As some of you may remember, a while back we offered three Outlook Integration plug-ins: SendMail, Outlook Manipulator, and Exchange Manipulator – all were sold at three different price points and offered a variety of different functionality.

In November 2015, we made the decision to simplify our Outlook Integration offerings and combined the functionality of the three plug-ins into one, which is our current Outlook Manipulator plug-in. Outlook Manipulator v7 can push and pull data between FileMaker and Exchange via Outlook and has the ability to communicate to any Exchange mailbox for any user on the system.

Then, earlier this year, we decided to resurrect Exchange Manipulator, but with more functionality and server-side compatibility. We creatively named it Exchange Manipulator SE (Server Edition). We wanted to give our clients the ability to use the plug-in directly with Exchange – circumventing the Outlook application altogether. Similar to Outlook Manipulator, this plug-in can talk with Contact, Calendar, Task, Mail and Note data from any Exchange mailbox or with public and shared folders in an Exchange environment.

Check out our overview video:

Click here to view the embedded video.

What can the plug-in do?
Depending on your needs, the Exchange Manipulator SE plug-in will allow you to:
· Import and parse emails to create a complete archive of all email correspondence
· Send plain text or HTML formatted emails with multiple attachments from FileMaker
· Send official Exchange meeting requests and cancellations directly from FileMaker
· Accept, decline, and tentatively accept meeting Exchange invitations
· Push or pull tasks and notes between FileMaker and Exchange
· Set due dates for tasks and mark tasks as complete
· Get and set contact images
· Send email “On Behalf of” or “From” another user in the Exchange environment
· Save messages as .eml files (allows you to archive your email in a FileMaker container or elsewhere)
· Send official Exchange meeting requests to required and optional attendees
· Set reminder rules to utilize the pop-up reminders within your chosen calendar application

Why did we make it server-side?
Some benefits of a server license include:
· Added convenience of installing the server plug-in on one machine
· Unlimited users on one server
· Ability to automatically update changes to users’ Exchange mailboxes using FileMaker Server’s scripting engine
· Communicate directly to Exchange without requiring Outlook
· Communicate directly to any Exchange mailbox
· Push and pull information from any device using FileMaker Pro, Go, and WebDirect

One Last Note.
It is a common scenario that with multiple users there are multiple requests being passed simultaneously and these requests may conflict with one another. The Exchange Manipulator SE is scripted to allow and handle this reality. Using FileMaker’s Perform Script On Server script step, developers can call on the server-side Exchange Manipulator SE plug-in scripts in order to perform various tasks, without waiting for a response. This allows FileMaker to queue up numerous requests simultaneously, such as adding a contact while pulling the contents of an email message, while also scheduling an upcoming meeting. The tasks will be executed in the background by FileMaker Server, allowing users to send the tasks off and move on in their workflow.

For more information and to download a demo visit www.exchangemanipulator.com.

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