Updating the Windows registry
This section contains steps required to update the Windows registry to determine which aliases are made available to users:
If you are not familiar with the Windows registry, you may wish to read about the Windows registry before attempting any changes.
Required preparation
Before you start updating the Windows registry on any computer, you should ensure that the following preparatory steps are completed:
Backup the Windows registry
Windows Registry modifications should always be approached with extreme care. Serious problems might occur if you modify the Windows registry incorrectly, therefore please ensure that you follow the documented steps carefully.
For added protection, we strongly advise you to back up the Windows registry before any modifications are made - in doing so you will have the option to restore the backup if a problem occurs. For further information about how to back up and restore the Windows registry, see Microsoft KB Article 322756 : How to back up and restore the registry in Windows in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.
Determine whether you are using a 32 or 64-bit operating system / Office version
If you are unsure whether you are using a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows and/or Office, please refer to the following Microsoft articles:
Step 1: create required registry paths
As you navigate the Windows registry, you are navigating paths. A specific path is required for Exclaimer Email Alias Manager for Exchange - if it's not already present, you need to create it (if you are not sure how to do this, please see the about the Windows registry topic for guidance). The required path varies, depending on:
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Whether you are running a 32 or 64-bit operating system / Office version
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Whether you wish to update the Windows registry for the current user or for all users
These variations are detailed in the sections below.
64-bit operating system running 32-bit Outlook
For all users, the required path is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Exclaimer Ltd\Email Alias Manager\Settings
For the current user, the required path is:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Exclaimer Ltd\Email Alias Manager\Settings
64-bit operating system running 64-bit Outlook
For all users, the required path is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Exclaimer Ltd\Email Alias Manager\Settings
For the current user, the required path is:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Exclaimer Ltd\Email Alias Manager\Settings
32-bit operating system
For all users, the required path is:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Exclaimer Ltd\Email Alias Manager\Settings
For the current user, the required path is:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Exclaimer Ltd\Email Alias Manager\Settings
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Note that if a key is present in HKEY_CURRENT_USER, it completely overrides the key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. |
Step 2: add registry keys
Having created the required registry path, you are ready to add required keys (if you are not sure how to do this, please see the about the Windows registry topic for guidance). Required keys are:
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Outlook must be restarted for these changes to take effect. |
IncludeADProxyAddresses
The following considerations should be made for this key :
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If set to 0, the code will not read any aliases from the Active Directory and the only available address in Outlook will be the user’s primary SMTP address.
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If set to 1 (default), the code will include all aliases from the Active Directory.
IncludePatterns
All aliases from the Active Directory will be passed through this list of filter patterns, and only matched aliases will go on to the next stage. The default pattern is *@*.
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The user's primary SMTP address will always be displayed. |
To help you understand patterns, suppose that a user's aliases are shown in Outlook as follows:
Now consider the following examples:
Example 1
To include all addresses with the domain youralias.com, enter the value *@youralias.com:
In Outlook, the drop-down list of aliases will look like this:
Example 2
To include all addresses associated with a user where the domain contains youralias. enter the value *@youralias.*:
In Outlook, the drop-down list of aliases will look like this:
Example 3
To include all addresses where the user name contains john@ enter the value john@*:
In Outlook, the drop-down list of aliases will look like this:
Example 4
To include all addresses which contain the domains anotheralias.com AND youralias.com but not others, add the IncludePatterns key in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER path and enter values of *anotheralias.com AND *youralias.com:
In Outlook, the drop-down list of aliases will look like this:
ExcludePatterns
All aliases that have survived the IncludePatterns phase are now passed through this list of patterns and any matches are removed from the drop-down list of addresses in Outlook. The default pattern is (empty), i.e. no exclusions apply.
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Even an empty ExcludePatterns key in HKEY_CURRENT_USER will override the ExcludePatterns key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. You must rename or delete this key in HKEY_CURRENT_USER if you want the values within HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE key to apply. |
Consider the following examples:
Example 1
To exclude all addresses with the domain youralias.com, enter the value *@youralias.com:
In Outlook, the drop-down list of aliases will look like this:
Example 2
To exclude all addresses associated with a user where the domain contains youralias. enter the value *@youralias.*:
In Outlook, the drop-down list of aliases will look like this:
Example 3
To exclude all addresses where the user name contains john@ enter the value john@*:
In Outlook, the drop-down list of aliases will look like this:
Example 4
To include all aliases EXCEPT those that contain anotheralias.com and youralias.com, remove the IncludePatterns key and add the ExcludePatterns key in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER path. Here, enter values of *anotheralias.com AND *youralias.com:
In Outlook, the drop-down list of aliases will look like this:
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You cannot exclude the user's primary SMTP address. |
Wildcards
In the IncludePattern and ExcludePattern sections, wildcards (*) are supported in both local and domain parts of the address. Strings that do not contain the @ symbol will be treated as a domain part with a full wild card in the local part.
Regular Expressions
If required, you can use regular expressions when defining values for registry keys. To do this, you should start the string with the prefix: regex. This is shown in the example below.
Example 1
To remove all aliases with a user name separated by a dot, enter the value regex:\..*@
In Outlook, the drop-down list of aliases will look like this:
For further information about regular expressions please refer to MSDN documentation, here.
