
Group Policy for all of our users, but have had considerable problems getting
it to work with the latest version of Office and Outlook. The biggest problem
we are having is in redirecting the appropriate customization files for
Outlook. Basically, we've attempted to re-direct all office settings for
users to an Applicaton Data share on the network. However, when using
mandatory profiles, users are finding that if they customize Outlook, those
customizations are lost once they log off and back on. Can anyone tell me how
and where Outlook stores user customization and how we can best re-direct
those settings using Group Policy folder redirection in conjuction with
mandatory profiles? Hope I've provided enough information. Many thanks,
Adam

EggHeadCafe - Software Developer Portal of Choice
WCF Workflow Services Using External Data Exchange
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/tutorials...vices-usi.aspx

Did you realize that you are replying to a message that is almost 2 years
old?

Also note that this type of redirection is not recommended in any way. Using
Roaming User profiles are a better way to go if you want to have the
Application Data located on a server. This also works with mandatory
profiles.

The issue of the OP is not specific to Outlook but simply the way how
mandatory profiles work; all customizations are lost after a session. The
proper solution would be to configure the user account before turning the
user profile into a mandatory profile.

--
Robert Sparnaaij [MVP-Outlook]
Coauthor, Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003
http://www.howto-outlook.com/
Outlook FAQ, HowTo, Downloads, Add-Ins and more

http://www.msoutlook.info/
Real World Questions, Real World Answers

-----

"Dino Heerenveen" wrote in message
...
As for signitures, you should set up Application data redirection on the
user GPO. Also check if this works correctly, and the signature should be
saved in %APPDATA%\Microsoft\signatures\ (variable for:
\\server\share\%username%\Application Data\Microsoft).

Note: For layout options you could use something like the "Profile
Custumization Wizard" in Office Resource Kit.

Note: Some view settings are stored on the exchange server.



Posted as a reply to:

Configuring folder redirection for Outlook 2007 for mandatory prof
04-Dec-07

Hello All,
Hope I'm posting this in the right group.
We have been trying to set up mandatory profiles and folder redirection
via
Group Policy for all of our users, but have had considerable problems
getting
it to work with the latest version of Office and Outlook. The biggest
problem
we are having is in redirecting the appropriate customization files for
Outlook. Basically, we've attempted to re-direct all office settings for
users to an Applicaton Data share on the network. However, when using
mandatory profiles, users are finding that if they customize Outlook,
those
customizations are lost once they log off and back on. Can anyone tell me
how
and where Outlook stores user customization and how we can best re-direct
those settings using Group Policy folder redirection in conjuction with
mandatory profiles? Hope I've provided enough information. Many thanks,
Adam

Hello Adam,

most of the things mentioned in the previous discussions are technically correct, but won't help because it is much too complicated to configure and maintain.
Maybe one can script suggestions mentioned/maybe one can setup parts of it via GPOs, but who will maintain or document changes. This is not a practical way to provide a dynamic workspace for a user (even in a mandatory environment).

The only way to setup mandatory profiles in conjunction with Office apps is to dynamically safe and provide parts of HKCU and parts of the Userprofile.

To do this, try RES Powerfuse. www.ressoftware.com
This tool allows you to combine the two worlds.

Personally I did exactly the same already. We use mand.prof. in our newly migrated Win7 environment.

I faced the same challenges and I'm still learning. BUT it works fantastic!
I separated *.ost files from out of UserProfile dirs. With RES PF I dynamically provide Outlook signatures i.e. based on entries of AD.
Currently I'm checking how indexed doc information can be prevented as well.
If you've questions, send me an email.

Joerg Simon




Ada wrote:

Configuring folder redirection for Outlook 2007 for mandatory prof
04-Dez-07

Hello All,
Hope I'm posting this in the right group.
We have been trying to set up mandatory profiles and folder redirection via
Group Policy for all of our users, but have had considerable problems getting
it to work with the latest version of Office and Outlook. The biggest problem
we are having is in redirecting the appropriate customization files for
Outlook. Basically, we've attempted to re-direct all office settings for
users to an Applicaton Data share on the network. However, when using
mandatory profiles, users are finding that if they customize Outlook, those
customizations are lost once they log off and back on. Can anyone tell me how
and where Outlook stores user customization and how we can best re-direct
those settings using Group Policy folder redirection in conjuction with
mandatory profiles? Hope I've provided enough information. Many thanks,
Adam

EggHeadCafe - Software Developer Portal of Choice
Team Foundation Server Installation and Troubleshooting
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/tutorials...server-in.aspx

Hello Adam,

most of the things mentioned in the previous discussions are technically correct, but won't help because it is much too complicated to configure and maintain.
Maybe one can script suggestions mentioned/maybe one can setup parts of it via GPOs, but who will maintain or document changes. This is not a practical way to provide a dynamic workspace for a user (even in a mandatory environment).

The only way to setup mandatory profiles in conjunction with Office apps is to dynamically safe and provide parts of HKCU and parts of the Userprofile.

To do this, try RES Powerfuse. www.ressoftware.com
This tool allows you to combine the two worlds.

Personally I did exactly the same already. We use mand.prof. in our newly migrated Win7 environment.

I faced the same challenges and I'm still learning. BUT it works fantastic!
I separated *.ost files from out of UserProfile dirs. With RES PF I dynamically provide Outlook signatures i.e. based on entries of AD.
Currently I'm checking how indexed doc information can be prevented as well.
If you've questions, send me an email.

Joerg Simon




Ada wrote:

Configuring folder redirection for Outlook 2007 for mandatory prof
04-Dez-07

Hello All,
Hope I'm posting this in the right group.
We have been trying to set up mandatory profiles and folder redirection via
Group Policy for all of our users, but have had considerable problems getting
it to work with the latest version of Office and Outlook. The biggest problem
we are having is in redirecting the appropriate customization files for
Outlook. Basically, we've attempted to re-direct all office settings for
users to an Applicaton Data share on the network. However, when using
mandatory profiles, users are finding that if they customize Outlook, those
customizations are lost once they log off and back on. Can anyone tell me how
and where Outlook stores user customization and how we can best re-direct
those settings using Group Policy folder redirection in conjuction with
mandatory profiles? Hope I've provided enough information. Many thanks,
Adam

EggHeadCafe - Software Developer Portal of Choice
Yet Another Service Wrapper: The Ultimate Service
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/tutorials...ice-wrapp.aspx