Robert 365

…get a reboot?

You may have noticed that new content has been quite sparce this year on HowTo-Outlook.com and MSOutlook.info. That is because I’ve been working hard, combining the 2 sites into Robert365.com which I’ve launched today!

20 years ago, Robert Sparnaaij started HowTo-Outlook.com to fill a documentation gap regarding Microsoft Outlook by publishing Long-Form Content articles, technical deep-dives and macros.

This effort, together with being active in various Microsoft Communities, resulted in being awarded by Microsoft with the MVP Award in 2004. I’ve proudly received this award each year ever since.

MSOutlook.info was launched 3 years later to provide scenario-based content in a Q&A style format.

In those 20 years, I, the technical and the publishing landscape changed quite a bit. After long consideration, there were 2 main reasons to combine and rebrand the websites into Robert365.com;

• Maintaining 2 content rich websites with similar topics has become increasingly more difficult.
• Having “Outlook” in the website names felt like a constraint as my interests span a larger spectrum of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.

With the new platform and structure of Robert365.com, I aim to deliver more Microsoft 365 content regarding communication and collaboration, while keeping Outlook and Exchange as the main focus.

Stay tuned, and subscribe via RSS or X, as there is a lot more to come!

Note:
All the existing content hasn’t gone anywhere and is now available on Robert365.com and will get updated too! All the old links still work and will continue to work as well. 👍

The December security and rollup update has been made available for all Click-to-Run installations of Outlook 2016, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2021, Outlook 2024, and Outlook as part of a Microsoft 365 subscription.

It contains 5 security updates for Access (1), Excel (1), Project (1), and Shared Office Components (2).

In addition, it contains 1 non-security fix related to Outlook Current Channel Version 2411, 12 fixes related to Outlook Monthly Enterprise Version 2410, and 6 fixes related to Semi Annual Preview Version 2408.

Microsoft has finally released the November 2024 feature update of Outlook for Microsoft 365 Apps in the Current Channel.

There are 8 fixes related to Outlook but there is also a new feature which applies to the Office Suite in general.

• Protect sensitive files with dynamic watermarking
  Deter leakage of your highly confidential document content by rendering the reader’s email address and other information over the document. This is configurable on sensitivity labels.
• We fixed an issue that caused the Wait on Send experience to stop working until the user clicked “Send Anyway.”
• We fixed an issue that caused users who were replying to a message with an Information Rights Management policy applied to see the error “You don’t have permission to make this change to the sensitivity label” when no label changes were made.
• We fixed an issue where users using parentheses in the name of their signatures weren’t seeing the signatures in the Insert>Signatures list.
• We fixed an issue where Outlook would stop responding when a user tried to create an Outlook profile for a different user when OneAuth was enabled.
• Fixed an issue that was preventing emails with linked SVG content from saving or sending. (Word)
• Resolved an issue in Outlook where unexpected characters may appear in comments when using the setting “preface comments with” and the Aptos font. (Word)
• Resolved an issue in Outlook where text may be truncated on the right side of the message when using an HTML email template. (Word)
• Resolved an issue where Word would give the error “Word could not re-establish a DDE connection to Microsoft Query to complete the current task” when selecting MS Query as the data source for “Mail Merge Create Data Source”. (Word)

Note: Depending on your installation type, this update can be installed via the Update Now button in Outlook or the Microsoft Store and updates Outlook to: Version 2411 (Build 18227.20152).

The November security and rollup update has been made available for all Click-to-Run installations of Outlook 2016, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2021, Outlook 2024, and Outlook as part of a Microsoft 365 subscription.

It contains 8 security updates for Excel (5), Word (1), and Shared Office Components (2).

In addition, it contains 1 non-security fix related to Outlook Current Channel Version 2410, 5 fixes related to Outlook Monthly Enterprise Version 2409, and 2 fixes related to Semi Annual Preview Version 2408.

Security updates have been released for Exchange 2016 and Exchange 2019.

The updates fix the following vulnerability and implements a security advisory;

• CVE-2024-49040: Microsoft Exchange Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

The vulnerability currently is publicly disclosed but not yet exploited. As it is rated “Exploitation More Likely”, it is highly recommended to update as soon as possible.

The update also comes with the following new features;

• MSIPC enabled by default in Exchange Server 2019 and 2016 – Microsoft Support
• AMSI integration with Exchange Server | Microsoft Learn
• Digital certificates and encryption in Exchange Server | Microsoft Learn
• Exchange Server non-Compliant P2 FROM header detection | Microsoft Learn

In addition, there are 9 non-security fixes included in this update.

View: Exchange Blog: Released: November 2024 Exchange Server Security Updates
View: Description of the security update for Microsoft Exchange Server 2019 and 2016: November 12, 2024 (KB5044062)

Exchange 2019 CU14 SU3 – Download
Exchange 2019 CU13 SU7 – Download
Exchange 2016 CU23 SU14 – Download

Microsoft has released the October 2024 feature update of Outlook for Microsoft 365 Apps in the Current Channel.

There are again no new features but there are 10 fixes related to Outlook.

• We fixed an issue where the accessibility mail tip kept appearing and disappearing, causing the content to jump when composing an email.
• We fixed an issue where Do Not Forward (DNF) was left on message when applying and removing label.
• We fixed an issue that caused users with a large number of folders expanded during synchronization to experience a non-delivery receipts (NDRs) with the failure MAPI_E__TOO_BIG (0x80040305).”
• We fixed an issue where a meeting request received by an Exchange account would appear with a blank body in Outlook Desktop cached mode.
• We fixed an issue where adding an Outlook or a Hotmail account to a mail profile nullified a policy preventing copying messages between exchange stores.
• We fixed an issue in Outlook where mail from a profile activated and directed to a different portal was being redirected to https://portal.microsoft.com.
• We resolved an offline address book (OAB) download issue by adding a registry key to give the BITS jobs for automatic (non-manual) OAB downloads the same priority as the BITS jobs for manual (user-initiated) OAB downloads.
• We fixed an issue where opening an .ICS attachment from a email shows security prompt.
• We fixed an issue where content marking wasn’t working for HTML messages when SMIME was enabled.
• Resolved an issue in Outlook where content may not be visible in the email body unless using Forward or Reply.

Note: Depending on your installation type, this update can be installed via the Update Now button in Outlook or the Microsoft Store and updates Outlook to: Version 2410 (Build 18129.20116).

The October security and rollup update has been made available for all Click-to-Run installations of Outlook 2016, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2021, Outlook 2024, and Outlook as part of a Microsoft 365 subscription.

It contains 5 security updates for Excel (1), Visio (1), and Shared Office Components (3).

In addition, it contains 2 non-security fixes related to Outlook Current Channel Version 2409, and 4 fixes related to both Outlook Monthly Enterprise Version 2408 as well as Semi Annual Preview Version 2408.

Microsoft has released the September 2024 feature update of Outlook for Microsoft 365 Apps in the Current Channel.

There are only 3 fixes related to Outlook but there is also a new feature which applies to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

• Modernized user-defined permissions experience
  We’ve improved the user experience for selecting which users should have which permissions when a sensitivity label configured for user-defined permissions is applied to a file or when configuring standalone Information Rights Management through the Restrict Access feature.
• We fixed an issue that made it possible for a legacy WebView ItemSend add-in to bypass condition checks when switching items.
• We fixed an issue where the app closed unexpectedly when a cache file contained corrupted data.
• Resolved an issue where an email wouldn’t fully render in the preview pane. (Word)

Note: Depending on your installation type, this update can be installed via the Update Now button in Outlook or the Microsoft Store and updates Outlook to: Version 2409 (Build 18025.20096).

The September security and rollup update has been made available for all Click-to-Run installations of Outlook 2016, Outlook 2019, Outlook 2021 and Outlook as part of a Microsoft 365 subscription.

It contains 4 security updates for Excel (1), Visio (2), and Publisher (1).

In addition, it contains 7 non-security fixes related to Outlook Monthly Channel Version 2407.

Microsoft has released the August 2024 feature update of Outlook for Microsoft 365 Apps in the Current Channel.

There are 2 new features which apply to all major Office applications and 3 fixes for Outlook.

• Use sensitivity labels in Microsoft 365 apps when connected experiences are disabled
  Your organization can now disable connected experiences for privacy concerns without impacting data security policies, such as sensitivity labels. Services associated with Microsoft Purview (e.g. sensitivity labels, rights management, …) are no longer controlled by policy settings to manage privacy controls for Microsoft 365 Apps. Instead, these services will rely on their existing security admin controls in Purview portals.
• Open locked records as read-only
  Files with retention labels marking them as locked records will now open as read-only to prevent user edits.
• We fixed an issue that caused default SMIME labels to fail to apply when a user replies to or forwards an unlabeled message.
• We fixed an issue that caused the buttons on the Reminders dialog to be truncated with some fonts.
• We fixed an issue that caused users to be unable to send mails while the dlpwaitonsendtimeout registry key was set. (applies to Data Loss Prevention)

Note: Depending on your installation type, this update can be installed via the Update Now button in Outlook or the Microsoft Store and updates Outlook to: Version 2408 (Build 17928.20114).