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A new beta version of email add-in WHS Outlook has been released to the web.
This new version offers a significant upgrade in feature set, which now allows multiple user access to WHS Outlook as well as remote access to your email via Internet Explorer (A problem with ActiveX support means that Firefox is not currently supported).
Over to the developer for a run through of what’s new:
Here’s what it all looks like…
When the administrator account accesses WHS Outlook’s settings panel a new “User Access” button is available to them:
Clicking on the “User Access” button displays the WHS Outlook User Accounts Access dialog box filled with all of the Home Server’s enabled user accounts (minus the administrator and guest accounts):
Checking the “Turn on User Accounts access” check box will enable multiple user access in WHS Outlook. You (the administrator) can then select the particular users you want to grant WHS Outlook access to. WHS Outlook will take care of all the dirty work for you, and after a bit of turning and churning, a Remote Desktop Connection file named “WHS Outlook Remote Desktop.rdp” will be placed in the selected user’s share.
When the user executes their personalized RDP file, a Remote Desktop connection across the local network is initiated with the Home Server, and the user is granted full access to WHS Outlook via the WHS Console:
Note that WHS Outlook is running in the Console as it normally does, but as you can see, the only feature accessible to the user in the Console is WHS Outlook (all of the built-in features and the installed add-ins are completely hidden). With this new feature, each of your family members can now have access to their very own Outlook profile from their very own computer (or from a shared family PC).
Looking back at the WHS Outlook User Accounts Access dialog box, you’ll see the best feature of all… An “Enable Web Site access” check box. When this box is checked, WHS Outlook will build a custom web site on your Home Server that your users can visit (from anywhere in the world!) in order to gain web access to their WHS Outlook account. Here’s what the web site homepage looks like:
Download: WHS Outlook Version 1.0.4.34 (Beta) | Installation Instructions | Discuss
18. March 2009 at 3:23 pm
What happens if there is a link to a website in an e-mail and it is clicked?… Does IE open on the server?
18. March 2009 at 5:39 pm
Hi aplkorex,
Yes, when run in web access mode, the clicked link would indeed get opened in the default browser of the server (same goes for file attachments). Unfortunately, there’s no way to get the web access feature to communicate back with the client machine.
However, when WHS Outlook is run through the WHS Console (on a client machine where the connector has been installed), then URLs and file attachments will indeed open in the associated program on the client machine instead of on the server.
– MIKE (The Office Maven)
18. March 2009 at 5:49 pm
@TheOfficeMaven -
Fantastic. Thanks, that’s what I was looking for.
19. March 2009 at 1:10 am
The only problem that I had and I think that this should have been mentioned, is that once you turn on the user account access you lose the ability to log into your server remotely through your XXXX.homerserver.com page. It does warn you about this one you enable it. It seems that it puts you in the administrators group which is not allowed to log in remotely. I am sure there may be a work around for this but to me this isn’t worth giving up the ability to access my WHS remotely.
19. March 2009 at 1:15 pm
Hi dman1092,
That is indeed the case and I’ve mentioned it in the discussion of the beta going on in the forums (just hit the “Discuss” link in Terry’s message above in order to go there). Unfortunately, in order to run the Console application (and to connect remotely via Remote Desktop to the server), the user is required to have admin privileges. And, as you’ve found, Microsoft blocks users with admin rights from logging on to the built-in remote access web site. There’s not much I can do about that one I’m afraid.
What I do for my own family is to set up each member who requires access to both the remote access site and WHS Outlook two different user accounts (using the same password to make it easy for them). One account is then used to access the server’s remote access website, and the other is used to access WHS Outlook’s website. Also, just so everyone knows, the Administrator account itself can access WHS Outlook’s web access feature as well (i.e. you don’t have to setup a different user account for the admin). All you need to do is enter the admin user name and password in the WHS Outlook homepage.
– MIKE
20. March 2009 at 7:28 pm
It’s not a real webinterface right, it still just uses RPD to connect to the Home Server right?
My problem is that my workplace have closed for all ports except 80 and 443…
21. March 2009 at 2:52 am
Hi Clause,
Nope, it’s not a “real” web interface (and I never claimed it to be). It simply uses a Remote Desktop Web Connection to work its magic. Sorry to hear that your workplace is closed to those types of connections.
BTW, my original plans were indeed to construct a completely stand-alone web interface for WHS Outlook. That turned out to be a HUGE amount of work though and so I kind of put it on the back burner (well, that and the fact that there’s just no way that I could ever recoup the time invested in doing one).
However, going with the Remote Desktop approach, it allows you to get all the power of Outlook without using an Exchange Server (which AFAIK, isn’t available for use on WHS – and even if it was, it’d cost a heck of a lot more than what WHS Outlook does). Any true web interface would probably pale by comparison IMHO.
– MIKE
21. March 2009 at 9:54 am
Hi again,
Don’t get me wrong, i think this is by fare the coolest and most usefull add-in to WHS, and i just wish i could use it. Trying to figure out how to run RDP over HTTP.
-Claus
21. March 2009 at 10:18 am
Hi Claus,
Thanks for your comments. I’m glad to hear that you do indeed like the add-in (despite its limitations). I know that my family uses it every day now. We absolutely love it!
The next version, which looses the dependency on the Console application, will be even better. I’m working hard to get it out in beta form. So far, it’s looking really good. It has turned out to be a lot more work than I originally expected, but I think that it will be worth it in the end.
BTW, sorry for the misspelling of you name in my prior post.
Take care.
– MIKE