New features in Outlook 2010.

2011-07-05T09:49:00.000-07:00

What’s new

This section highlights new features in Outlook 2010.

64-bit editions

Starting with Microsoft Office 2010, Outlook is available as a 32-bit application and a 64-bit application. The version (bitness) of Outlook that you select depends on the edition of the Windows operating system (32-bit or 64-bit) and the edition of Office 2010 (32-bit or 64-bit) that is installed on the computer, if Office is already installed on that computer. The bitness of an installed version of Outlook is always the same as the bitness of Office 2010, if Office is installed on the same computer. For more information, see 64-bit editions of Office 2010.

Bitness registry key

When Outlook 2010 is installed, it sets the new registry key named Bitness, which indicates whether the Outlook 2010 installation is a 32-bit or 64-bit version. This can be useful to administrators who want to audit computers to determine the installed versions of Outlook 2010 in their organizations.

Registry path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook
Registry key: Bitness
Value: either x86 or x64

Calendar Preview in meeting requests

Microsoft Outlook shows a preview of your calendar in meeting requests. The Calendar Preview feature shows where the meeting appears in your Calendar together with any conflicting and adjacent meetings. When you view a meeting request for a recurring meeting, you can use the Calendar Preview feature to navigate between meeting instances in the series.

Conversation actions

Outlook 2010 contains several new features to help users manage their Inboxes more effectively. They include the Ignore and Clean Up commands. The Ignore button on the ribbon moves all of a conversation and any future replies to that conversation directly to the Deleted Items folder. The Clean Up button moves older, redundant messages in the conversation to the Deleted Items folder but keeps the most recent message.

Multiple Exchange accounts

Outlook 2010 can connect to multiple Exchange accounts at the same time. The Exchange accounts can be in the same or different domains or servers.

Outlook Social Connector

The Outlook Social Connector is an add-in that exposes social network data including friends, profiles, activities, and status information from social networks in Outlook 2010. In the People Pane at the bottom of an e-mail message, you can see information about the sender such as their picture, name, and title; view your communication history with this person including meetings and attachments; and view their activity feeds from social networks. For more information, see the Outlook Social Connector section in Determine which features to enable or customize in Outlook 2010 and Outlook Social Connector 1.1 Provider Reference

Quick Steps

Quick Steps are one-click buttons that can perform multiple actions at the same time. Users can create their own Quick Steps to manage their e-mail with a single click.

Roaming AutoComplete list

Recipient AutoComplete lists are now stored on the Exchange Server. A user’s recipient AutoComplete list is now available to any computer on which Outlook 2010 runs that is connected to the same Exchange account. Names can be easily removed from the list by using the new inline Delete function.

The ribbon

The ribbon, part of the Microsoft Office Fluent user interface (UI), replaces the menus and toolbars of the Outlook main window. Ribbon tabs can be customized or replaced with tabs that you create. Through the Options menu on the File tab, you can create new tabs that bring together your favorite commands and groups. Existing tabs can also be customized to meet the organization’s needs.

Features available with Office Communicator 2007 R2, Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Lync 2010, and Lync Server 2010

With richer integration of Microsoft Lync 2010 (previously Microsoft Lync) than was available in earlier versions of Outlook, you can start live conversations from Outlook 2010. Hover over a name, see a person’s availability and then easily start a conversation directly through instant messaging, voice call, or video.

Features available with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010

The following features are available with Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and Outlook 2010.

Calendar features An organization can now establish a federated trust relationship with an external partner and share availability (free/busy) information, calendar, or contacts. Federation provides the underlying trust infrastructure to enable easy and secure sharing of information across Exchange organizations and in cross-premises organizations. You can also use the new Group Schedule view in Outlook Calendar to see multiple calendars vertically, instead of side by side, or save frequently used groups of calendars together from one location. The Group Schedule view is optimized for viewing a schedule for a group and scheduling a meeting for a group.
Call answering and routing rules Unified Messaging in Exchange Server 2010 enables you to create call answering and routing rules for individuals or groups of callers based on Caller ID and contact information.
Centralized rights management You can set up rules to automatically apply Information Rights Management policies to outgoing e-mails based on content or recipients.
Integrated e-mail archive The Personal Archive feature is available with Outlook 2010 and Exchange Server 2010 and lets you regain control of the organization's messaging data by eliminating the need for Personal Folder files (.pst). Like .pst files, the Personal Archive feature does not affect the user’s primary mailbox size. However, unlike .pst files, the e-mail archive folders are stored online so that users can access the archived files by using Microsoft Outlook Web App or from a secondary computer by using Outlook 2010. By using either of these client applications, users can view an archive mailbox and move or copy messages between their primary mailboxes and the archive.
MailTips This feature is a configurable warning system to help prevent common e-mail mistakes. Extra information is presented to users when they compose e-mail messages. The MailTips are displayed in an InfoBar, similar to the banner that says "This message has not been sent”. MailTips do not prevent sending an e-mail message. But they reveal things that might be unexpected about the delivery or audience of the message, such as recipient validity, whether the recipient is external to the organization or is out of the office, if the distribution list is unusually large, or if a message might not be delivered.
Protected Voice Mail This feature enables encrypted voice mail to be sent to a user’s mailbox. Protected voice messages can be marked as Private to prevent them from being forwarded.
Text messaging through Exchange ActiveSync Windows Mobile 6.5 through Windows Phone 7 telephones or browser-enabled cellular telephones can access text messages by using Exchange ActiveSync, a synchronization protocol that is optimized to work together with high-latency and low-bandwidth networks.
Voice Mail Preview Microsoft speech technology converts voice mail messages into text that users receive in an e-mail or text message.

What’s changed

This section summarizes the feature changes in Outlook 2010.

Add-in resiliency

Add-in resiliency is an important feature of the Outlook 2010 platform. Add-in resiliency means that before and after Outlook loads an add-in, Outlook continues to perform and respond correctly. Outlook writes a list of connected add-ins to the Windows event log and records add-in start time for each connected add-in. Additionally, Outlook writes to the Windows event log when an add-in crashes during an event callback. To prevent add-ins from adversely affecting the performance of Outlook when a user action closes the Outlook application, Outlook uses a new fast shutdown process.

Conversation view

The Conversation view in Outlook 2010 is changed. The Conversation view provides a threaded view of e-mail messages in an Microsoft Outlook folder, and in Outlook 2010 is accessed by clicking View, Conversation, and then Show Messages in Conversations. The improved Conversation view helps users deal with larger volumes of incoming e-mail, reduces information overload, and increases user productivity in e-mail.

Improved IMAP support

IMAP accounts are easier to set up in Outlook 2010 than in earlier versions. When users add a new account in Outlook 2010, the automatic configuration of a Webmail account sets the account type to IMAP for IMAP-supported Webmail accounts such as Google Gmail. This is by default. Note that users can change the account type to POP3 by selecting the Manually configure server settings option in the Add New Account dialog box.

The Delete and Send operations for IMAP accounts are also improved in Outlook 2010. IMAP accounts now have a separate Deleted Items folder. Also, Outlook 2010 does not prompt for a Sent Items folder, as Office Outlook 2007 did. This is consistent with Outlook behavior for other e-mail account types.

Outlook is more responsive for IMAP users in Outlook 2010 and Office Outlook 2007 SP2. On-demand downloads of messages now occur in the background.

Faster performance

Outlook 2010 starts and exits faster than Office Outlook 2007. Outlook 2010 performance is faster overall than Office Outlook 2007.

Menu and commands

ALT keyboard shortcuts With the introduction of the ribbon in Outlook 2010, the ALT keyboard shortcuts have changes. Press ALT to display the command key tips.
Copy Folder Design The Copy Folder Design command is replaced with the ribbon View tab option Apply Current View to Other Mail Folders.
Current View and Organize panes The Current View pane in the navigation pane for Contacts, Tasks, and Notes is removed in Outlook 2010. Also the Ways to Organize Inbox pane, which you accessed in Office Outlook 2007 by clicking Tools and Organize, is removed in Outlook 2010. You can change and format your views by using the features on the ribbon View tab.
Go menu The Go menu option is redundant with the navigation pane in Office Outlook 2007. The keyboard shortcuts that were shown in the Go menu still work and are now displayed as tooltips on the navigation pane buttons. For example, you can use Ctrl+1 to switch to Mail, Ctrl+2 for Calendar, Ctrl+3 for Contacts, Ctrl+4 for Tasks, and so on.
Plan a Meeting This dialog box, which was accessed in Office Outlook 2007 from the Actions menu in the Calendar view, is replaced by the ribbon Home tab Schedule View command in the Calendar view.
View Group Schedules This dialog box, which was accessed in Office Outlook 2007 from the Actions menu in the Calendar view, is replaced by the commands in the Manage Calendars section on the ribbon Home tab and in the navigation pane in the Calendar view. From the ribbon Calendar Groups option, you can create a Calendar Group by clicking Create New Calendar Group or save currently displayed calendars by using the Save as New Calendar Group. In the navigation pane, you can select which group calendars to view and right-click on a group to find the Rename Group, Delete Group, and New Calendar Group commands.

Scripts not allowed in Public Folders by default

By default, scripts are not allowed in Public Folders. This is a security measure. If you want to change the default, you can enable the Allow script in Public Folders option in the Trust Center.

To enable the Allow script in Public Folders option

On the File menu, click Options.
Click Trust Center.
Click Trust Center Settings.
In the Trust Center dialog box, click Email security.
Under Script in Folders, select the Allow script in Public Folders check box.
Click OK to close the Trust Center dialog box, and then click OK to close the Outlook Options dialog box.

Search tools

Outlook 2010 enables you to easily find and manage large quantities of e-mail, calendar items and contact files. The Search tab on the new Outlook 2010 ribbon includes search filter options to help quickly narrow your search results. You can quickly change the scope of search by selecting, for example, All Subfolders. You can then refine the search by using search filter buttons such as Subject, Has Attachment, or Unread. You can also run advanced searches and view your recent searches to run them again.

Improved in Outlook 2010 with Exchange Server 2010

The following Outlook 2010 improvements are available through Exchange Server 2010.

Greater calendar reliability Improvements in Outlook 2010 and Exchange Server 2010 logic make calendars more reliable than in Office Outlook 2007. Improvements include conflict resolution in online mode to resolve conflicts when there are different updated versions of an item on the server and on the client. Also, multiple instances of a recurring meeting can now be changed independently of one another.

Exchange Server 2010 introduces the Calendar Repair Assistant (CRA). CRA can automatically detect and correct inconsistencies that occur for single and recurring meeting items for mailboxes that are on an Exchange Server 2010 mailbox on which the Microsoft Exchange Mailbox Assistants service runs.
Improved retention and compliance functionality Users can apply retention policy to a message or a folder. IT can enforce policies on built-in folders (Inbox, sent items, and so on). Also, an online archive provides separate, online-only folders for long-term retention and archiving.
Simplified administration By using role-based access control (RBAC), you can control resources and the features that users can access. You create role assignment policies for each specialized user group and customize those role assignment policies to grant more-restrictive or less-restrictive permissions to the groups. For example, you could create a Compliance Offer role to conduct mailbox searches for legal discovery, a Human Resources role to update employee information in the company directory, or a Help Desk role to manage mailbox quotas. Users can also manage some tasks on their own, such as creating and managing distribution groups or tracking message delivery.

What’s removed

This section provides information about removed features in Outlook 2010.

Administration tab

The Administration tab was removed from the Properties dialog box for Public Folders, because of duplication of options. The Folder Assistant button is now on the General tab.

ANSI offline Outlook data files (.ost) for Exchange synchronization

ANSI offline Outlook data files (.ost) can no longer be created (unless overridden by Group Policy). By default, newly created profiles in Outlook 2010 are in Unicode.

We recommend Unicode Outlook_2nd_NoVer data files (.ost) in all scenarios, except when alternate display names are required. To use alternate display names, configure Group Policy to set the default Outlook data files (.ost) to ANSI. The Group Policy keys to set are in the Outlook 2010 Group Policy template in Microsoft Outlook 2010\Account Settings\Exchange and Microsoft Outlook 2010\Miscellaneous\PST Settings. Note that ANSI .ost files do not work for profiles that contain multiple Microsoft Exchange Server accounts.

AutoArchive-based retention

Users can no longer deploy AutoArchive-based retention settings through Outlook 2010 by using Group Policy. Users who need retention policies are encouraged to explore the Messaging Records Management (MRM) features in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010.

Calendar rebasing tool

The calendar rebasing tool is removed in Outlook 2010. Calendar rebasing was introduced in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, and was accessed by clicking Tools, Options, Calendar Options, Time zone, and then making selections in the Time zone drop-down list. Calendar rebasing is now available through a separate Web tool, Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office, which is currently available to users from the Microsoft Download Center.

The Change Time zone button is no longer available in the Time zone dialog box, and all underlying code and user interface code are removed. New calendar items that are created in Outlook 2010 can display start and end times correctly without the need for rebasing. Users can use Time Zone Data Update Tool to rebase down-level clients and servers.

Customization of Contact Activity Search folders

In Outlook 2010, the Activities tab on the Contact Folder Properties dialog box is removed because of low usage. This feature enabled you to customize the list of folder groups available to search when in the Activities view on the individual Contact item.

DAV connectivity for HTTP account types

Distributed Authoring and Versioning (DAV) connectivity is removed in Outlook 2010. DAV is an old mechanism used when you connect to Windows Live Hotmail and synchronize e-mail. A new mechanism for Hotmail connectivity exists, and enables synchronization of e-mail, contacts, and calendar synchronization through a Web download. There is no visible loss of functionality to Hotmail users. Users who connect to other DAV accounts (non-Hotmail accounts) lose connectivity and are unable to synchronize e-mail.

Exchange 2000 connectivity

Outlook 2010 cannot connect to Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 or earlier versions of Exchange. Users who run Exchange Server 2000 in their environments will receive an error message when Outlook 2010 attempts to connect to the server. The error message states that the server version is not supported. Public folders in Microsoft Outlook 2010 also cannot connect to Exchange Server 2000, although an error message does not appear. Users have to migrate to Exchange Server 2003, Exchange Server 2007, or Exchange Server 2010.

Exchange Message Security feature support

Support for the Exchange Message Security feature in Outlook 2010 is removed. Customers must use S/MIME to support message security. The infrastructure to support the Exchange Message Security feature was deprecated in Exchange 2000 Server SP2.

Most Recently Used list

The list of last opened Other User's Folder in the File | Open menu is removed. As a replacement, consider using delegates, adding additional Exchange accounts to user profiles or sharing tasks and calendars. The Other User's Folder is still available in Outlook 2010 by clicking the ribbon File tab and Open.

Outlook integrity check tool (.ost)

The Outlook Offline Folder (.ost) integrity check tool (scanost.exe) is not included in Outlook 2010. This tool was recommended in previous versions for fixing errors in Outlook data files (.ost).

If there is an issue with a specific folder, you can resync the folder:

Right-click the folder and then click Properties.
In the dialog box that appears, click the Clear Offline Items button and then click OK.
On the Outlook 2010 ribbon, click the Send/Receive tab.
Click Update Folder.

Otherwise, we recommend that you delete the .ost file and let Outlook download information again from Exchange. The exception is if you have local data that is not present on the server. In that case, we recommend that you export the data to an Outlook Data File (.pst), delete the .ost file, allow the server data to download again, and then import the .pst file data by using the Do not import duplicates option that can be accessed through the Open option on the File tab.

Photo resize options

The Outlook 2010 options to resize attached photo do not include 640 x 480 or 800 x 600 pixels. If you decide to resize an image, Outlook 2010 uses the largest of the three previously supported choices (1024 x 768). This is by default.

Also, the resize options have been moved to the File tab.

These changes were made to simplify the resize options and make them more discoverable.

Postmarking

The Postmarking feature is removed in Outlook 2010. The When sending e-mail, Postmark the message to help e-mail clients distinguish regular e-mail from junk e-mail option is removed from the Junk E-mail Options dialog box and Postmarks are not generated by Outlook 2010.

Preview of published Office Online calendars

The Office Online Calendar Sharing Service Web site enabled users to view and manage their shared calendars in a Web browser without having to subscribe to the published calendar. Within Outlook, users could select the Preview this Calendar option when they were notified that a calendar was shared to them.

The Web site for Outlook Calendar Sharing Service is discontinued with Outlook 2010. Therefore, the Preview this Calendar option is removed in Outlook 2010. Users can still publish their calendars for sharing. However, to view the contents of the calendar, users must subscribe to the calendar for viewing within Outlook. For Web access, users must subscribe to the calendar in Windows Live Calendar. Users who subscribe to the published Office Online Calendar in Outlook are not affected.

Quick View

Quick View is a file viewer that was included with Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows NT 4.0. The related code in Outlook was removed in Outlook 2010. There is no related change to the user experience for those who are on supported operating systems.

Remote Mail

Remote Mail is removed from Outlook 2010. The Remote Mail functionality is replaced by Cached Mode, which was introduced in Outlook 2003.

Search Toolbar add-in

The Search Toolbar add-in setup code is removed in Outlook 2010. The Search Toolbar add-in enables local indexing of online mode Exchange Server mailbox stores by using Windows Desktop Search. As a result of this change, e-mail in online Exchange mailboxes does not appear in the results of Windows Explorer searches. The online indexing add-in is a legacy component that adversely affects the performance of Outlook during startup and shutdown. Users will now experience improved Outlook reliability and significantly lower Exchange bandwidth usage. For fast search, use Cached Exchange Mode or for online mode, use Exchange Search in Exchange 2007 and Exchange Server 2010.

Send Link to This Folder

In Office Outlook 2007 and in some earlier versions, this feature opens a new mail message that has an attached .xnk file that links to the public folder. Because of increased security in Office Outlook 2007, access is denied to Microsoft Exchange Server public folder shortcuts with an .xnk file name extension. This is by default. So, in Outlook 2010, the Send Link to This Folder on the Public Folder shortcutt menu is removed. Instead, consider using SharePoint Server for collaboration.

Send Options

In Outlook 2010, the ability to specify the format for e-mail messages by using Send Options is removed. This feature was previously useful for sending e-mail to people who would receive an e-mail on an Apple computer. Apple computers can now read e-mail messages in Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) type. In Office Outlook 2007, to find the Send Options command enter an e-mail address in the To line, resolve the e-mail address, right-click the e-mail address and select Send Options.

Shade group headings

The ability to shade group headings is removed in Outlook. In Office Outlook 2007, to access this feature right-click on the column heading, select Custom…, Customize current view and then click Other Settings.

Third-party Exchange client extensions do not load

Third-party Exchange client extensions do not load on Outlook 2010. We recommend that users contact their Exchange client extension vendor for more information about an update to their solutions. Third-party exchange client extensions are replaced by add-ins built by using Microsoft Visual C++, Visual Studio Tools for Office, or third-party tools that can create an Outlook COM add-in.

Web browser support

Web browser support is removed in Outlook 2010. The following related features have also been removed.

View Web pages within Outlook
Save as Web Page option for Calendar
Search the Internet within Outlook
Navigate to Web pages within Outlook

Note:

If you want an alternative way to save your calendar as a webpage, insert your calendar into an e-mail message and then save it as an .html file by using the following method. After you create the file, you can configure it by using Microsoft Word 2010.

To save your calendar as a webpage:

On the ribbon, click New E-mail.
In the body of the e-mail message, position your cursor where you want to insert your calendar.
On the Insert tab, click Calendar.
On the Date Range drop-down list, select the date range that you want to include for your calendar and then click OK.
On the File tab, click Save As, and then do the following in the Save As dialog box:

In the navigation pane, click the folder where you want to save the file.
In the File name box, type the name that you want to use for your calendar
On the Save as type drop-down list, select HTML.
Click Save.

Migration considerations

Even though several new features and user interface changes are added in Outlook 2010, the Outlook data files (.ost and .pst) and Outlook profile file (.prf) formats in Outlook 2010 are compatible with earlier releases.

Outlook data files (.pst and .ost)

With Outlook 2010, users can open and use Outlook data files that were created in earlier versions of Outlook. Users who have offline Outlook data files (.ost) do not have to re-create those files; for example, users whose accounts are configured to use Cached Exchange Mode. Similarly, users who have Outlook data files (.pst) can continue to use the files without converting or migrating the files.

By default, Outlook .pst and .ost files that are created by using Office Outlook 2003 through Outlook 2010 are in the updated Unicode file format that allows for larger file sizes (the 2-gigabyte (GB) limit is eliminated). The non-Unicode ANSI data file format s also supported by Outlook 2010.

If users currently have non-Unicode ANSI-formatted .ost files, we recommend that you upgrade the .ost files to Unicode.

Outlook profile file (.prf)

As in earlier versions of Outlook, you can continue to use the Outlook profile file (.prf) to provide options for specifying additional Outlook settings or MAPI services. The Outlook 2010 .prf file format has changed but Office Outlook 2007, Office Outlook 2003, and Outlook 2002 versions of the file will work with Outlook 2010. If you plan to make updates to the .prf file for an Outlook 2010 deployment, we recommend that you re-create the .prf file by using the Office 2010 Office Customization Tool (OCT), export the settings to a new .prf file, and use that file to specify the additional Outlook settings or MAPI services that you want.

Reverting to Office 2007 from Office 2010

Because of the changes in Outlook 2010 that enable multiple Exchange e-mail accounts, user profiles that were upgraded to Outlook 2010 will not work if the user removes Outlook 2010, reinstalls Office Outlook 2007, and then attempts to start Office Outlook 2007 by using the same user profile. In this scenario, the user profile must be removed and re-created in Windows through the Control Panel and Mail options.

VBA settings migration

In Office 2010, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) 6.0 is updated to VBA 7.0. VBA 7.0 settings are reset to their defaults after migration instead of automatically repopulating. This occurs because the registry settings for VBA are in a different hive in Office 2010, as shown in the following table.