Friday, April 25, 2008
Usual oatmeal breakfast. At yesterday's Mac OS X meeting others told me that you can see shared calendars in Entourage 2008, and that surprised me because I was certain I had tried it and it didn't work. So this morning, the first thing I do when I get in to work is start Entourage 2008 and attempt to open a shared calendar and I get the following error message: "The user's folder could not be found. Entourage could not find a mailbox for the user [lastname], [firstname]. (OK)". I posted a message to our Mac OS X mailing list seeking a solution. Computer training for Eric VU. Here's my problem report from the Entourage 2008 problem: In Entourage 12.0.1 (080305), I am unable to open a calendar that someone else has shared with me. I know the calendar sharing works because I can view it as expected in Outlook 2007. I'm attempting to open it like this: 1. File > Open Other User's Folder.... 2. I type in the person's last name, e.g., Silvertongue. Type = Calendar. I select OK—a popup window appears with a list of names matching Silvertongue. 3. I select the correct name from the list that appears then select OK. Actual: The following error message appears: "The user's folder could not be found. Entourage could not find a mailbox for the user Silvertongue, Lyra. (OK)". Expected: The person's calendar opens. More information: I can send and receive e-mail messages successfully in Entourage. I can view and work with my own stored-on-the-server Exchange calendar as expected. Kristan B replied with a message that helped me figure out the solution. It works, but it's definitely not intuitive: 1. File > Open Other User's Folder.... 2. Select the Find User button (which looks like a person dressed in blue standing next to a giant address book with green, red, and blue tabs along the right side). 3. Select Advanced (lower left corner). 4. Type in the user's name, e.g., "Lyra Silvertongue". 5. Type in the user's @ucsf.edu e-mail address, e.g., type in lyra.silvertongue@ucsf.edu even though her primary e-mail address and School naming convention is silvertonguel@pharmacy.ucsf.edu. 6. Ensure that you have the correct server settings in the server address inputline (for UCSF I used exvs06.net.ucsf.edu and leave "Uses SSL" and "override default port" unchecked). 7. Select OK. The User inputline in the Open Other User's Folder dialog is automatically populated with the user's name. 8. Select OK. A progress indicator appears on the dialog and animates for a few seconds before the dialog disappears. After the dialog disappears, Entourage 2008 switches to the Calendar view and continues to fetch and process data, but it provides no indication that it is still processing the request—be patient. 9. The user's calendar appears in the pane on the left, usually within 15 seconds. The error message appears even when a valid name and e-mail address is specified. I probably would not have discovered this solution on my own, and I would have likely continued thinking that Entourage 2008 cannot view shared calendars. I also found this feature difficult to find—I was looking for "File > Open a shared calendar..." or a context menu with "Open a shared calendar..." when right-clicking my Exchange calendar or an empty area in the Calendar left pane. "Open Other User's Folder" doesn't mean "Open a shared calendar" to me after having used Outlook for years—I want to open a calendar, not a folder. Clipperz and the concept of zero-knowledge web applications made for very interesting reading over lunch, which was cow stroganoff over egg noodles with broccoli and cauliflower and a corn muffin. What Clipperz does particularly well (besides, presumably, their software) is their communication and openness. There is a frankness that you don't find with most other companies and organizations. I added it to our how to manage passwords page. Classroom support followup with Kristin K. PowerPoint editing. Managed VPS web host shopping. More PowerPoint editing. Home. Fixed some problematic code with the journal. (/journal/current/ was displaying incompletely.) Disco nap. Booka Shade at Mezzanine with Patrick. Mel's Diner afterwards. Home around 3:00 AM.