Outlook 2007 xnk work around

[James S. Borg]

We are testing Office 2007. I am trying to come up with a work around for
linking directly to Public Folders, since Outlook 2007 no longer support
..xnk links. Our users had links on their desktops to Office Calendars in
Public Folders, which now do not work.

I have created a Custom Command Bar Button linking directly to the folder in
question. So while this cannot be on their desktop, it is quickly accessible
from within Outlook. Two questions does anyone know of an alternate method
to accommodate linking directly to the Public Folder Calendar? Or how I can
make this custom button available to all of my users, would like to avoid
them having to go through the tedious process of creating it? And me
supporting the multitude that will get it wrong.

Environment: Office 2007 Enterprise, Windows 2003, Exchange 2003, Windows XP
SP2, GPO, and SMS

Any help is appreciated.

BTW: Here are the steps to create a button that will open a public folder.
For anyone else encountering this issue.

1. Go to View on the Menu Bar, Toolbars, select Web

2. Now Select Folder List from the Navigation Pane.

3. Navigate to the Public Folder you want to create a button to and
select it.

4. Copy the address from the Web Toolbar.

5. Now Choose Tools, Customize

6. Choose the Go category and then select the Calendar Icon and drag it
to your toolbar in the location you want to place the shortcut

7. With the Customize dialog box still open, right-click the new button
you have just added and double click the name, now change the name to what
you want.

8. Now click on Image and Text, after which the customize window may
close.

9. Right-click the new button you have just added and choose Assign
Hyperlink, then choose Open

10. Paste the path to the Public Folder you copied in step 3.

11. Click OK to close the Hyperlink dialog box, then click Close to close
the Customize dialog box.



Thank you,

James Borg

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

if you are going to use it from within outlook anyway (since outlook://
links don't work outside of outlook anymore), why not just send the links
embedded in an HTML message? Or set up a folder homepage?

 

[James S. Borg]

Thank you Diane. Not sure I am following you. Currently the users have a
desktop shortcut that brings them directly to the Office Calendar in
Exchange Public Folders. Sending them a link in e-mail does not seem to be
an adequate alternative to this. They would have to open Outlook, locate the
e-mail in question, then click the link.

I am not familiar with Folder Homepages can you direct me to a resource on
it?

 

[jpieroni]

Hi James,

I too have been having the same frustrating problem. We have links set
up on our Intranet home page and users that have Office 2007 can no
longer use the links. It seems as though a lot of people have this
problem but no answers. Have you discovered any fix? No one at
Microsoft seems to want to acknowlede the problem.....

Thanks,

John

 

[Diane Poremsky [MVP]]

There is no fix - outlook:// links will not work when triggered outside
Outlook. If you put link in an email or in a folder homepage, it will be
usable. In your case, with links on the intranet webpage, try setting it as
a folder homepage- make a new folder called "Intranet" and set the page as
it's folder homepage. It's easy to find and easy to use. It's possible the
intranet page won't work because of security, but its worth trying. If not,
links in an email which they store in the Intranet folder will work.