Group Policies for Outlook or Exchange?

[Mike]

Hi,

I'm running SBS 2003 with Exchange and Outlook 2003 clients. Is there a way
to centrally make it so that users cannot set a background picture in emails
in Outlook? I was thinking group policies if possible, but any other
suggestions welcome.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

You'd have to disable both theme and stationery use. There are several steps you need to take:

1) Create a NewStationery value in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\MailSettings key and leave it blank to prevent users from choosing any default stationery. You can create a new .adm file if you want to add that to the group policy editor.

2) Use the group policy editor to disable certain toolbar commands in both Outlook and Word:

Outlook

Actions | New Message Using More Stationery 5611


Word

Format Background 30403
Format Theme 3623
Format | Background Standard Colors 3224
Format | Background More Colors 2857
Format | Background Fill Effects 2858
Format | Background Printed Watermark 4003
View HTML Source 3902


--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Mike]

I loaded outlk11.adm and I found the policy I want to modify is stationery.
The options are not clear at all though!

Do I want to choose disabled? Probably not because it will probably just
gray out the option for users leaving some stuck with the wrong stationery
(like notebook).

There's an option to "use the font specified in Stationery", but it doesn't
tell how to specify this. I want to have the <blank> or none stationery
options. How do I do this?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Mike]

Sue thanks for your advice. I'm a little unclear as how to create an .adm
file so I can add it to the GP editor. I also couldn't find the toolbar
setting to remove the toolbar command from Outlook in the GP editor(at least
looking around in the .adm files for Outlook2003 and Office2003. Could you
point me in the right spots for these 2 items?

Thanks,
Mike



You'd have to disable both theme and stationery use. There are several steps
you need to take:

1) Create a NewStationery value in the
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\MailSettings
key and leave it blank to prevent users from choosing any default
stationery. You can create a new .adm file if you want to add that to the
group policy editor.

2) Use the group policy editor to disable certain toolbar commands in both
Outlook and Word:

Outlook

Actions | New Message Using More Stationery 5611


Word

Format Background 30403
Format Theme 3623
Format | Background Standard Colors 3224
Format | Background More Colors 2857
Format | Background Fill Effects 2858
Format | Background Printed Watermark 4003
View HTML Source 3902


--
Sue Mosher, Outlook MVP
Author of Configuring Microsoft Outlook 2003

and Microsoft Outlook Programming - Jumpstart for
Administrators, Power Users, and Developers

 

[Sue Mosher [MVP-Outlook]]

Sue thanks for your advice. I'm a little unclear as how to create an ..adm

file so I can add it to the GP editor.

They're very structured. If you open any existing .adm file in Notepad, you'll see how they're arranged. There's also an article or two on MSDN.

I also couldn't find the toolbar
setting to remove the toolbar command from Outlook in the GP editor(at least
looking around in the .adm files for Outlook2003 and Office2003. Could you
point me in the right spots for these 2 items?

User Configuration / Administrative Templates / Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 / Disable items in user interface / Custom -- Disable command bar buttons and menu items

The article at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011402401033.aspx also explains how; look at the section on "Disabling menu items and command bar buttons."