Assuming the HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled attribute is set to $False on the mailbox or distribution group.

When an entry is missing in the Global Address List it is not necessarily needed but good to know if we can find the object in the GAL on the server.

If an entry is missing in the Global Address List you can query the GAL on the server:

Independently from the outcome of the above PowerShell commands I usually update the Offline Address Book and the Global Address List afterward.

I have put in the option to query the Global Address List for the missing entry because I usually do it.

Ok here we go > Update the Offline Address Book:

Now update the Global Address List:

In most cases, this solves it.
 
I usually wait 15 Minutes [ one AD sync cycle ] before notifying the customer.
The user should download the Address Book afterward or restart Outlook.
In OWA new entries should be visible straight away.
 

If the problem persists check the showInAddressBook attribute on the object in AD:

Compare the values of the attribute showInAddressBook with an account or DL that is available in the Global Address List and add them accordingly if one or more entries are missing.

If appropriate entries are missing here you wouldn’t get a result when querying the GAL for the missing entry at the beginning of this post. Further it is likely that HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled is set to $true.

When HiddenFromAddressListsEnabled is set to $true:

Find some examples at the end of this Microsoft description.
 
If all entries are visible in showInAddressBook you should be fine.
Otherwise add the missing entries under showInAddressBook.

 
Have a nice day!
 
 
Want to activate an Out of Office message while retaining the formating?

Out Of Office Multiline Message through PowerShell

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The size of these folders located under the path below can take be up to 2GB for each version:

The question is:

Is it safe to remove old owa versions?

Unfortunately, I never found a satisfying answer to this question from Microsoft. On technet forums you can find answers like You can do it but it is not recommended.

This it is not a statement that makes you remove old OWA versions with peace of mind.
So I gave it a try in our test environment.

As you can see in the picture below there are some OWA version folders in the /Owa directory. The last modified date matches the date we have installed CU12 on this server. These folders belong to the current OWA version at that time. ( before we installed CU14).

In the /Owa/prem folder on the right side, you see the real OWA version folders with about 1GB in size which is eating up your disk space. After every CU install a new OWA version folder is added and the older versions are kept.

After no problems occurred in our test environment I have used the same procedure in our production environment ( 18 servers ). There were no problems reported as well while having different CUs in place and no problems after all servers have been upgraded.

Stay healthy!

Need to change the input language on Server Core?

Change input language via PowerShell

The post Remove Old OWA Versions to free up Disk Space appeared first on Webbanshee.

We won’t be able to deliver this message because the email address is no longer valid.

Additionally calendar delegates are not able to access the calendar of the person whose mail address displays the mailtip after it has been chosen from the GAL.

The Global Address List obtains the recipient’s address from the following fields which represent all the same attribute :

The value of the mentioned fields should be the same as the PrimarySMTPAddress or should at least contain an alias address from emailaddresses.  Otherwise the email address no longer valid message will be displayed as mailtip.

If you have just a few affected recipients it is easier to just paste the PrimarySMTPAddress into the E-mail field under the general tab of user properties.

When this issue occurs with more recipients you may want to change it in bulk by setting the WindowsEmailAddress to the same value as the PrimarySMTPAddress.
In our case this problem occurred when a customer initially synchronized an OU via our Microsoft Identity Management server. Later he changed the PrimarySMTPAddress for all his mailboxes on our platform but left the initial synchronized E-mail address in the source AD.
So the initial address got synchronized again overwriting the changes.

Hope it helps when an email address no longer valid message starts to get on your user’s nerves.

Enjoy the summer

The post Email address no longer valid appeared first on Webbanshee.

OWA slow printing was noticed first by a customer with several branches after we moved him from Exchange 2010 to Exchange 2016. The branches are using OWA only and have a lower bandwidth than the headquarter. The problem occurs when they want to print an email it takes 1-2 minutes until the print dialog appears. The same action takes noticeable less time in the headquarters with a higher bandwidth.

One could use OWA Light , where the problem does not appear , but you just can print attachments there , not the email body.

Out there I did not find any documentation regarding a higher min. bandwidth requirement in Exchange 2016  for OWA related to printing. We could not reproduce the problem because our bandwidth is higher. So we opened a call by Microsoft and went through the normal procedure :

Session with customer > reproduce the problem > collecting fiddler and IIS logs > upload the collected data > analyses by Microsoft > nothing found > new session with customer > collecting fiddler logs > nothing found > several suggestions to try > problem still exists

The call reached the escalation team and we got another support engineer :

New session with customer > reproduce the problem > collecting Fiddler logs  > try the same suggestions as before > upload fiddler logs > analyses by Microsoft > nothing found in Fiddler logs > waiting for feedback

After a while ( and the already invested support hours ) we got answer from Microsoft that this behaviour is by Design and the only options are to raise bandwidth or use Outlook. Further we could initiate a DCR ( DesignChangeRequest ) which will be charged  but will be probably rejected.

After further escalation Microsoft checked the possibility of success of the DCR without charging for the verification and rejected it then.

I must admit that the people at Microsoft where friendly and tried. What we do not understand how it can take the spent amount of support hours ( and money )  while involving two support levels to get to the statement : by Design ( especially when you get the bill for the support hours presented )

This information should be made available to the support lines , there should be no need to involve several levels of supports and management to provide the information : by Design

So I just wanted to say : Spend the money on higher bandwidth rather then a support call 

Have a nice day !

The post OWA slow printing appeared first on Webbanshee.

This happens usually after being idle for some time in OWA.
Ok , this information is a starting point. We use ADFS servers in our environment.
ADFS provides cookies with expiry times to users and tokens with expiry times to relying application servers. ( in this case Exchange Servers ) .

First I open on the ADFS Server the Active Directory Module For Windows PowerShell :

Since you aren’t logged off after a certain time there is no need to check the SSOLifetime under ADFS Properties.  Which is set to 12 hours in our environment. It is just the OWA inbox not refreshing.

It seems the session on application server level is timely limited and gets only alive after some manual interaction from user side.

So I check the relying party trust where I can see the cause for this behaviour :

The TokenLifeTime for the Identifier which belongs to OWA is set to 60 ( in Minutes )

To raise the TokenLifeTime for OWA I use the following command :

This raises the TokenLifeTime for the relying application URL ( in this case OWA ) to 12 hours or 720 minutes. The same LifeTime as the Cookie LifeTime for user sessions.

OWA inbox not refreshing problem solved !

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