INSTALLATION

The Installation Package, OutlookHelpDesk30.Zip, contains this UserManual_30.doc, the Software License Agreement, and "OutlookHelpDesk30.PST".

The Outlook Help Desk 3.0 set of folders will be copied from the PST file to the Public Folders. This is done with an Outlook client. It only has to be done once, and then the public folders are available to anyone in the Exchange organization.

The Help Desk folders can sit anywhere in the Exchange Public Folder hierarchy as long as they retain the folder structure:

First, make sure you have the rights to create new folders under whatever folder you will be placing the Help Desk folders. The best way to test if you have rights is to try to create a new folder at the location you want. If you cannot, you will need to get this permission from your Exchange administrator (or have the administrator do the installation).

If you are using the demo and upgrading from that to the full release, see Upgrading from Demo before proceeding.

•1.       Unzip the "OutlookHelpDesk30.zip" and extract the files. Remember where you put "OutlookHelpDesk305E.PST"; you will need it for the next step.

•2.       Using an Outlook client, connect to an Exchange Server, and then:

In Outlook 2000, go to Tools/Services/Add and select Personal Folders. In Outlook 2002, go to File/New/Outlook Data File and choose Personal Folder under "Types of Storage".  In both versions, when the "Create or Open" dialog box comes up, browse to the " OutlookHelpDesk305E.PST" file that you just unzipped. Choose "OK" in the next dialog box accepting the defaults.

In Outlook 2003, go to File/Open/Outlook Data File and navigate to the "OutlookHelpDesk305E" file that you just unzipped and press OK.

•3.       You will now have another set of folders under "Outlook Help Desk 305E Release". Expand this set of folders. If you only see a Deleted Items and Search folder, see Appendix A on how to make all folders visible in Outlook 2003.

•4.       In the "Outlook Help Desk 305E Release" set of folders, select the Help Desk folder then right-click it and select Copy "Help Desk" (or go to Edit/Copy to Folder on the top menu). In the "Copy Folder" dialog box that comes up, select the folder where you want to place the Help Desk. This will copy the Help Desk and the folders under it to the location you have chosen.

Note: Outlook may give you a warning message like the one below when you copy, but you can safely ignore this. It seems to be a bug in Outlook and does not affect anything.

•5.       Under this newly created Help Desk folder in the public folders, there also should be "Assigned Help Desk Tickets", "Knowledge Base", "Reports", and "Utilities". These should have copied over when you copied the "Help Desk" folder in step #4. Set permissions for the folders as follows:

            Help Desk

Default = Author

Help Desk/IT staff = Publishing Editor (or Owner)

            Assigned Help Desk Tickets, Knowledge Base, Reports

Default = Reviewer

Help Desk/IT staff = Publishing Editor (or Owner)

Knowledge Base

Default = Reviewer

Help Desk/IT staff = Publishing Editor (or Owner)

Reports

Default = Reviewer

Help Desk/IT staff = Publishing Editor (or Owner)

            Utilities

Default = Reviewer

Help Desk/IT staff = Publishing Editor (or Owner)

People doing ticket assigning (if different than Help Desk staff): Custom role with Read Items, Folder Visible, Edit items (All), Delete items (None)

The custom "Help Desk Ticket" form will now come up when you choose "New" or click the white space in the Help Desk folder.

     OR   

Once the folders are copied to the Public Folders, delete the Personal Folder you added in step #2. In Outlook 2000, go to Tools/Services, highlight "Outlook Help Desk 305E Release" and press "Remove". In Outlook 2002, go to File/Data File Management, highlight the PST file and hit "Remove". In Outlook 2003, right-click "Outlook Help Desk 305E Release" and choose Close.

Setting up Web Interface

Users can also submit and view tickets through a Web browser. This is a separate setup. See UserManual_30_Web2K for Exchange 2000 or 2003 (or UserManual_30_Web55 for Exchange 5.5) for more information and screen shots.

Setting up the Event Sink DLL or script to convert emails into Help Desk tickets

A script in Exchange 5.5 and an Event Sink in Exchange 2000/2003 convert emails to the Help Desk folder into new Help Desk tickets. This is a separate setup. See UserManual_30_Email55 for Exchange 5.5 and UserManual_30_Email2K for Exchange 2000/2003.

Creating tickets from an Intranet page

Users can create Help Desk tickets by clicking on a link or button on an Intranet page. Since this launches an Outlook form, not an HTML form, the user needs to have Outlook installed locally with a profile that connects to the Exchange server. This solution works best on an intranet when you want to put a hyperlink to the Help Desk. Click here to view sample HTML code to set this up. The sample code shows how to set up a button on a Web page that will open a Help Desk Ticket. This code can be adapted for your needs. Note that you will need to have the correct path to the Help Desk folder in the code.

Creating tickets from the Outlook Toolbar

A new Help Desk Ticket can be opened from a button on a toolbar in Outlook. We provide an Outlook COM Addin that installs a "New Help Desk Ticket" button. This COM Addin comes with a Setup.exe that can be run on each client that needs the toolbar button.

The exact path to the Help Desk folder is hard-coded into the COM Addin, so:

1. If your path is Public Folders\All Public Folders\Help Desk, then download this file:

2. If your path is not this, please contact support@crowcanyon.com so we can make up a COM Addin with your path.

Redemption.DLL and the Outlook Security warning box

Outlook Help Desk 3.0 works on all versions of Outlook (note the Outlook 97 limitations below). However, versions of Outlook 98 and 2000 with Microsoft's security patch installed and all Outlook 2002 and 2003 clients will generate a security warning when programs try to access the address book.

Outlook Help Desk 3.0 avoids generating this warning through the use of Redemption.DLL. We provide this DLL free of charge with Outlook Help Desk (download here). Redemption should be installed on PCs with the secure versions of Outlook. It comes with an Install.exe that requires only a few quick clicks. The DLL can also be installed through a login batch file. The installation is simply copying the DLL locally and then registering it with REGSVR32.

Secure versions of Outlook will not raise the security warning when using the Help Desk after this DLL is installed. If they do not have Redemption.DLL installed, Outlook Help Desk will continue to function properly, but the users will be faced with security warning boxes.

Use the following chart to determine if the Outlook client has the Security Update installed (go to Help/About Microsoft Outlook to view version number):

Redemption.DLL (also known as Outlook Redemption) is a third-party COM object that uses Extended MAPI to provide secure access to Outlook and Exchange. More information on Outlook Redemption is available at http://www.dimastr.com/redemption/

CDO.dll must be installed to assign/reassign tickets or run Reports

Help Desk staff members will need CDO.DLL installed in the following situations:

• If they are assigning or reassigning tickets and do not have Redemption installed.
• If they are running Reports, whether they have Redemption or not.

CDO.DLL is Collaboration Data Objects (CDO). It is part of the Outlook installation, but is not installed by default. It can be easily added to Outlook by running Outlook setup, selecting "Add or Remove Features", then setting Collaboration Data Objects to "Run from My Computer".

Outlook 97 Limitations

Users with Outlook 97 can submit tickets in Outlook Help Desk 3.0. However, they cannot view Assigned Help Desk Tickets in Outlook 97. They can use the Web forms to view Assigned tickets. Help Desk staff needs Outlook 98 or higher to work with the Assigned tickets.