Enhancements to rules let you specify the last rule to be applied to a message, preserve a message when it’s forwarded, and associate rules with multiple profiles.
The Exchange Server 5.0 client includes several enhancements to make working with Inbox Assistant rules easier:
You can specify that a particular rule should be the last one applied to a message.
You can forward a message so that the recipient sees the original sender and other header details.
Rules can be associated with all your profiles, rather than being limited to the profile where you created the rule.
These improvements, of course, also apply to Out of Office Assistant and Folder Assistant rules.
Specifying the Final Rule
When you create rules, it’s often useful to build them as a series that gradually narrows to a final rule that’s applied to everything that didn’t fit the previous conditions. To accomplish this, you need to be able to stop the processing of an item once you’ve applied every rule designed for that type of item. Under Exchange Server 4.0, the only way to do that was to use a Delete rule, often after a Move rule, to remove the item from the Inbox.
You now can specify that processing of an item halt if a particular rule fires, without deleting the item from the Inbox. To do so, follow these steps:
Choose Tools, Inbox Assistant.
In the Inbox Assistant dialog box, click either Add Rule to start a new rule or Edit Rule to work with an existing rule.
Enter the conditions and action(s) in the Edit Rule dialog box (Figure 25.5).
Check the “Do not process subsequent rules” box.
Click OK to save the rule, then OK again to close the Inbox Assistant dialog box.
Note that this technique also works with Outbox Assistant and Folder Assistant rules.
Associating Rules with Any Profile
In version 4.0 of the Exchange Server client, any Inbox Assistant or Out of Office Assistant rule was associated with a particular profile. A rule created in another profile appeared in the Inbox Assistant dialog box, but the rule was dimmed and unavailable. By copying folder properties, you could extend rules to other profiles, but not without a lot of work.
Exchange Server 5.0 takes care of this issue. Now you can extend a rule to apply to any profile. Here’s how:
Choose Tools, Inbox Assistant.
In the Inbox Assistant dialog box (Figure 25.6), check the “Show rules for all profiles” box.
Right-click a disabled (dimmed) rule that you want to make available to the current profile.
On the pop-up menu, choose “Move Rule to this profile.”
Click OK to close the Inbox Assistant dialog box.
Note that this technique also works with Outbox Assistant rules.
New Forwarding Methods
When you use a rule to forward messages, you now can control how those messages look to the recipient — in particular, whether they carry the original sender’s address or your address as the person who forwarded the message.
You’ll find these new choices in the Edit Rule dialog box in a list under the To box for the Forward rule, as shown in Figure 25.7. Standard is the original method of forwarding via a rule, while “Leave message intact” and “As an attachment” are the two new choices. Table 25.1 spells out what happens to the forwarded message when you use these different methods.
Here are a couple of additional notes on the new forwarding methods:
“Leave message intact” is a good choice if you are forwarding messages to yourself at another address (see “Forwarding Messages to an Internet Mailbox,” in Chapter 18).
Use “As an attachment” only when you can be certain that the recipient is also using Exchange, because otherwise the attached message can’t be opened.
FOLDER ENHANCEMENTS
Another set of Exchange Server 5.0 enhancements makes it easier to work with folders, particularly public folders. For example, you now receive a warning whenever you delete a folder, asking if you’re sure you want to permanently delete it. Other new features include a Follow-up To option and the ability to rename a folder in Favorites and store favorite folders as subfolders.
Supporting “Follow-up To”
Just as Reply To is now supported for messages, a Follow-up To option is available for posts in folders, to direct replies to a different folder rather than to the folder where the original message was posted.
To add a Follow-up To location for an item being posted in a folder,
In the New Post window, choose View, Follow-up To Box.
The Follow-up To box appears at the top of the post form, as shown in Figure 25.8. Click the Follow-up To button.
In the Follow-up To dialog box, select the folder where you want to direct replies, then click OK to return to the post form and complete the item.
Like the Reply To box, the Follow-up To box will appear on every New Post window until you disable it by choosing View, Follow-up To Box again.
When a user opens the item and chooses Compose, Post Reply to Folder or clicks the Post Reply in This Folder button, the reply will automatically be posted in the folder designated as the Follow-up To folder for that item.
This feature can be extremely useful where you allow read-only access to a folder but still want to encourage feedback by routing replies to a separate discussion folder. Examples include public folders containing company policies, technical support documents, or product descriptions.
Working with Favorites Folders
You can rename folders in your Favorites list without affecting the original public folder names.
You’ll recall that to add a public folder to your Favorites folders, you can select the folder, then choose File, Add to Favorites. In version 5.0, an Add to Favorites dialog box (Figure 25.9) appears, where you can specify the Favorite Folder Name that you want to use in your own Favorites folder.
In Figure 25.9, the Options button has been clicked to show another new Favorites folder feature. When you add a folder that has subfolders, you can choose whether those subfolders will also be added to Favorites.
You can rename a Favorites folder at any time by choosing File, Rename or by right-clicking on the folder, then choosing Rename. Renaming a folder in Favorites is strictly for your convenience and does not affect the name of the folder as it appears under All Public Folders.
CONNECTING TO CC:MAIL
Another new feature in version 5.0 is a connector to Lotus cc:Mail systems. What this means to you if you’re a cc:Mail user is that you don’t need to use a separate Exchange service such as MAPI ConnectorWare for cc:Mail or ccXchg.
Setting Up cc:Mail
Actually, there’s nothing for the user to set up. Your personal messages should be migrated by the Exchange Server administrator to your Exchange mailbox, while bulletin board information is copied to public folders.
How It Works
The user needs to do nothing special to use the cc:Mail connector, because the Microsoft Exchange server does all the work.
A connector works directly with Exchange Server to convert incoming and outgoing messages and provide access to address lists. Because all the work is done by the server on the “back” end, the user needs to do nothing special. Whenever you address a message to a cc:Mail user within your organization, Exchange takes care of delivery.
In fact, any cc:Mail addresses you may have entered in your PAB while using MAPI ConnectorWare or ccXchg should still work, because the addresses use the e-mail type of CCMAIL, the same type used by the new connector in version 5.0.
You also can add new cc:Mail addresses, of course. To do so, follow these steps:
Choose Tools, Address Book, or click the Address Book button.
Switch to the Personal Address Book if it’s not already displayed.
Choose File, New Entry, or click the New Entry button.
On the New Entry dialog box, select “cc:Mail Address,” then click OK.
In the New cc:Mail Address Properties dialog box (Figure 25.10), fill in the address details, then click OK to save the new address.
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