Microsoft Outlook 2007 Hidden Options
While troubleshooting Outlook 2007 today, I found a great article with a few hidden tools. If you hold Ctrl (Control) and right click on the Outlook icon in the taskbar, the following extra menu items appear:
- Connection Status
- Test E-mail AutoConfiguration
To reiterate, we first experienced the following error message:
Cannot perform the requested operation. The command selected is not valid for this recipient. The connection to Microsoft Exchange is unavailable. Outlook must be online or connected to complete this action.
The error message appeared when I tried to expand a distribution list from the Global Address List (GAL). Outlook would hang so I had to right click on the Outlook icon in the taskbar and click “Cancel Server Request” to prevent the application from crashing. I opened up the “Microsoft Exchange Connection Status” from the “Connection Status” link above and saw the Directory service report “Connecting” instead of “Established” like the Mail and Public Folders services. When I clicked “Cancel Server Request”, the Directory service changed from “Connecting” to “Disconnecting” while all the other services stayed “Established” which shows there is an issue with the Directory service.
Source: http://www.bauer-power.net/2010/03/unable-to-expand-distribution-groups.html