Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 Release Notes

Last updated July 10, 200 7

Welcome to the Microsoft® Office Communicator 2007 Release Notes. Refer to this article for information regarding known issues about the Office Communicator 2007 release.

Knowledge Base (KB) Articles for Known Issues

A USB telephony device that is installed on a Windows XP-based computer is unexpectedly set as the default audio device
A USB telephony device that is installed on a Windows Vista-based computer is unexpectedly set as the default audio device
Consistency of presence data between the presence provider application and Office and improvement of other integration points, including voice mail

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Release Notes

This document contains important information that you should know before you deploy and use the Office Communicator 2007 client.

Audio Calls

Office Communicator cannot make VoIP calls to external users after connecting through a Virtual Private Network (VPN)

ISSUE: If a user has both internal and external SIP servers configured and signs in to Office Communicator from home without using a virtual private network (VPN), and then connects through a VPN, Office Communicator automatically signs out and signs back in. In this state, user cannot make VoIP calls because Media Relay fully qualified domain name (FQDN) cannot be resolved.
RESOLUTION: The only known resolution is to sign out manually and sign back in re-entering the credentials.

Office Communicator may be incapable of responding to certain types of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems through dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) Touch-Tone key presses if the person being called has set call forwarding settings

ISSUE: If a user calls another user who has set Communicator Call Forwarding Settings to immediately forward a call or to redirect unanswered calls to a IVR system that expects Touch-Tone key input (i.e. dual-tone multi-frequency [DTMF]), Communicator is incapable of responding, because early media is done on the inbound direction (i.e. we have no outbound media leg to carry the DTMF). The caller may hear the IVR system prompt him or her for input, but pressing 1 or 2 to select an option will not actually send anything. In this state, the Communicator Conversation window will still show "Calling <username>..."
RESOLUTION: This issue should only occur with only a few IVR systems. In some cases, the resolution is to wait for the call to completely connect (i.e. the status in the Conversation window changes from "Calling <username>...," to "Connecting <username>...," to showing call controls) before pressing the DTMF buttons. In some other cases, there is no workaround. The call may never reach the "connected" state.

Video Conferences

Video Conferences start video automatically after joining a conference

ISSUE: The video conference invitation alert indicates that a contact is inviting a user to a conference call, but does not distinguish whether the conference call is an audio or video conference call. A user may join a conference not realizing that the conference is a video conference and that his or her webcam will stream video upon joining the conference.
RESOLUTION: When the video pane opens, indicating that video will begin streaming, the user can press Pause to pause the outgoing video stream.

Audio and Video Setup

Custom sound file fails to play in Communicator

ISSUE: After a user selects a custom sound to be played by Communicator, Communicator does not play the sound. The most common .wav files have a WAVEFORMTEX format. However, there is a WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE format that supports higher quality sound and more channels. Communicator does not support the WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE format. Files with the WAVEFORMTEX and WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE format have the same extension (.wav) so the user cannot distinguish them just by looking at the filename.
RESOLUTION: There is currently no resolution. Users must select .wav files that do not use the WAVFORMATEXTENSIBLE format.

Human Interface Device (HID) data not updated after users disconnect and reconnect the device within a short time interval

ISSUE: If a user disconnects and reconnects a (HID) device within a short interval, such as one to three seconds, dial tone and LED updates do not occur in the device.
RESOLUTION: Wait 10 seconds between disconnecting and re-connecting the device.

Changes to System Default sound device while Communicator is running require Communicator to be restarted

ISSUE: If a user changes the System Default sound device through the Windows Control Panel while Communicator is running, the changes will not take effect until the user exits Communicator and then restarts it.
RESOLUTION: Exit Communicator and then restart it.

Audio or Video device detection fails on Windows Vista if the user plugs in the device into a different USB port

ISSUE: If a user selects a device as the preferred audio or video device for conversations using Communicator, and then detaches the device and plugs it into a different USB port, Communicator may not recognize it because Windows gives it a different name. This issue is limited to Windows Vista®.
RESOLUTION: The user can re-attach the device to the port to which it was originally attached.

Known Media Issues on Specific Devices

ISSUE: You may experience a degradation of media quality due to known issues with some hardware devices.
RESOLUTION: See the following knowledge base article for a list of known issues on specific devices.

Webcam fails at beginning of Video Call on a computer running Windows Vista

ISSUE: For some laptops and monitors where the webcam is embedded in the display panel and Windows Vista is running on the computer, the webcam may display blank video output at the beginning of a call. This is caused by a bug in the Windows Vista USB Video Class driver.
RESOLUTION: Users can download a hotfix to resolve the problem. For hotfix information, see Office Communicator 2007 KB Article 931812. After applying the hotfix, the webcam will start up normally. In some circumstances, the user may experience a delay of up 5 seconds during which the user interface freezes, but the webcam should operate normally after the delay.

Registry key values must be set for making point-to-point video calls with a VGA-capable webcam

ISSUE: To make point-to-point video calls with a VGA-capable webcam, both the sender and the recipient of the call must have the proper registry key values set on their computer.
RESOLUTION: To enable VGA video in a point-to-point video call, users need to do the following:

Users must be running a dual-core or higher computer. Users may experience performance issues such as bad audio on low-end computers.
Attach a VGA capable-camera such as Microsoft LifeCam NX6000 to the computer.
Set the following registry keys for both the sender and receiver of the video call.
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\RTC\Quality]
"MaxAllowedSendVideoSize"=dword:00000002
"MaxAllowedReceiveVideoSize"=dword:00000002
After both the sender and the receiver set the registry keys, they must restart Communicator.

Note: VGA is enabled only in point to point video call, not in multiparty video conferencing. When VGA video mode is enabled, interoperability with any Live Communications Server 2005 client will no longer be possible.

Conversation History

Emoticons are not saved when Communicator archives a conversation history session in an Outlook message

ISSUE: Emoticons used in an instant messaging session do not appear in an archived message of the conversation history in the Outlook Conversation History folder.
RESOLUTION: There is no resolution at this time.

Conversation history item for a conference scheduled from Outlook lists conference sender and participants as Unknown

ISSUE: When joining a conference scheduled from Outlook, participant names are not saved when the conversation is ended and saved in Outlook.
RESOLUTION: There is no resolution at this time.

Public Internet Connectivity Access Control Entry (ACE)

Users upgrading from Office Communicator Public Beta, who have not moved Public Internet Connectivity ACE from the Blocked Container, should remove the Public Internet Connectivity ACE

ISSUE: Office Communicator 2007 (Public Beta) had the public ACE in Blocked container by default. If it hasn't been removed manually since then, it will still exist in Office Communicator 2007 RTM.
RESOLUTION: If users want to receive notifications from public IM contacts when the public IM contacts add them to their Contact List, they must remove the public Access Control Entry (ACE) from the Blocked container. This will enable them to receive notifications from public IM contacts.

Office Integration

Voice Mail and Missed Conversation items fail to appear and Message Waiting indicator is not updated when Outlook 2007 is run in cached mode.

ISSUE: The Message Waiting indicator in the Office Communicator window fails to update in some cases when a user running Outlook 2007 in cached mode receives a new Voice Mail or Missed Call item. Also, when users are running Outlook 2007 in cached mode, there have been instances where Voice Mail and Missed Conversations items have failed to appear in the Outlook Voice Mail or Missed Conversations folders. RESOLUTION: If there is an item in Office Outlook 2007 Voice Mail or Missed Conversations folder, you can enable the Message Waiting Indicator functionality by expanding the Search Folder node in Outlook 2007, clicking on the corresponding Search folder, either Missed Conversations or Voice mail, then selecting an item inside one of the folders and marking it read or unread. If there are no items in the Voice Mail or Missed Conversations folders, there is no workaround at this time. The Office Communicator team is working with the Office Outlook team on a fix.

Office Communicator cannot open a note from OneNote for a conversation after a graphic has been added to the note.

ISSUE: Office Communicator cannot open a note created with Microsoft® Office OneNote™ if a graphic has been added to the note.
RESOLUTION: Do not add graphic images to OneNote files that are linked to Office Communicator conversations.

Office Communicator Presence does not display in Office Outlook or SharePoint

ISSUE: Office Communicator presence is not displayed in Office Outlook or Office SharePoint.
RESOLUTION: Set the following registry keys to make Communicator the default application for Presence within Office applications.
"REG_DWORD HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Common\PersonaMenu\RTCApplication=3"
"REG_DWORD HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\PersonaMenu\RTCApplication=3"

Stale Presence in Office Outlook

ISSUE: When a user signs out of Office Communicator, contacts in the Communicator Contact List could show presence information that is out-of-date.
RESOLUTION: Restart Office Communicator or restart Office Outlook.

No Presence in Office Outlook

ISSUE: When a user signs out of Office Communicator, contacts in the Communicator Contact List could show presence information that is out-of-date.
RESOLUTION: If a user shuts down Office Communicator and navigates between e-mails within Outlook while Communicator is shutting down, Outlook may disconnect from Communicator and show no presence, even if Communicator is restarted.

Presence Unknown for certain contacts in Office Outlook

ISSUE: If a user's e-mail address, as entered into an Outlook e-mail, cannot be resolved to a SIP address in the Outlook Address Book or through Office Communicator, then presence cannot be retrieved for that user.
RESOLUTION: Set the SetOnlineStatusLevel registry key to allow Outlook to make a call to Microsoft Exchange to help resolve the SIP address for users. Setting this key can help particularly when the user's Exchange address (x400/X500) is in the e-mail.
"HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\IM] "SetOnlineStatusLevel"=dword:00000003"

Application Integration

Live Meeting entry points do not appear in the Office Communicator UI after the Live Meeting console installation

ISSUE: After installing the Live Meeting console, the Share Information Using Live Meeting and Meet Now Using Live Meeting Service menus do not appear in the Office Communicator user interface. The menu items should appear in the Communicator right-click menu when a user right-clicks on a contact in the Contact List. The Live Meeting menus should also be available from the Options button in the Communicator Conversation window. The Live Meeting Console installation writes the Office Communicator escalation registry keys under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Shared\UcClient\. When the Live Meeting console is installed with user privileges, the Office Communicator escalation registry keys are not written to the registry. The user will not be able to escalate to Live Meeting server or Live Meeting service meetings nor receive Live Meeting Service invites sent through Communicator. Also, if the user or administrator does not configure the Live Meeting server or service accounts, the Live Meeting menus will not appear in the Communicator UI. For more information about the registry keys shared between Office Communicator and Office Live Meeting, see Appendix C of "Deploying the Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 Client with Office Communications Server 2007 Guide."
RESOLUTION: The user or administrator must install the Live Meeting console with Administrator privileges. For Windows Vista, the user or administrator must install Live Meeting running as an administrator in Admin Approval Mode. After installing the Live Meeting console, the user or administrator must configure the Live Meeting User Accounts. To configure Live Meeting from the Live Meeting client, start Live Meeting, click the Down arrow in the Live Meeting Title bar, click Open User Accounts, in the User Accounts dialog box, specify the required information, and then click Test Connection. Alternately, the administrator can set the registry keys. Before Live Meeting entry points appear in the Office Communicator user interface, the user must sign out from Communicator and then sign in. To do this, the user can right-click the Communicator icon in the system tray and then click Exit, restart Communicator, and then sign back in to Communicator. To test if the Live Meeting menus are available, the user can right-click a contact in the Communicator Contact List. Based on what has been specified by the registry keys or configured in the Live Meeting User Accounts dialog box, the Share Information Using Live Meeting and Meet Now Using Live Meeting Service menus should appear.

Live Meeting invitations sent from Communicator 2005 are ignored by Communicator 2007

ISSUE: If a Communicator 2005 user sends an application-sharing invitation for the Live Meeting 2005 service or server, the Communicator 2007 user will see an invitation that looks like an IM invitation. The Communicator 2005 user will not get an error that the Communicator 2007 user cannot join the conference and the invitation will time out. The Communicator 2007 user will never see a conference invitation.
RESOLUTION: Communicator 2007 does not support the content of the Communicator 2005 application-sharing invitation. There is currently no resolution.

SharePoint site does not display presence indicator next to user's name

ISSUE: An Office Communicator user whose name appears on a Windows SharePoint Server 3.0 site (for example, as the owner of a document) might not have a presence indicator next to their name on the SharePoint site. This is typically caused by an incorrect or missing SIP address set for the user in SharePoint.
RESOLUTION: Either the user or the SharePoint site administrator can fix the incorrect or missing SIP address in SharePoint by clicking the user name to open the user profile, clicking Edit Item, entering the proper SIP address, and clicking OK.

Installation

Communicator fails to cancel installation

ISSUE: When installing Office Communicator, if a user attempts to cancel the installation after seeing the "Writing to system registry values" message, Communicator appears to cancel the installation and displays a message stating that "Microsoft Office Communicator Setup was not successfully completed." Although Communicator appears to cancel the installation, the installation is not cancelled.
RESOLUTION: There is currently no resolution.

Multilingual User Interface (MUI) Pack

The MUI Pack is not functional if installed in a different folder than Communicator

ISSUE: If either the MUI Pack or Communicator are not installed in the same folder, the MUI Pack will not be functional.
RESOLUTION: Always ensure that the MUI Pack and Communicator are installed in the same folder.

Language Support

Supplemental language support required for complex script or right-to-left languages

ISSUE: Problems can occur if users install a version of Communicator that has been localized for languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, Thai, or the Multilingual User Interface (MUI) Pack and your operating system does not have support for complex scripts or right-to-left languages.
RESOLUTION: Users can install supplemental language support files by opening Control Panel, clicking Regional and Language Options, clicking the Language Tab, and then selecting Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages.

Interoperability with Communicator 2005

ISSUE: The following interoperability issues exist between the Office Communicator 2005 client and Office Communicator 2007 client.

Application-sharing with NetMeeting is no longer available with Office Communicator 2007. If a Communicator 2005 user sends an application-sharing invitation to a Communicator 2007 user, the invitation will not be delivered to the 2007 user.
Application-sharing with NetMeeting is no longer available with Office Communicator 2007. If a Communicator 2005 user sends an application-sharing invitation to a Communicator 2007 user, the invitation will not be delivered to the 2007 user.
Passing contacts in a tabbed page using HTTP GET/POST is no longer supported. With Office Communicator 2007, developers can pass contextual information to a tabbed page by invoking a script in the tab page. For more information about custom tabs, see the Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 (Public Beta) Deployment Guide.
Enhanced Presence states in Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 are not visible to Office Communicator 2005 clients.
Location-based forwarding is no longer available in Office Communicator 2007.
The video stream freezes intermittently during audio/video calls between Office 2005 and Office Communicator 2007.
When an Office Communicator 2005 user calls an Office Communicator 2007 enterprise-voice enabled number, the Office Communicator 2007 user cannot add video to the call.
Adding or removing audio/video modes is not supported in a call from a Communicator 2007 client to a Communicator 2005 client if the Communicator 2005 client encryption level is set to "required" or "reject" by domain policy.
When a Communicator 2007 user has an IM conversation with a Communicator 2005 user, the 2007 client adds that user to the Recent Contacts list. As a result, the 2005 client user sees an alert indicating they have been added to the Contact List of the Communicator 2007 client. In reality, the user is only added to the Recent Contacts list, not the Contact List. Currently there is no way for a Communicator 2005 client user to distinguish between alerts being generated by being added to a Recent Contacts list and alerts generated by being added to a Contact List.

RESOLUTION: There is currently no resolution.

Interoperability with Windows Messenger 5.1

Limitations

ISSUE: Enhanced Presence states in Office Communicator 2007 are not supported in Windows Messenger 5.1
RESOLUTION: There is currently no resolution.

Interoperability with Windows Live Messenger

Limitations

ISSUE: The Windows Live service does not support the participation of a Windows Live Messenger user in an Office Communicator 2007 conference.
RESOLUTION: The Windows Live service plans to support this feature in the future.

Saturday, March 17, 2018