Outlook Web Access URL parameters

On
a previous entry
, I described the URL parameter for accessing the dumpster
via OWA. There are actually many many more URL parameters you can use directly
or embed in other web pages. For example, all of the following can be retrieved with
a URL:

- The list of items (messages, contacts, appointments) and the view associated with them

The navigation bar on the left-hand side of the screen  
(ok, right hand side if you're using a hebrew or arabic Accept-Language)  
  • The "compose" form, used to create a new item
  • A certain day on your calendar
  • The preview/reading pane
  • Various dialogs and pages such as the Options page

Today's tip is a quick highlight of some of the
URL parameters you can use for displaying a view of items in a folder.

 

For example, if you want to point at a public
folder, you can embed it into a separate web page with an IFRAME:

 

<iframe width=800 height=400
src="https://myserver/public/mypublicfolder/?cmd=contents">

 

This displays the list of items and the view (which
includes the reading pane) for that public folder. If you want to specify the view
that should be used, just append the name of the view as another URL parameter:

 

<iframe width=800 height=400
src="https://myserver/public/mypublicfolder/?cmd=contents&view=Two%20Line%20View">

 

The list of possible view names can be seen in
the OWA UI; in OWA 2000 it's in a drop-down list on the toolbar, in OWA 2003 it's
in a drop-down list next to the name of the folder (in the same pane as the list of
items).

 

You
can also specify the view for another folder type, such as a calendar folder. The
following URL will display this week's calendar (which could be really useful to embed
onto a home page for your browser, to get a quick glance at your calendar without
requiring you to go to OWA):

 

<iframe
width=800 height=400 src="https://myserver/exchange/username/calendar/?cmd=contents&view=weekly">

 

To
go to a specific day in your calendar (or any calendar folder), using my son's birthday
as an example:

 

<iframe
width=800 height=400 src="https://myserver/exchange/username/calendar/?cmd=contents&d=8&m=6&y=2003">

 

Note: Accessing any of these
OWA URLs will require you to authenticate. If you're using IE and accessing a back-end
server directly (and forms-based authentication from OWA 2003 is not enabled on that
server) and Integrated Windows Authentication is enabled, you won't be prompted for
credentials. If you're using another browser that doesn't support NTLM/Kerberos or
you're using a URL to a front-end server, you will be prompted to log on and will
have to enter your credentials.