DevMSG - Outlook profile customization – available options

“We want to be able to have the users in our company log on to outlook without having to configure anything?

Is there a way that I could automate a profile creation  once the user opens up Outlook? 

Or is this something that will have to be done manually? 

We have around a 100 users and they are located at different locations throughout our organization spread across the country?”

Usually we get such queries to automate the custom profiles using PRF and they look for script whether this can be done or not by using MS Messaging API’s. First we don’t have any messaging API which is exposed for this – no programming dev support available for the above requirement.

But we have alternate available…

If this requirement is for Outlook 2003 then, you need to try with PRF files. Outlook 2003 can use PRF files, they are text files describing how the MAPI profile should look like. You need to check out the Office 2003 resource kit for more info

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=44ADF67C-16E9-4B3D-B6F8-2877EB647341&displaylang=en
https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ork2003/HA011402841033.aspx?pid=CH011480681033

If you try with Outlook 2007 then, you need to use the Office Customization Tool to modify profile settings and create a new PRF file that includes those settings. If you have an existing PRF file then you can specify the file by using the Office Customization Tool, and the Outlook profile settings will be included in your Setup customization file.

If your earlier PRF file specifies Internet Mode Only (IMO) settings, create a new PRF file by using the Office Customization Tool, and then export the settings to a PRF file.

Check if you have the latest SP for Office 2007.

As a security measure, PRF's can only be imported using the /importPRF switch. See https://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/commandlines.htm for help using switches.

Note : /importprf prffilename:

Launches Outlook and opens/imports the defined MAPI profile (*.prf). If Outlook is already open, queues the profile to be imported on the next clean launch.

Please check these links:

Customize Outlook profiles by using an Outlook Profile (PRF) file
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc179062.aspx

Apply an Outlook Profile (PRF) File to configure Outlook profiles
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc178945.aspx

Create an Outlook Profile File (*.PRF)
https://www.outlook-tips.net/howto/prf.htm

Importing .PRF Files Into Outlook 2007 in Vista
https://www.jasondunn.com/outlook2007-import-prf-172

Customizing Outlook Profiles by Using PRF Files
https://office.microsoft.com/en-us/ork2003/HA011402581033.aspx