Office Communicator 2007 offers new features that make it easier
for you to manage your contacts and Contact List.
Manage your contacts and Contact List
New contact management features include:
Show Recent Contacts A
Recent Contacts group is now available in the
Contact List. The Recent Contacts group is a list
of the ten contacts with whom you have most recently communicated,
whether by IM, phone, or video.
Drag and drop contacts into
groups You can now drag contacts from the Search
Results pane into your Contact List and you can drag and drop
contacts between groups within the Contact List. Note, however,
that you cannot drag contacts into a distribution group in your
Contact List.
Drag and drop contacts from the Contact
List to the Conversation window roster, or vice
versa You can add contacts to an IM, call, or video
session by dragging contacts from the Contact List into the roster
in the Conversation window. You can also drag contacts from the
roster in the Conversation window into your Contact List.
Distribution Group
Integration Now you can add any mail-enabled group
that is in Active Directory to your Contact List.
Improved User Interface for the Contact
Card You can click a contact’s Presence button to
view his or her Contact Card. The Contact Card provides additional
details about the contact and provides options for contacting the
person.
Office Communicator 2007 offers new presence states to more
accurately reflect a person’s willingness and ability to
communicate. In addition, Communicator now gives you more granular
presence management, enabling you to control access to your
presence information by assigning contacts to access levels. New
presence features include:
New presence states and
icons New presence states include:
Inactive The contact may
be available, but their computer has been idle for more than the
idle-time interval, which is five minutes by default.
Busy (Inactive) The contact
is engaged in another activity, such in a meeting, but their
computer has been inactive for the idle-time interval, which is
five minutes by default.
Presence-state
transitioning Office Communicator 2007 introduces
new presence states that are determined by a user-configurable,
idle-time setting that monitors user activity on the computer. If
no activity is detected on a user’s computer, the presence state
transitions from Available, to Inactive, to Away.
Control access to your presence information
Office Communicator 2007 offers greater granularity for
controlling access to your Presence information.
Improved Presence
Management Now you can assign varying levels of
access to your contacts to control who can see your presence
information, and how much of it they can see. For example, you can
assign the Team access level to your closest
co-workers to allow them to see your mobile phone number and to
allow them to interrupt you with an IM or phone call when in
Do Not Disturb mode. For other co-workers in your
company, you can assign the Company access level, so that they can
see your work phone number, but not your mobile phone number, and
cannot interrupt you when your presence status is in Do Not Disturb mode.
Interrupt list You can now
assign a Team access level to your contacts to create a
preferential list of contacts who are allowed to communicate with
you when your Presence status is set to Do Not
Disturb. You can also set Do Not Disturb
options to control the type of alerts that you see when your status
is set to Do Not Disturb.
Location setting
configuration You can set your location status from
the Presence menu in the Office Communicator window status area.
You can select the Home or Office location, or enter a custom location. Location
information is visible to contacts that are granted Personal or Team access level.
Office Communicator 2007 now keeps a record of IM conversations
and phone, video and conference calls in the Office Outlook
Conversation History folder. Conversation History
features include:
Find Previous
Conversations You can now right-click on a contact
in your Contact List, and then select Find Previous
Conversations to open Microsoft Outlook and view a list of all
conversations with the selected contact.
History of incoming and outgoing
calls All incoming and outgoing call information is
logged in the Outlook Conversation History
folder.
Missed conversation archival and
rejoin Missed conversations and conference
invitations are archived in the Outlook Inbox
folder. You can start a conversation with a caller or rejoin a
conference by clicking on links embedded in the conversation
item.
Improved formatting of conversation items
in Outlook Archived conversation items in Outlook
are now customized to show conversation participant names and the
modes of communication used in the conversation. Conversation items
also provide links that enable you to rejoin a previous
conference.
OneNote integration into Conversation
history You can take notes with Microsoft OneNote
note-taking program during a conversation. Notes taken during a
conversation are accessible from a link embedded in the archived
conversation item in the Conversation History
folder. Contextual information from the conversation is included
with the conversation notes.
Contextual information
Archived conversation items in Outlook contain contextual
information such as the conversation mode. You can click the
archived item in Outlook to open the item in the Outlook
Inbox.
With Office Communicator 2007 conferencing features, you can
start an unscheduled conference call with a few mouse clicks.
Make conference calls with a few mouse clicks
New conferencing features in Office Communicator 2007
include:
Seamless switching of phone conversations
to a conference call If you are engaged in a
one-to-one phone conversation, you can invite additional people to
the conversation to create a multi-party conference call.
Ability to dial out to an alternate phone
number You can join a conference by redirecting the
conference invitation to an alternate phone, such as a your mobile
phone. In addition, if you are a conference leader, you can invite
users to a conference by dialing out to a (PSTN/PBX) phone
number.
Seamless switching of one-to-one phone
conversations to a conference call You can switch
from a one-to-one phone conversation to a conference call by simply
inviting new contacts to the call.
Ability to start a conference call by
selecting a group in the contact window You can
multi-select contacts in the Contact List or click a group in the
Contact List, and then select a conference call option to start a
conference.
Improved connection in conference
roster New status messages and icons in the
conference roster provide additional conference connection status,
indicating whether a user’s connection status is "Inviting",
"Connecting" or "Connected".
Rejoin experience If you
are disconnected from a conference, you can now easily rejoin the
conference from a Rejoin button that appears in the Communicator
Conversation window or in the archived conversation item in the
Outlook Conversation History folder.
Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 offers enterprise voice, the
IP telephony component of the Unified Communications solution.
If your organization is configured for enterprise voice
capabilities, the following features are available to you:
Voice mail Unanswered
calls are redirected to voice mail and can be retrieved using the
Call Voice Mail feature available in Office
Communicator 2007.
Place calls from Outlook
You can click a right-click a contact's presence button in an
Outlook item to open a contextual menu that enables you to call the
contact. For items addressed to multiple contacts you can select a
Call All option to initiate a Communicator
conference call.
Easy call initiation from
Search You can enter a phone number in the Search
box and press ENTER to place a call. If you search for a contact by
name, Communicator selects the first name in the Search Results
box, enabling you to place a call by pressing CTRL+ENTER.
Add Subject and Importance to a call You can
add a conversation subject and an importance flag to a call,
enabling the call recipient to quickly determine the reason for the
call, as well as its urgency.
Office Communicator 2007 offers call forwarding settings that
can be easily configured. If Communicator is configured for
enterprise voice you can set up call forwarding settings to:
Forward call to Incoming
calls can be forwarded to another number such as a mobile phone, to
a new phone number specified by the user, to another contact or
voice mail.
Simultaneously ring this additional
number If you are mobile or between phones during
your work day, you can configure call-forwarding settings to ring
an additional number at the same time that your default phone
number rings. You can also use the Simultaneously ring this
additional number feature to ensure that you receive phone calls on
your mobile phone, even if you are not logged on to Office
Communicator on your computer.
Redirect unanswered calls
You can configure call-forwarding settings to specify that if a
call is not accepted within a specified time interval, the call is
redirected to another number, contact, or voice mail.
Apply call-forwarding rules only during
working hours If you are running Outlook 2007
against an Exchange 2007 Server, you can configure your working
hours in the Outlook Work Calendar by selecting Tools, Options, and
then Calendar Options in Outlook. You can then use the
Call-Forwarding Settings dialog box in Office Communicator to apply
call-forwarding settings only during the work hours specified in
the Outlook Work Calendar.
Automatic Audio and Video
Setup For Office Communicator 2007, the Audio and
Video Setup experience has been significantly improved, as
described below.
Automatic detection and selection of
devices The Set Up Audio and Video wizard
automatically detects and selects audio and video devices,
including USB handset and headsets, speakers and microphones, and
Web cameras. If a device is detached/re-attached or a new device is
attached, the Set Up Audio and Video wizard automatically
reconfigures devices for the user.
Option to use high-fidelity speakers for
call audio instead of speakerphones If you have a
USB handsets or headset, the Set Up Audio and Video wizard provides
the option to select a different device (other than the USB handset
or headset) for playing audio from calls. This offers you the
ability to play audio from calls, for example, on high-fidelity
speakers.
Option to select the device to play
program sounds You can now use the Set Up Audio and
Video wizard to select a device (other than the default audio
device) to play program sounds such as the “ringing for an incoming
call” or an “instant messaging” invitation alert.
New features available in invitation alerts in Office
Communicator 2007 include:
Mini alerts when the user is in full-screen
mode When you are is in full-screen mode, running either the
Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation graphics program or Microsoft®
Office Live Meeting, incoming calls and instant messaging (IM)
invitations take the form of a mini-alert that can be expanded to
full size if needed.
Communication mode and conversation and
conferencing indicators in invitation alerts Invitation alerts
for incoming instant messages, audio or video calls, or conference
calls, display visual indicators to show the communication
mode—whether IM, audio, or video, and whether the invitation is to
a conference or simply a conversation with an individual user.
Communication mode and conversation and
conferencing indicators in invitation alerts Invitation alerts
for incoming instant messages, audio or video calls, or conference
calls, display visual indicators to show the communication
mode—whether IM, audio, or video, and whether the invitation is to
a conference or simply a conversation with an individual user.
Office Communicator 2007 offers the following improvements for
audio and video devices:
Support for audio USB devices
Office Communicator 2007 now provides support for
telephony-class Universal Serial Bus (USB) audio devices, including
handsets and headsets.
USB Handset Display
Communicator now supports USB handsets with displays that shows
Call alerts, Call subject, and Caller information and timer. Also,
sounds are now integrated with USB handset displays to enhance
calling experiences.
Speakerphone button in Conversation
window A speakerphone button has been added to the
Communicator Conversation window, enabling you to toggle call audio
between speakers and a USB handset or headset.
Auto detection The Office
Communicator 2007 Set Up Audio and Video wizard automatically
detects and selects the preferred audio and video devices, so you
are not required to configure and select devices before starting
phone or video conversations.
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