Outlook 2007 Service Pack 2

[snissen]

On April 28, 2009, Microsoft is expected to release Service Pack 2 for Office 2007, including Outlook 2007 SP2. (Pre-release versions of SP2 have been available since last fall.) Here's the most detailed information I've seen: Office 2007 Service Pack coming in April - Office Watch

So my question is: Has anyone tested Outlook 2007 SP2 compatibility with the Zimbra Connector? If so, what versions of the Zimbra Connector, and with what results?

As soon as I have a chance to test anything, I'll post my results in this thread.

[Rich Graves]

Obviously they haven't tested the final, but Zimbrans have been recommending the pre-SP2 rollup since March 7th. Zimbra wiki: Outlook 2007 improvements in the February 2009 cumulative update.
That's how I found out that office 2007 sp2 was coming.

[RWilliams]

We're using version 5.0.15_GA_2850_5.0.2931.15 of the connector, and SP2 seems to break it. After installing Office 2007 SP2 and rebooting the machine, I keep getting errors about not being able to open the Zimbra.zdb file, and immediately shuts down Outlook upon clicking OK. I had to do a System Restore to go back to SP1, and now everything is working fine again.

[snissen]

I tested the "February 2009 cumulative update" for Outlook 2007 that Rich Graves mentioned. (These are documented as the same as SP2.) They worked fine with ZCS Connector versions 5.0.10, 5.0.11, and 5.0.15, on several PCs.

Today, I started testing Office 2007 Service Pack 2 with ZCS Connector 5.0.15 on several PCs, and it's working fine as well. I'm now much more confident that there will be few problems.

Before we roll out Office 2007 SP2, we may consider some basic precautions:
- make sure everyone is using the latest ZCS Connector;
- make sure the mail data files are in good shape (maybe compacted too);
- run chkdsk.

Has Zimbra ever created a mail data file checker similar to Microsoft's ScanOST.exe/ScanPST.exe? Sande

[MisuVir]

I haven't had any major problems with Microsoft Office 2007 Service Pack 2. The only issue I've had is as described in Sent items are from "unknown" and Bug 37146 – Sender shows as "unknown" after applying Outlook 2007 SP2 Hotfix.

[iway]

Yes, this: Bug 37146 – Sender shows as "unknown" after applying Outlook 2007 SP2 Hotfix is a huge problem for our users. The From field is showing Unknown now, not really good.

[fsiegel]

Bug 37146 (Unknown showing as the From address in Sent Items) has been fixed. It will be in 5.0.17

[ewilen]

That was fast!

But how long until 5.0.17? And until then, can we identify the exact combinations of ZCS/ZCO/Outlook patch under which the bug manifests itself? For example I don't think I was seeing it with the ZCO included in 5.0.12, even after applying hotfix kb961752. (The grace period on my Zimbra NE demo install just expired so I can't go back and check.)

[fsiegel]

Well -- 5.0.16 just came out, so I imagine 5.0.17 would be a couple of months away. I'm not sure what combinations work -- I can go back and check various versions and let you know.

[Rich Graves]

The other forum thread says the problem goes back to at least 5.0.10. If this is a Microsoft change, then I don't know why it wouldn't go all the way back to 5.0.0.

It is not unprecedented for an out-of-cycle ZCO update to show up on support.zimbra.com, without a corresponding full ZCS release. I'd love to see that happen for 37146, which looks much more urgent (to me) than the other things slated for 5.0.17.

Here's our short-term pickle: There are several things in the 5.0.16 server and webmail that we like, notably Bug 32536 – Zimbra too trusting of MIME-type sent by client. But the 5.0.16 server's implementation of Bug 23215 – Eliminate blobs for appointments where possible causes collateral damage on Outlook Connector installs (36534, 35600), essentially requiring us to upgrade all ZCO clients to at least 5.0.16 before upgrading the server.

I don't want to be forced to upgrade everyone's ZCO twice within a couple months. I don't want to wait for 5.0.17 to get all the other goodies in 5.0.16.

I just want to whine, basically.