Incorporating user details from AD into an Outlook Form

[ngreen]

Hi.

We have a client who has passed us a form they use for corporate emails.
Alongside the usual signature details (name, address, phone nos, email
address), there is a panel with their "offer" of the month, which they change
monthly.

Below the signature, is a standard legal disclaimer.

At the bottom, there is a coloured panel containing the business address and
contact details.

What they would like us to do, is adapt the form so that the user details
are extracted from Active Directory, so that everyone's email footers look
the same.

The .oft file we have been passed from the client as an example, is dynamic
in relation to resizing the email window.

We have found a VBScript online (from Spiceworks), that extracts user
details from AD and puts them into a Word file and then adds it into the
signature area of Outlook. This is meant to go in to users' logon scripts.

Adapting .oft details to go into a signature in this manner looks very
tricky indeed!

The questions boil down to: Is this a viable thing at all ? Is the .oft file
the best method ? If not, is there a better one ?

I hope my explanation of the problem makes sense. If not, I can try and
clarify.

Thanks!

Nick.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

If you have a script to get AD details and modify a Word document, the same
techniques could be used with the Outlook object model to modify an Outlook
message (i.e. one created from an .oft file that just lacks the signature)
and save it as an .oft file.

Whether an .oft file is a good solution depends on exactly what you mean by
"corporate emails" and the Outlook version. I would never use an .oft file
like the one you describe for anything other than occasional boilerplate
mailings.

 

[ngreen]

Sorry, should have said that this is in Outlook 2007

 

[ngreen]

Sue,

Thanks for your thoughts. I'll hunt down outlook object model details.

This is intended as a signature to be appended to all outgoing emails. What
would you recommend in preference to a .oft form ?

Thanks,

Nick.

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP]]

An .oft file is not useful at all for sending messages on a routine basis.

If I wanted to require users to put a specific signature on all outgoing
messages, I'd use a server-based solution. Otherwise, I'd use a script to
build such a signature (in all 3 formats) and place it in the user's
Signatures folder.
--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Microsoft Outlook 2007 Programming:
Jumpstart for Power Users and Administrators
http://www.outlookcode.com/article.aspx?id=54