Office 365 / Outlook Remote Deployment
Our DynaSend Office 365 / Outlook Deployment Software (for Outlook 2007, 2010, 2103, 2016 and Office 365) is a workstation / virtual-machine based software application that:
- Completes the initial installation of the “new” email signature for the user.
- Checks our cloud-based signature portal on a routine basis for any updates to the user’s email signature.
- If an update is found, sets it as the default signature for the user (in both Outlook and/or Office 365).
- Resets the user’s default signature to the required standard at least once every 24 hours.
The result is well enforced compliance coupled with automated installation (and updating) of the email signatures generated through the DigiTechBRANDING online service.
Your Emails Do Not Travel Through Our Servers
The communication from our software is strictly one-way - it requests to download the signature from the DynaSend signature server but no data is transmitted to the DynaSend severs at any point, nor are any of your emails routed through our servers.
Email Signature is Visible While Composing Messages, Even in VM Environments
Even for organizations where everything is in the cloud, users are able to see their signature when they are composing an email in Outlook.
Synchronization Between Our Portal and Outlook / Office 365
After accomplishing its initial task of installing the user’s signature, the Outlook / Office 365 Deployment Software runs in the background for the sole purpose of periodically checking for updates to the user’s signature. It does this by querying our server on a schedule and looking to see if the user’s signature has been updated since the last successful install of the signature. In most cases the result will be no change / no re-install. However, when a change has occurred to the user’s signature it will be re-installed and will replace the current default signature.
There are two scenarios where the user’s signature will have changed:
- The user (or designated administrator at your firm) has used the signature management portal to make a change to their signature (adding a cell phone number, changing their title, etc.)
- Upon request, we have made a global change to the signatures (adding a trade show announcement, changing the office address for all Dallas employees, etc.)
Updates occur with no user input required, and are non-disruptive as the downloaded / installed signature files are no more than 6k.
Remote Deployment via Group Policy, Ms Sccm, Zenworks, Symantec Endpoint Management Portal
The Administrative version of our software is designed for push deployment via tools like Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (MS SCCM) or third party tools, such as ZenWorks or Symantec Endpoint Management Portal.
Requirement: The Outlook / Office 365 Deployment Software requires Microsoft’s .NET Framework version 4.6 (or higher). In most cases the .NET Framework will have been automatically installed by Windows update, however it can also be manually installed from https://www.microsoft.com/net/download/dotnet-framework-runtime.
Software Download Link (Administrative Version): https://downloads.dynasend.com/DynaSendSignatureDeploymentToolAdminSetup2-0-6-x86.msi
Group Policy Deployment: Here’s a link to Microsoft’s instructions for remotely installing an MSI package using group policy: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/816102.
Note: If deploying to PC’s shared by multiple users or to the Citrix shared environment, click for additional instructions.
Additional Technical Information: Outlook / Office 365 Deployment Software FAQ’s.
Once deployed to a user’s workstation, our software will do nothing (when installed in admin mode) if the user has not yet created an email signature using our portal. However, once they use the portal to create their signature, the Outlook / Office 365 Deployment Software will:
- Discover their signature.
- Install it into Outlook and / or Office 365(1).
- Set it as their default.
(1) Synchronization into Office 365 requires that the user click open the “DynaSend Outlook Signature Deployment Tool” using the icon in their tool-tray and enter their Office 365 password.
This results in the following efficient email signature deployment workflow:
- You use MS SCCM (or comparable) to push the Outlook / Office 365 Deployment Software out to workstations.
- You direct your users to visit the email signature portal we’ve created for you so that they may create their signature.
- After they’ve filled out the signature data entry form and clicked “Finish”, the closing screen on our portal will inform them that their signature will be automatically installed within the next 6 hours.
Any future update to their signature that they make, or that is made by someone else in your firm for them (Marketing / HR) will be automatically applied, as will any global updates we are asked to make to all the signatures (such as the addition of a new social media site, logo revision, special announcement, etc.)
Modifications by us can apply to all of your signatures, or to just a particular location, for instance, if an office is moving we can add an announcement before and after the move so that people will be aware of this.
Encouraged / Enforced Compliance
Upon completion of the Outlook / Office 365 Deployment Software installation, the user’s default signature will be automatically reset to the standardized signature at least once a day, making it difficult and impractical for them to use a non-approved signature over the long term. Any lasting updates that the user needs to make to their signature will have be done through our portal, thus ensuring continued compliance with your corporate standards.
Further enforcement can be achieved through the use of a “group policy” that locks out user’s access to their signature dialog in Outlook.
