Oracle Connector for Outlook Frequently Asked Questions
Cal Poly uses the Oracle Collaboration Suite (OCS) as the e-mail and calendaring system. In addition to the FAQ's addressed in this document, Cal Poly Email web page, http://email.calpoly.edu , offers additional information.
Oracle Connector for Outlook (OCFO) is the most commonly used email client or program on campus. This Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) focuses on the Oracle Connector for Outlook.
The Help function built into the OCS programs provides another source of information. If a program is running, there are two main ways to access the Help function: 1) go to Help on the Main Menu, or 2) press the F1 key (located at the top left hand corner of your keyboard).
General
Where can I find out what the email System Status is?
Where can I find more information on the Oracle Connector for Outlook?
Why can I send but not receive new messages?
What is the new maximum attachment size in Oracle Collaboration Suite?
How many attachments can I add to an email message when using OCS?
How do I change the default View settings in all my folders using OCFO?
How do I end an Outlook (or any Desktop Client) connection on the workstation?
How can I send email from my Cal Poly account if I have an off-campus Email Delivery Address?
Why do my rules appear to be disabled and not working?
What can I do if Outlook is always freezing up?
Can I leave the email address field blank during OCFO setup?
How do I backup and password protect my local folders on Windows workstation?
How can I bind my PST file to my profile during configuration?
Why isn’t SMTP working on first attempt?
What are the available command line switches in OCFO 2003?
Why are my Word documents being sent as Read Only?
Why do my draft messages not send properly?
Why do I get the Libeay.dll error?
Can I make the Address Book show only email addresses, not fax numbers?
How can I create a nickname for an Outlook contact?
Why can’t I log on to my department email account?
What can I do when the message count on a folder is not correct?
When using the Oracle Connector for Outlook how many email addresses can I send an email to?
How do I remove a shared folder from my folder list?
What is one of the first things I should do if I am having trouble with messages in a folder?
What is the winmail.dat mystery?
Receivers
Senders
Additional Information
Can I set a filter or rule to block foreign language messages?
Why is my Sent Mail rule disabled?
Calendar
How can I get my reminders to work properly?
In OCFO, how do I display meetings that have taken place in the past?
What should I do if I cannot create a new calendar appointment?
Why can’t I log into my OCFO calendar when using Active Directory?
Can I set non sequential dates in the OCFO Calendar?
What can I do if I am having problems creating a new appointment?
My Outlook crashes all the time. What can I do?
General
Where can I find out what the email System Status is?
To find information on the status of email and calendaring system performance, please visit: http://systemstatus.calpoly.edu/
Where can I find more information on the Oracle Connector for Outlook?
Go to http://email.calpoly.edu/documentation/outlook/index.html for general information on Outlook
Go to http://email.calpoly.edu/documentation/outlook/OCFO2003UserGuide.pdf for the comprehensive Oracle Connector for Outlook Users Guide
Why can I send but not receive new messages?
Your account may be over quota. For more information, visit http://servicedesk.calpoly.edu/accounts_passwords/quotas.html
What is the new maximum attachment size in Oracle Collaboration Suite?
The maximum attachment size is 15 MB.
The maximum message size limit for incoming/outgoing email routing through Mirapoint, Cezanne, and/or OCS is now an exact 15 MB. This limit is the total message size: the text and any attachments.
Please keep in mind that the process of attaching a file to an email message causes the file size to grow due to MIME encoding. File sizes usually grow by a third, give or take. An 11 MB file may grow to over 15 MB and cause the message to fail, etc. The client informs the sender that the message was not successfully sent.
How many attachments can I add to an email message when using OCS?
You can have up to 20 attachments in one message.
How do I change the default View settings in all my folders using OCFO?
1) On the Main Menu, go to View > Arrange By > Current View > Define Views.
2) Under View Name click Messages and make sure the Messages row is now highlighted.
3) Click Modify.
*Note: The Modify menu allows users to make changes to the Messages view. In this case, we want to turn off groups, so...
4) Click Other Settings.
5) On the right side, there appears a checkbox for Show in Groups. Uncheck this box.
6) Click OK.
7) Click OK.
8) Select any view in the list except Messages. It does not matter which one, as long as it is NOT Messages. Click Apply View. The change will seem odd, but don't worry.
9) On the Main Menu, go to View > Arrange By > Current View > Define Views.
10) This time, select the Messages view.
11) Click Apply View.
Now the view should be configured to your preferences. The view propagates through all of your folders. If you have many folders, the application may take a few minutes.
How do I end an Outlook (or any Desktop Client) connection on the workstation?
It is sometimes difficult to know when Outlook has really closed down all the way. Simply clicking the "X" may not actually give you a clean restart of the application.
1) Close Outlook by clicking the X in the upper right hand corner or by going to the File menu and selecting Exit.
2) Bring up the workstation Task Manager by holding down the Ctrl, Alt and Delete keys together for an instant.
3) Select the Processes tab. In the Image Name column, you MAY find your email application. For example: OUTLOOK.EXE.
4) Highlight it and then click the End Process button.
5) If you do not see OUTLOOK.EXE, you have nothing to end.
6) After ending the OUTLOOK.EXE process, close the Task Manager by clicking the X in the upper right hand corner of your screen.
7) After closing the task manager, restart your mail application.
8) If it doesn't perform correctly, try the web client or just wait 5-10 minutes and try again. Most of our intermittent connection problems are of brief durations.
How can I send email from my Cal Poly account if I have an off-campus Email Delivery Address?
Effective August 20, 2005, you will no longer have to change your Email Delivery Address (EDA) to the Cal Poly address in order to enable Oracle email access through the My Cal Poly Portal. You may keep your off-campus EDA and still access your new Oracle email account from the My Cal Poly portal at: http://my.calpoly.edu.
Why do my rules appear to be disabled and not working?
If an email account exceeds the quota, rules and filters may be disabled. The steps to re-enable rules depend on the email program you use, however, all users should check the web client first.
To check the filters in the web client:
1) Log on to the My Cal Poly Portal at http://my.calpoly.edu.
2) Click on the orange GO button after Oracle Email.
3) In the upper right hand corner of the next screen, click on the word Preferences.
4) On the left hand edge of the next screen, click on the word Filters.
5) All of your rules appear on the right side of the screen. Under the column marked Active there should be a light bulb indicating that the rule is active.
6) If there is no light bulb, click on the name of the filter.
7) When the filter content comes up on your screen, go to the Active drop down box and select Yes. Then click on Submit.
8) Click the word Filter to continue the process with any additional filters.
9) When finished, all of your server side filters should be active and functional.
General information on Rules and Filters can be found at: http://www.email.calpoly.edu/documentation/ocsweb/ocsweb_newfilter.pdf
OCFO Rules Information can be found on Page 35 of the document located at: http://www.email.calpoly.edu/documentation/outlook/OCFO2003UserGuide.pdf
What can I do if Outlook is always freezing up?
If OCFO freezes up, go into Task Manager and quit Outlook (instructions above). Restart your computer. If the problem persists, delete the outcmd.dat file as follows:
1) Locate the outcmd.dat file. Go to C:\Documents > Settings > Username > Application Data > Microsoft > Outlook.
2) Delete the outcmd.dat file.
3) The new outcmd.dat file will have the following default option enabled: empty the Deleted Items folder upon exiting. To disable this option, modify the preference.
Can I leave the email address field blank during OCFO setup?
No, the email address field, located on the SMTP tab of the OCFO dialog box, cannot be left blank during OCFO setup.
How do I backup and password protect my local folders on Windows workstation?
See the document entitled "Password Protect and Back Up a Folder in Windows XP." http://email.calpoly.edu
How can I bind my PST file to my profile during configuration?
Create the OCFO profile via Control Panels > Mail > Properties > Data File. In the Data File dialog box either open an exiting PST file or create a new one.
Why isn't SMTP working on first attempt?
In some OCFO cases, a user is unable to send an email message following configuration. Restart the computer. The error message should disappear and the user should be able to send mail.
This is the error message:
What are the available command line switches in OCFO 2003?
To find out what command line switches are available in OCFO 2003, go to Help on the OCFO Main Menu and perform a search on Command Line Switch.
Why are my Word documents being sent as Read Only?
Unless specifically set, Read Only is not activated by a sender's mail program.
The recipient's email program decides if the attachment should be Read Only. When the user opens a file directly from the preview pane, Outlook automatically displays the file as Read Only.
If you open the message first then double click on the attachment, it should open normally.
Why the difference? In part so you are forced to save the document. Changes are more easily lost when you open messages from the preview pane.
Why do my draft messages not send properly?
Outlook may send the original saved Draft message, not your edited version. This occurs when not enough time has elapsed between the completion of the edited message and the sending of the edited message. Autosave may not update the message before you send it.
To avoid this problem, manually save the edited message before you send it.
Why do I get the Libeay.dll error?
It appears that the Libeay.dll file that is used for the Oracle Connector and Crystal Reports clash with each other. The Libeay.dll file is located in the Oracle connector directory and in the c:\windows\system32 directory. The system32 directory contains the file created by Crystal Reports. With both dll's existing, errors are created and Crystal Reports tries to reinstall itself.
To fix this problem, rename the libeay.dll file in the system32 directory to libeay.dll.old. Copy the libeay.dll file located in the Oracle directory to the c:\windows\system32 directory.
Can I make the Address Book show only email addresses, not fax numbers?
Outlook considers fax numbers to be valid e-mail addresses. If you want to send both e-mails and faxes from Outlook, there's no solution to this issue.
If you are keeping the fax numbers just as a matter of record, though, and don't use them in Outlook, then you can choose one of the non-fax phone number fields to store the fax number information. Unfortunately, you can't change the names of the built-in fields; you would need to remember which field contains fax numbers.
Another approach is to put text in front of the fax number, such as "W:" for a work fax or just "Fax:"; this causes the number to disappear from the Outlook Address Book, but keeps it easy to see the number in the contact record or Contacts folder.
How can I create a nickname for an Outlook contact?
1) Open the contact.
2) Change the display name for one of the e-mail addresses to the desired nickname.
3) Save and close the contact.
The e-mail display names are among the fields that Outlook 2002 searches when it resolves message recipient names or when you use the Find a Contact feature. It does not search the Nickname property.
Keep in mind that the display name appears on messages you send to that contact.
Why can't I log on to my department email account?
If your department email account moved to the new Oracle Collaboration Suite, you need to reset the password for that account before accessing it. To reset the password, log on to the Cal Poly Portal at http://my.calpoly.edu and go to the password manager to update password. If you cannot log on to the portal, contact the Service Desk at 756-6000 for assistance.
What can I do when the message count on a folder is not correct?
In some cases, the message count will be incorrect or all of the message will not show in a folder. An incorrect folder size also indicates a problem.
To fix this problem, try a different view to see if the messages "come back". Use the Views menu to do this. Find the problem view and click Reset or Click on the row of field names at the top of the message list. Select Custom (or Customize) then Reset. For more help, see http://www.outlook-tips.net/beginner/viewmenu.htm.
Only use the /cleanviews switch if this fails or you have other problems attributed to corrupt views. Start Outlook from the Run dialogue: outlooke.exe/cleanviews
When using the Oracle Connector for Outlook how many email addresses can I send an email to?
You can send to up to 1000 email addresses.
How do I remove a shared folder from my folder list?
Select the Shared Folders from your list of folders then select Manage Folders. Select the folder you want to remove and click Remove.
What is one of the first things I should do if I am having trouble with messages in a folder?
This fix will not solve all problems, but it resolves some inconsistencies in OCFO.
| 1) Right click on the folder you are having problems with. 2) Select Properties. |
 |
| The Inbox Properties dialog box appears. 3) Go to the Administration tab. 4) Click Reset. |
 |
What is the winmail.dat mystery?
Winmail.dat appears as an attachment with some emails. It cannot be opened and so appears useless. What is the point of winmail.dat? Where did it come from?
Microsoft Outlook creates the winmail.dat file to contain an email's formatting information. The file is created only when a mail program or browser cannot read an Outlook email. The file attempts to keep the email's original formatting intact.
If both the sender and receiver use Microsoft Outlook, the winmail.dat file should never appear.
If you get a winmail.dat attachment, don't panic-just ignore it.
It does not do any harm. It does not take up any disk space of concern.
Receivers
If you receive these attachments, you can ask the sender to reconfigure the emails as plain text messages. This five step task changes only the messages sent specifically to you-messages to other recipients will not be affected. Ask the sender to complete the following steps:
1) In Outlook 2003, open the Contacts folder.
2) Open the record of the person who receives winmail.dat attachments.
3) Double click the receiver's email address.
4) The Email Properties dialog box will appear. Change Internet format to Send Plain Text Only.
5) Click OK.
Senders
If you send these attachments, the following steps show how to remove the winmail.dat attachments from your messages:
1) In Outlook 2003, select Tools > Options.
2) The Options dialog box appears. Select the Mail Format tab.
3) Under the Message Format heading, change Compose in this message format to Plain Text.
4) Uncheck the Use Microsoft Office Word 2003 to edit e-mail messages box.
5) Click OK.
Additional Information
Plain Text emails contain only text. If you create an email using Plain Text, Outlook does not create winmail.dat attachments.
Outlook will only attach the winmail.dat file when you create a Rich Text Format (RTF) email, an HTML email, or an email using Word. RTF and HTML emails contain formatting options like font style, background color, and text positioning. If you use the formatting toolbar in Outlook, you create an RTF or HTML message.
Can I set a filter or rule to block foreign language messages?
No, you cannot set a filter or rule to handle foreign language messages.
Why is my Sent Mail rule disabled?
If a user goes over quota, the rule is automatically disabled. It must be re-enabled manually. This occurs to IMAP users who set a rule to move Sent Mail to a server folder. This will not occur to IMAP users who have not changed the default. The default setting saves Sent Mail locally (not on the server).
Calendar
How can I get my reminders to work properly?
Outlook reminders notify people of upcoming meetings and tasks. Users can customize the reminders and turn them on or off.
To receive reminders, make sure Outlook is running. Also, for a reminder to appear on a reoccurring basis, setup the associated appointment or task as reoccurring.
Second, reminders are only activated from within the primary folder. The primary folder is where you receive your emails. By default the primary folder is your mailbox. However, some users have changed this default setting. If your emails are received in a personal folder, that personal folder is now the primary folder. For users receiving email in a folder other than their mailbox, remember that a Calendar or Task reminder must be in the primary folder to function properly. If a reminder is set up in a folder other than the primary (on a different local message store) it will not be received.
Third, the reminders folder could be damaged or contain corrupted reminder items. This can be resolved by doing the following: 1) quit Outlook and, from the toolbar at the bottom of your computer screen, select Start > Run, 2) type outlook/cleanreminders, and 3) select OK. This is a common fix and should clean any corrupted items from your reminder folder.
In OCFO, how do I display meetings that have taken place in the past?
Note: These instructions are for OCFO ver 10.1.3.0.7, which can be downloaded from Technology tab in the My Cal Poly Portal.
To change the calendar display range, select Tools > Options > Oracle Connector tab > Calendar options
For Settings, select Display Range.
Modify the display range entries as desired.
Click OK when all changes have been made.
What should I do if I cannot create a new calendar appointment?
In OCFO some users cannot create calendar appointments. Right click on the Calendar icon and go to Properties. In the Properties dialog box go to Forms > Manage. Delete the calendar form and restart Outlook. A new form is created and this MAY fix the problem.
Why can't I log into my OCFO calendar when using Active Directory?
To log on to the calendar using Active Directory, a user account must have at least Power User rights. If the account does not possess the necessary rights, the log on fails. Typically, the fail message reports a bad username/password. It is recommended that users experiencing this difficulty access the calendar via the Calendar Thick Client.
Can I set non sequential dates in the OCFO Calendar?
No, you cannot set non sequential dates in the OCFO Calendar. Use recurring entries to set a meeting for the second Wednesday of the month for six months or for every Monday for two months. You cannot create one calendar entry and set it for October 5, October 7, October 23 and November 15. To do this, use the Oracle Calendar thick client.
What can I do if I am having problems creating a new appointment?
Only install the calendar form if your Calendar Appointment Window displays "Scheduling" instead of "Attendee Availability" on the second tab.
1. Right click the calendar icon.
2. Click Properties.
3. Click on the Forms tab.
4. If Calendar Appointment is not listed under "Forms associated with this folder" click Manage.
5. Click Install.
6. Click Ok.
My Outlook crashes all the time. What can I do?
Are you running Add Ins such as Snag It or Plaxo? Any Coms? Add Ins that are not compatible with Outlook 2003 cause the program to crash.
Also, running Terminal Services on the PC can cause Outlook to crash. To check for Add Ins and Coms, from your Outlook menu bar click on Tools, the Other tab, then Advanced Options.
Also, try using the event viewer to troubleshoot this problem. To get to your event viewer, click on the start button, scroll to run, and then type in eventvwr at the prompt. When the event viewer opens, you see 3 logs to choose from: Application, System, and Security.
