How to configure default free/busy options

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The Microsoft Outlook client allows a user to specify how many months of free/busy data should be published on the server, and how often (in minutes) to update the information on the server. The two methods of deploying these values are:

• Group Policy or Local Machine Policy
• Deploy registry values manually or with a script

With Microsoft Outlook 2000 and with later versions, a Group Policy or a Local Machine Policy can be used to make sure that all users who log on to the computer publish a uniform Free/Busy amount at consistent intervals. The Office Resource Kit for the required version of Microsoft Office contains the Outlook administrative template (.adm) file. Use this template to deploy the Group Policy or Local Machine Policy settings for Outlook.

The Free/Busy settings are stored as part of a user's profile in the following registry key, listed by Microsoft Windows version:

Windows XP

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
 \Software
  \Microsoft
   \Windows NT
    \CurrentVersion
     \Windows Messaging Subsystem
      \Profiles
       \<profile name>
       \0a0d020000000000c000000000000046
				

Windows 2000

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
 \Software
  \Microsoft
   \Windows NT
    \CurrentVersion
     \Windows Messaging Subsystem
      \Profiles
       \<profile name>
       \0a0d020000000000c000000000000046
				

Windows 95 or Windows 98

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
 \Software
  \Microsoft
   \Windows Messaging Subsystem
    \Profiles
     \<profile name>
      \0a0d020000000000c000000000000046
				

Windows NT

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
 \Software
  \Microsoft
   \Windows NT
    \CurrentVersion
     \Windows Messaging Subsystem
      \Profiles
       \<profile name>
       \0a0d020000000000c000000000000046
				

To specify the number of months to publish Free/Busy information, change the following registry value to a value between 0 and 12:

 
   Value Name: 00030330
   Value Type: REG_BINARY
   Value Range: 00 00 00 00 (0) to 0c 00 00 00 (12)
				

To specify the update interval to publish Free/Busy information, change the following Registry value to a value between 60 and 5940 seconds:

   Value Name: 00030331
   Value Type: REG_BINARY
   Value Range: 3c 00 00 00 (60)  to  34 17 00 00 (5940)
				

For example, to specify an update interval of 60 minutes:
Outlook 2000 writes these values to the following registry locations:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
 \Software
  \Microsoft
   \Office
    \9.0
     \Outlook
      \Preferences

   Value Name: FBPublishRange
   Value Type: DWORD

HKEY_CURRENT_USER
 \Software
  \Microsoft
   \Office
    \9.0
     \Outlook
      \Preferences

   Value Name: FBUpdateSecs
   Value Type: DWORD
   Value Data: <interval in seconds>
				

Outlook 2002 writes these values to the following registry locations:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER 
 \Software 
  \Microsoft 
   \Office 
    \10.0 
     \Outlook 
      \Preferences 

   Value Name: FBPublishRange 
   Value Type: DWORD 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER 
 \Software 
  \Microsoft 
   \Office 
    \10.0 
     \Outlook 
      \Preferences

   Value Name: FBUpdateSecs 
   Value Type: DWORD 
   Value Data: <interval in seconds> 

Outlook 2003 writes these values to the following registry locations:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER 
 \Software 
  \Microsoft 
   \Office 
    \11.0 
     \Outlook 
      \Preferences 

   Value Name: FBPublishRange 
   Value Type: DWORD 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER 
 \Software 
  \Microsoft 
   \Office 
    \11.0 
     \Outlook 
      \Preferences

   Value Name: FBUpdateSecs 
   Value Type: DWORD 
   Value Data: <interval in seconds>