When we say personal email, we think of a POP3/IMAP mailbox or Webmail. When it comes to business correspondence, we think of an Exchange account. Although Exchange and POP3 / IMAP accounts are generally viewed as two drastically different email options, in reality the borderline is not so rigid, as both approaches have their strong and weak points – making their combination sensible and even desirable in some cases. We will give you a brief overview of their features and provide a possible compatibility solution.
Month: October 2014
What to do when Outlook blocks attachment?
Your colleague sent you a script file or HTML Help (.chm) document or even link (.lnk) to the file stored in the file server but Outlook blocks access to the file. What to do? Outlook blocks certain attachments or, rather, blocks access to certain types of received files, because of potential risks associated with these file types. The file type, indicated in the extension, a few letters following the dot at the end of filename, determines whether the file may or may not present a potential threat to the user’s security. For this, Outlook has a blacklist of potentially hazardous file types including a few dozens of items, such as .exe, .bat, and .cmd. (full list of blocked attachments can be viewed here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/blocked-attachments-in-outlook-434752e1-02d3-4e90-9124-8b81e49a8519). As you may have noticed, the key word of the paragraph is ‘potential’, and that is to say, unlike your anti-virus, Outlook can’t tell whether the file is really dangerous or not. As a result, it blocks a lot of useful files, even if they come from highly trusted senders, just to be on the safe side. The question is, why does it happen?
Distribution of mass email in Outlook
If you use Microsoft Office for business purposes and your responsibilities include frequent communication with partners and customers, sending mass email from Outlook may be a part of your daily or, at least, weekly or monthly routine. Within the organization, mass email with Outlook is normally performed through internal distribution lists including members of certain departments or subdivisions. However, when it comes to mailing customers or partners, the list of recipients can grow excessively long, making your message rather bulky. Moreover, the recipient sees all other addresses in the TO or CC field; and they sometimes are not only irrelevant, but present some information you might prefer not to disclose.