Person names section is inactive in the options menu

[Nischal]

Hi,

I am using outlook professional plus 2007 and Office communicator 2007. In
my outlook options-> Others -> person section is inactive.

As a result i am unable to view the communicator presence of the contacts.

Thanks
Nishcal

 

[Patrick Reed]

Open Office Communicator

Select Tools | Options (in the top left corner, the menu button is labeled,
"Show menu" when you mouse over it).

On the Personal tab, ensure Microsoft Office Outlook (Contacts,
Calendar,...) is selected in the drop-down box under "Personal information
manager." If that wasn't set, you need to set it, Exit and sign-out of
Office Communicator, and exit Outlook. Open and Sign-in to Office
Communicator, and then open Outlook.

 

[Nischal]

thanks Pat for your reply, but i have already tried that the Microsoft Office
Outlook (Contacts, > Calendar,...) is selected and all the four check boxes
are checked in Communicator.
Still the Person names section is inactive in Outlook

Rgds
Nischal

 

[Patrick Reed]

Let's check to ensure Outlook is set as the default program for e-mail.
Close Outlook.
Open Task Manager (rt-click on the Windows Taskbar and select Task Manager)
Check the processes tab to ensure Outlook.exe is no longer running
Select Start | Run
Enter outlook.exe /checkclient (note the space before the "/")
Select OK
If you're prompted to make Outlook the default manager for... select Yes (or
OK)
On Windows XP, open Control Panel | Add or Remove Programs | Set Program
Access and Defaults.
On Windows Vista, open Control Panel | Default Programs
Ensure Microsoft Office Outlook is set as the default e-mail program. (In
Windows XP, it may just show, "Use my current e-mail program." You can go
into Control Panel | Internet Options | Programs and check to see Outlook is
set there).

Another possibility... Does your organization use group policy to restrict
any settings on machines?

If you have access, select Start | Run, and enter regedit
Select OK
Navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\IM
Are there any values set in here (or does this path even exist)?

 

[Nischal]

thanks pat but again i checked all the below steps with no luck.
i hv access to regedit but the IM directory is not there after the
'HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook'
could this be the reason? can we add it?
we must be having a group policy as i am in a MNC with presence in over 90
countries around the globe and IT is handeld centrally so i will not be able
to uninstall and reinstall the outlook or communicator as it involves a lot
of approvals and processes i hv local administrator rights though to make any
modifications to regedit. However i hv noticed that in outlook of some of my
peers the person names section is enabled and thus they are able to view the
presence of the contacts in outlook.

fyi i am using windows xp

Pls. revert
Thanks
Nischal

 

[Patrick Reed]

If those values had been there in the registry, that would demonstrate a
Group Policy is in effect.

Hmmm. Are there any other IM clients installed on this machine? Maybe MSN
Messenger or Windows Live Messenger? If one of these is bound to Outlook and
not running, it may affect this. Also, just because I have to ask - is
Office Communicator starting and signing-in automatically - before Outlook?
As long as it comes up, it shouldn't matter if it's starting first or not,
but it's something to try.

I believe you know the cautions about messing with the Registry. If not -
it's never a good idea to mess with it unless you really know what you're
doing. That being said, we can give this a try, too:
-Close Outlook and ensure it is no longer running in Task Manager |
Processes (like we've done before).
-Open REGEDIT again.
-Navigate to:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common/PersonaMenu
-Is there a value in there labeled, "Enabled"?
-If so, make sure that is set to 1. If it doesn't exist, right-click the
PersonaMenu key | select New... | DWORD (32- bit) Value
-Name it (w/out quotes) "Enabled"
-Set the value data to 1

Now go to
-HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\IM
-Is there a key there labeled, "EnablePresence"?
-If so, make sure it is set to 1. If it doesn't exist, right-click the IM
key | select New... | DWORD (32-bit) Value
-Name it (w/out quotes) "EnablePresence"
-Set the value data to 1

Open Outlook again. What does it look like now?

 

[Nischal]

Hi,
I am using outlook 2007 and communicator 2007 and OS Windows XP
outlook is my default mail box. the presence of IM contacts are shown
correctly in communicator however they are showed presence unknown in Outlook
2007.also when clicked at the presence unknown icon the shortcut menu
displays menu item 'sign in to instant messaging' even though that contact is
already present in the communicator

thanks