<![CDATA[Connected Software, Inc.]]> <![CDATA[Epicenter Server Manual]]> Our Epicenter Server manual can be found at:

http://www.connectedsw.com/EpicenterManual

 

]]> <![CDATA[Error: You do not have privileges to open the mailbox for ...]]> (Applies to: Epicenter Server)

Problem: When you send an update, you receive the error, "You do not have privileges to open the mailbox for ..."

Solution #1: If this error is happening for ALL users:

Set your mailbox permissions according to the instructions in:
https://connectedsw.atlassian.net/wiki/display/epicenter/Set+Mailbox+Permissions

You may need to upgrade to Build 422 and update the settings under Tools | Exchange Privileges.

Solution #2: If this problem is happening for only SOME users:

The problem is most likely caused by incorrectly configured Full Access permissions.

Try to open the mailbox of a failing mailbox in Outlook by by following the instructions in:
https://connectedsw.atlassian.net/wiki/display/epicenter/Test+Mailbox+Access.

If this test FAILS, then please follow the instructions for configuring permissions:
https://connectedsw.atlassian.net/wiki/display/epicenter/Set+Mailbox+Permissions

If this test SUCCEEDS, then you will need to upgrade to Build 422 and update the settings under Tools | Exchange Privileges.

In rare instances where you are using Full Access privileges, Epicenter's mailbox may be denied Full Access privileges to certain mailboxes. You can test this using Exchange Power Shell. For example, this command line demonstrates how to check the permissions of user "administrator" against mailbox "msimpson". You can see that Deny is "True", which means that the Full Access permission won't work even if it's set.

[PS] C:\>get-MailboxPermission -identity msimpson -User administrator | fl
AccessRights : {FullAccess}
Deny : True
InheritanceType : All
User : MyDOM\Administrator
Identity : MyDOM.extest.microsoft.com/Users/Bart Simpson
IsInherited : True
IsValid : True
ObjectState : Unchanged

 

]]> <![CDATA[Updating existing contacts with Epicenter]]> (Applies to: Epicenter Server)

Problem: You are distributing your Exchange GAL to users, but your users already have many contacts from the GAL in their address book.

Solution: This article describes the issues and the tradeoffs for solutions to this problem.

Most administrators describe what they want as something like, "Epicenter Server should take over the contacts and merge the user's data into the data from Epicenter."

The problem is that this would require Epicenter Server to "know" what data a user cares about, what data is outdates in each user's local contact, and to independently manage this as data in the GAL changes. It isn't possible for Epicenter to do this.

Here's what really happens.

First, if you distribute an address book to an existing folder, then Epicenter will "take over" any contacts in that folder that appear to match an entry in the GAL. However, Epicenter does not search all folders for matches, Epicenter only looks in the target folder. So if you are distribute to a folder named "Global Address List" then Epicenter will not search for contacts in the default Contacts folder.

By default, Epicenter, completely overwrites any contacts that it "takes over." As described above, Epicenter has no way to reconcile differences in field values, so it doesn't even try. However, administrators can reserve certain fields for end-users. For example, the Notes field could be reserved so that users could keep notes about each contact. When Epicenter takes over a contact, Reserved Properties are preserved and will not be overwritten.

The problem comes when you want to distribute contacts to a separate folder, but you don't want end-users to see duplicates on their phone. This is particularly an issue with BlackBerry devices, which merge all of the folders into one address book.

One solution is to have Epicenter distribute the contacts to Outlook's default contacts folder, in which case Epicenter will take over matches contacts. However, this is often an unpleasant experience for end-users because they can lose any data that they've entered (such as home phone number, children, birthday, etc.) and they suddenly get hundreds or thousands of contacts added to their Contacts folder in Outlook.

An alternative solution is to distribute the contacts to their own folder and tell end-users that they will need to take a few minutes and manually remove duplicates. Reconciling the contacts is not recommended because Epicenter Server overwrites everything except the Reserved Properties.

In cases where there are a large number of duplicates, there are several 3rd party "de-dupe" solutions that are available to assist with finding and removing the duplicates.

 

 

]]> <![CDATA[Will Epicenter Server work with 64-bit Outlook?]]> (Applies to: Epicenter Server)

Question: Will Epicenter Server work with 64-bit Outlook?

Answer: The computer where Epicenter Server is running must be running Outlook 32-bit. However, the version of Outlook used by end-users can be any version of Outlook that will connect to Exchange, including 64-bit Outlook or even Outlook 2011 on the Mac.

The only exception is if you are using Attachment Updates, which is typically used for POP3 users who don't have access to Exchange. In this case, end-users must also run a 32-bit version of Outlook.

Note that you can install 32-bit Office even if you are running 64-bit Windows.

 

]]> <![CDATA[How do I filter Epicenter contacts on the BlackBerry?]]> (Applies to: Epicenter Server)

Problem: Some users do not want to see the contacts distributed by Epicenter, at least by default.

Solution: Add a category to your existing Outlook Contacts, then use the BlackBerry "Filter" command to only view that category.

Add your existing Outlook contacts to a category as follows:

  1. Go to your Outlook Contacts folder.
  2. Select all contacts with Ctrl-A.
  3. Right click the selection.
  4. Choose Categorize.
  5. Select an existing category or add a new one by selecting All Categories / New.
  6. The new categories will sync to the BB wirelessly. This can take up to half an hour.

Set the BlackBerry to filter contacts by category as follows:

  1. In the address book, task list, or memo list, press the Menu key.
  2. Click Filter.
  3. Select the check box next to a category.

 

]]> <![CDATA[Move Epicenter Server to a new computer]]> (Applies to Epicenter Server)

Epicenter Server can be copied to a new computer as follows.

  1. Make sure Outlook is correctly installed and configured on the new computer, and that you have run it at least once.
  2. Install Epicenter Server on the new computer.
  3. Register the software on the new computer using the same license code as the old computer.
  4. Shut down Epicenter Server on both the old and new computers using Task / Exit.
  5. Copy the Epicenter Server data directory from the old computer to the new computer:

    Windows XP:
    C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Connected Software\Epicenter Server

    Windows 7/Vista:
    C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Connected Software\Epicenter Server
  6. [THIS STEP IS IMPORTANT] On the old computer, go to the Settings for each Task and set the Schedule to Send Manually. Then uninstall Epicenter. If you don't do this, then the copy of Epicenter on the old computer can keep running and interfere with Epicenter on the new computer.
  7. Now you can start Epicenter on the new computer. You should see the list of tasks from your old computer.

 

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