Jul/100
Developing a provider for the Outlook Social Connector version 1.1
This post is syndicated from Microsoft Outlook 2010.
Following the release of the Outlook Social Connector (OSC) version 1.1 and the availability of new and updated providers, we have released a set of updated and expanded content for developers. The Outlook Social Connector 1.1 Provider Reference incorporates content from OSC 1.0 with new additions for OSC 1.1.
If you’re developing a provider for the OSC, here is a quick guide to the new provider reference on MSDN:
- Getting Started with Developing an Outlook Social Connector Provider helps you understand why and how to develop a provider. For developers who are just getting acquainted with OSC provider development, I especially recommend the topic entitled Quick Steps for Learning to Develop a Provider.
- Updated content on provider deployment and packaging. See the topic entitled Installation Checklist for guidelines about building a provider installation package. Although OSC 1.1 is not redistributable, you can link to the appropriate OSC 1.1 installer using a GLINK.
- Completely new content on testing a provider. See the section entitled Getting Ready to Release an OSC Provider. This section contains the complete guide for your Quality Assurance team to fully test provider installation, authentication, and core OSC features such as contact and activity sync.
- Updated code samples for OSC 1.1. The code samples include a working sample provider and provider templates for Visual Basic, Visual C#, and C++. The code samples require Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 or Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.
If you are a developer interested in building a provider for the Outlook Social Connector, review this new reference content on MSDN. If you have questions or issues with the documentation, contact us at oscprex@microsoft.com. Happy coding!
Randy Byrne
Microsoft Outlook Program Manager
Nov/090
Best Practices for Outlook 2007
This post is syndicated from Microsoft Office Outlook Team Blog.
On the Outlook team, we are frequently asked: “what is the ‘right way’ to use Outlook?” Sure enough, there is no “right way” to work in Outlook—but, as the product team, we did design it with certain best practices in mind. Specifically, there are some best practices that make you more efficient at getting your job done while using Outlook, including:
- how to set up Outlook (layout, rules, folders, etc.),
- how to best process e-mail messages to “tame your Inbox”
- the importance of doing a daily review of your calendar and tasks
- how best to get work done in Outlook
- doing effective searches
- the do’s and don’ts of writing great messages
- how to best manage your calendar and set up meetings
The end result is a new article on Microsoft Office Online tailored towards end users for how to best use Outlook. (There is one long article that contains the full set of best practices and also a series of shorter articles focused on specific areas.) The last section of the article includes an FAQ to help explain some of the rationale behind the suggestions, along with help on how to migrate to this system from other ways of working.
The starting point of the entire document is based on some basic principles of good time management. Here is an excerpt (which can also be found in this article):
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Basic principles of good time management Outlook 2007 is a tool to help you manage your e-mail, calendar, contacts, and tasks. As such, it is at the center of not only your communications but also your time-management. To get the most out of Outlook 2007, we suggest a few basic principles:
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Even if you don't subscribe to all of the best practices described here, following just a few will improve your experience with Outlook 2007.
Note for IT admins: the article includes Word and PDF versions of the online content which can be adapted to the needs of your customers. For example, if you don’t use SharePoint in your organization, you can remove all references to SharePoint in the Word copy of the document. You can then deploy the customized version.
Hopefully, you will find these best practices useful, and as always, we appreciate your feedback.
Enjoy!
Melissa MacBeth
Outlook Program Manager