Outlook.com now has IMAP access support as well

News

It’s been a long time coming, but Outlook.com now finally has IMAP support as well.

Outlook.com was already accessible in mail clients via POP3, Exchange Active Sync (EAS), via the Outlook Hotmail Connector (Outlook 2010 and previous) and DeltaSync (Windows Live Mail).

With the inclusion of IMAP, mail sync support now also becomes available to mail clients and devices which don’t offer support for EAS, like Mac Mail, Thunderbird and Microsoft’s own Outlook 2011 for Mac.

Migrating your mail from a pst-file to an Outlook.com account in Outlook 2013 now also becomes much easier by simply connecting (temporarily) via the IMAP protocol as well.

The settings required when setting up the account are:

  • Incoming IMAP
    • Server: imap-mail.outlook.com
    • Server port: 993
    • Encryption: SSL
  • Outgoing SMTP
    • Server: smtp-mail.outlook.com
    • Server port: 587
    • Encryption:  TLS

View: Outlook Blog: Outlook.com now has IMAP


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Empty Folder Pane after applying update KB2817630

News

The Office 2013 Rollup Update KB2817630 is currently causing mayhem in Outlook land.

After applying it, the Folder Pane (aka Navigation Pane) shows up empty for some users. Clicking in the empty section will minimize it where you can then click on the “All Folders” button to see your folders again and also be able to reach your Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Notes folders via the icons at the bottom (in case you have Compact Navigation enabled).

Apparently, they thought the Outlook interface still wasn’t white enough ;-)

Solution

Update:
A new update has been released via Windows Update which fixes this issue without requesting and manually installing hotfixes. For more information about this update see KB2825632.

To resolve this issue, also install the August Hotfix for Outlook 2013 (KB2817503) or the other August Hotfix for Outlook 2013 (KB2817347). Installing both is also an option.

As these are both hotfixes, you won’t see them in Windows Update but need to request them via their above linked KB page. For more info about the process, also see: What are Hotfixes?

Microsoft is in the process of re-publishing the September update so that applying the Hotfixes will no longer be a requirement. Until that time, if you don’t want to or can’t install the Hotfixes, uninstalling update KB2817630 is an alternative option. As this isn’t a security update, it is safe to do so.

For more information about removing updates see Uninstalling Outlook or Office updates.

Note: The update has been pulled from Windows Update so it will not automatically try to re-install itself anymore. When the updated release becomes available again, it will also be offered via Windows Update again even when you leave it installed.

Cause and who are affected

The issue is caused by an incompatibility between a specific version difference of outlook.exe and mso.dll, usually caused by not having AND at least one of the August hotfixes AND the September update installed.

This version difference can only occur when you are using MSI based installations, which are Office 2013 Standard and Professional Plus. The Office 2013 Click-to-Run and Office 365 installations are not affected.

For more information about the issue, check out the post on the official Microsoft Office Updates blog.


MS13-068: Security updates for Outlook 2007/2010

News

A security update has been released for both Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010 to address a vulnerability which could allow remote code execution if a user opens or previews a specially crafted email message.

An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user.

The security update addresses the vulnerability by correcting the way that Microsoft Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010 parse specially crafted S/MIME email messages.

View: More details and download information for KB2825999 (Outlook 2007)
View: More details and download information for KB2794707 (Outlook 2010)
View: Microsoft Security Bulletin MS13-068 – Critical


Send As a Delegate or a Distribution Group by default

Button FromWhen you have permissions to “Send As” or “On Behalf Of” another mailbox or Mail Enabled Distribution Group in an Exchange environment, you can use the From field in Outlook to specify this.

However, in some situations, it is not uncommon that you need to send out as this mailbox or distribution group more often than from your own name. For instance, when you work in support and need to send out from the central support address rather than your own or when you represent a manager.

While you can manually specify the From field to send from each time you need to send out as that address, when needing to do that becomes the rule rather than the exception, it’s time to automate things.

This guide instructs you how you can cope with the above scenarios via built-in Outlook account configuration options and settings but also provides a code sample to set the From address programmatically.

Continue reading: Send As a Delegate or a Distribution Group by default


Outlook 2010 Hotfix for August 2013

News

Hotfix KB2817574 for Outlook 2010
This hotfix contains11 fixes for specific issues and can be applied to either Outlook 2010 with SP1 or SP2. Most notable fixes are;

  • 4 fixes regarding various issues with Online Archive and Retention Policies.
  • Duplicate attachments may show for Sent Items when you use IMAP configured with “download header only”.
  • When you start Outlook 2010 on a computer and then try to set up a new account for the first time, it takes 3-5 minutes to populate your username or email address on the home screen.

View: More details and download information for KB2817574

Obtaining the hotfixes
This is a Hotfix and not a regular update. You can request it via its KB article page.