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Random problem of replacing recipients
Problem reported by Jean-Guy Dubois - 3/17/2017 at 3:10 AM
Resolved
Hello,
 
I opened a support ticket two month ago about this problem. Without correction for the moment.
 

Since upgrading from v14.x to v15.x, Some Outlook 2013 users have seen their recipients replaced by others in the messaging domain.
For example : jerry@mydomain.com becomes john@mydomain.com
The replacement occurs when sending.
It seems that the wrong recipient is always the next item in the Gloable Address List
The wrong recipient appears in the sent items and the server logs show that Outlook has requested sending to the wrong recipient.
The problem was reproducible with the same recipients.

I understood that Outlook's autocompletion played a role. Emptying the cache eliminated the problem. But not its reappearance in a random way, for random recipients.
As a result I have disabled the auto completion of Outlook.

The frequency of the problem was reduced but I had new cases since.
This time the problem was not reproducible. A second sends, to the replaced recipients the first time, was done correctly.

Without autocompletion, users rely on the global address book that is synchronized through sharepoint link.
We encounter the problem only between addresses of the only domain managed by the server. Addresses that are in the GAL.

We have never had such a problem for years, until the update of v14.x to v15.x

Has anyone else got the problem?
If yes, what info did I not show?

Thank you.

31 Replies

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2
Steve Vibert Replied
Yes, we know this issue well and it's happened to us 3 times since we "upgraded" from v14 to v15 last October.  We've had a number of tickets opened and SmarterTools has been pretty unresponsive about getting this fixed now that all of the devs appear to be working on v16.  Overall the situation sucks and we're looking at moving to Exchange. 
 
We've supplied ST support with lots of info including videos that show the problem, screenshots that show duplicate entries in the Outlook GAL SharePoint list, errors we've found in the GAL SharePoint list using MFCMAPI (https://mfcmapi.codeplex.com/), etc. but have seen little to nothing in return. This is a completely unacceptable bug with significant confidentiality issues. We've had the wrong staff receive salary and compensation communications. And the worst part is that it's completely unpredictable--we're at the point where we have ZERO confidence in the product.  Other than the "sorry for the inconvenience" token response, support has done little more than to tell us there's nothing they can do because all of the devs are working on getting v16 out the door.
 
We've been a happy customer since 2008 and it's pretty disappointing to get kicked to the curb this way.
2
Juan Lai Replied
Hello All,
 
   Any update about this?
 
   I've found this issue on both SM15 and SM16. This will be happened  when you create GAL
via sharepoint service (Add to Outlook feature), and then you doing version upgrades
for some times. 
 
    You will need to remove the current GAL sync, then re-create it. And you don't know when
it will be happened if you upgrade your SmarterMail again and again. (happened randomly)
 
    I believe this will kill us for some important and confidential emails...............
 
rds
Juan Lai
2
marco radoux Replied
Hello There, we have the same problem at one of our customers side and this is very big problem as there some emails went the wrong way :-( ! Marco.
1
Joe Dellaragione Replied
I am a little late to this thread but I have the same issue - and it is unacceptable. It is causing confidential emails to be sent to the wrong recipients. I have opened a ticket. 
1
Steve Vibert Replied
Frankly, the fact that SmarterTools can't be bothered to take the time to post any form of reply on this VERY serious issue sucks.  This problem is a ticking time bomb that will eventually affect anyone using SM with Outlook.  Just think of the consequences of having a random employee within your organization receive a very confidential email meant for someone else. 
0
Paul Blank Replied
It would be good to have a response from ST on this topic.
4
Tim Uzzanti Replied
Employee Post
We have had about 10 customers report the issue to our Technical Support team over the last year and we sent them the following updates:
 
After spending 100's of hours debugging the issue internally and on customers machines with custom builds etc... the result was a bug in Microsoft Outlook.
 
We opened a case with Microsoft and they said they are no longer updating the functionality in Microsoft Outlook.  This is the same answer we received related to Exchange ActiveSync.  Each and every update of Microsoft Outlook on Windows keeps hiding features and functionality.
 
We are currently working on a MAPI implementation that will available VERY shortly.  All Windows users using Microsoft Outlook will want to move to MAPI and all MacOS users using Microsoft Outlook with want to use our existing Exchange Web Services protocols.
 
In Microsoft's defense, these protocols are newer and / or more up to date and expose more Exchange functionality.  For example, many more sharing features and group features will be available etc!
 
The next couple months will be exciting!
Tim Uzzanti CEO SmarterTools Inc. (877) 357-6278 www.smartertools.com
0
michael~ Replied
Will SMv15 users benefit from these exciting couple of months, or just v16?
0
Tim Uzzanti Replied
Employee Post
SmarterMail v17. We release new features and product yearly!
Tim Uzzanti CEO SmarterTools Inc. (877) 357-6278 www.smartertools.com
0
marco radoux Replied
Yes, Tim, you´re so right ... the next months will be exciting ... as my customers will send me to hell with this problem not fixed as soon as possible ! ;-)

Is perhaps using CARDDAV an alternative at the moment ?

Greetings Marco
0
Tim Uzzanti Replied
Employee Post
Microsoft has chosen to abandon certain technologies without any notice. Its not the same Microsoft we have spent the last 20 years working with!

You could try: https://sourceforge.net/projects/outlookcaldavsynchronizer/

Also, you could use Exchange Active Sync and all email, contacts, and calendars will be synced. That would also allow all your customers to use their mobile devices with full synchronization.
Tim Uzzanti CEO SmarterTools Inc. (877) 357-6278 www.smartertools.com
0
Steve Vibert Replied
@Tim. In your previous post you said: "This is the same answer we received related to Exchange ActiveSync. ". I'm confused; is Exchange ActiveSync a viable option or not?
5
Tim Uzzanti Replied
Employee Post
Microsoft originally made EAS (Exchange ActiveSync) for mobile.  All mobile device manufacturers support EAS and its not going anywhere.  Its the perfect solution for mobile!
 
In Windows 10, Microsoft decided to offer EAS in the Windows Mail, Calendar and People applications and it works great.  These were all built from the ground-up with EAS in mind!
 
Then, Microsoft decided to integrate EAS into Microsoft Outlook which was great because we could then prioritize an EAS implementation over MAPI and that would allow our customers to license ONLY ONE protocol which their users could use on both mobile and desktop!  FYI, we pay Microsoft for every EAS license our customers use.  When you buy our add-on a majority of that goes to Microsoft!
 
EAS has been available in Microsoft Outlook for almost 2 years.  Microsoft has fixed most of the issues but because Microsoft Outlook is so legacy and really wasn't intended to work with a protocol like EAS, there are some cases, especially with REALLY LARGE mailboxes, where it could be a little problematic.
 
I personally use Microsoft Outlook 2016 with EAS on my 2 gigabyte mailbox.  It works perfect.  I also use EAS on my iPhone and Android phone.  I also have Windows Mail connected via EAS.  I then use Microsoft Outlook for Mac via EWS.
 
From time to time I use Mac Mail via EWS (Exchange Web Services) but Apple just blew up their Exchange integration with their most recent 10.13.2 release of MacOS.  We have already contacted Apple and provided information to their engineers.
 
Soon, we will be offering MAPI which will be primarily for Microsoft Outlook users on Windows!  This bugs me because now you need MAPI and EAS to provide full synchronization across desktop and mobile.  But, this is what Microsoft wants and my guess is most of their decisions are for financial reasons!  
 
Microsoft is even pulling functionality off Outlook.com and Google stopped supporting EAS on Gmail unless you are part of the G-suite.  Google moved to use DAV for synchronization to avoid paying Microsoft.
 
Its all a nightmare and we're trying to make it as seamless and cost effective as possible for our customers! 
 
Hope this helps, Tim
Tim Uzzanti CEO SmarterTools Inc. (877) 357-6278 www.smartertools.com
0
Jim Vaden Replied
What about those on older versions of Outlook? Will these changes affect those versions too?
0
Derek Curtis Replied
Employee Post
Jim -- *some* versions of Outlook have had updates to support MAPI over HTTP, which is what we're implementing. However, it will require that you are updated to the latest Outlook version that has MAPI over HTTP support. SO the answer is "yes and no".
Derek Curtis COO SmarterTools Inc. (877) 357-6278 www.smartertools.com
0
echoDreamz Replied
I will never get why Microsoft pulled EWS support back when they were releasing Outlook 2013. EAS is 100% pure garbage on Outlook. Delete like 50 emails, 10 of them are still in SmarterMail's web interface, 3 of them are still on your iPhone. It just causes a global headache to us and our client base. I cannot wait to get rid of EAS for Outlook.
1
Mark Wilson Replied
So is the thread about EAS and Outlook saying that it should fix the sending to incorrect recipient problem? If it is , I have to disagree. We have been switching users to EAS due to problems with our IMAP server. We are still having the problems with addresses being replaced at time of sending. Any more ideas? This is a huge problem.
0
Mark Wilson Replied
Oh and if it is due to a bug in Outlook, why did it manifest itself in our case as well as others when upgrading from V14.x?
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Jean-Guy Dubois Replied
Tim Uzzanti wrote the problem is a bug in outlook.
But the problem has appeared with the upgrade of version 14 to 15 of smartermail !
0
Joseph Holden Replied
Last posts are about 3.5 months old but the topic and discussion is perfectly on track with the issue we are experiencing. Has anyone found other helpful links that gave us actual real-world options to resolve this?
We are currently on SmarterMail Version 15.4.6151 and our users run Outlook 2010.
This has become a huge issue for us and resulted in some very negative outcomes where emails were sent to the incorrect recipient. Thanks for any replies!
0
Jim Vaden Replied
@Joseph
Unfortunately no resolution to my knowledge and we have the same versions almost to a T.
Very disappointing plus in healthcare this kind of issue could be very troubling!!!
0
Paul Blank Replied
Let's see now... folks upgrade from SM v14 to v15 and these problems begin. And it's Microsoft's fault, how....?
 
I don't allow anyone to use Outlook with SM, any version. Luckily, and as I've mentioned before, my clients are amenable THESE DAYS.
 
I have lost SM clients over the years because of these very issues. This is NOTHING NEW, despite what some say.
 
My largest SM client is in the process of transitioning to Office 365 from SmarterMail for reasons other than Outlook, but SM-related nonetheless. We will keep some users on SM, but most will be gone. It's sad.
 
If a product represents itself as Exchange-compatible, it should be so, with no "gotchas." *sigh*
1
Steve Vibert Replied
We continue to have this issue and have migrated most of our users off of Outlook. Frankly the situation sucks because despite what SmarterTools thinks, SM is not the functional equivalent of Outlook. We still have a handful of users using Outlook and the problem occurs in a horrifically unpredictable manner. We’ve had emails detailing employee performance issues, comp messages, and all manner of sensitive communications delivered to the wrong recipient. ST’s cavalier attitude about this problem is unacceptable and we’ll be migrating to Exchange in the next several months so we can put this behind us once and for all.
0
CST IT Admin Replied
Hi I am having this same issue. Tim suggested Caldav, how do you set that up for GAL
0
Luk Replied
Hello,
"Add to Outlook" has been re-added in SM 17, does it mean that random problem of replacing recipients is resolved in SM17?
0
Tim Uzzanti Replied
Employee Post
Microsoft gave up on Add to Outlook functionality.

EAS on Outlook is pretty stable even though Microsoft gave up on that as well.  MAPI will be here shortly.  We will be announcing the release dates shortly.
Tim Uzzanti CEO SmarterTools Inc. (877) 357-6278 www.smartertools.com
0
Nicolas Fertig Replied
Hello Tim,

What do you mean they gave up the "Add to Outlook" functionnality. Will they drop the support for this in future Outlook releases ?
We've just installed Outlook 2019 (pc) to test how it works against our production SM16 and it seems it still works.

However it doesn't fully work with our SM100 migration attempt (it says the content is read only and we can't modify anything, also with outlook 2016).

We have hundred of customers using this functionality so it's currently preventing us to upgrade to SM17/100

Kind Regards

0
Tim Uzzanti Replied
Employee Post
Their not updating it or fixing any bugs with it.  Same with EAS in Outlook.  They're focused only on variations of MAPI support in Outlook moving forward.
Tim Uzzanti CEO SmarterTools Inc. (877) 357-6278 www.smartertools.com
0
Jasper Yong Replied
Is the sending to wrong recipient issue fixed ?  My customer is using  latest built 7242,  sill have the same issue 
Regards KLhost Network Sdn Bhd Javaid Attari Office No : 03-77251111, 03-77250112, 03-77253112 H.P : +6018- 25 37 685
0
Douglas Foster Replied
Given the comments that Outlook is picking the wrong entry from the Global Catalog, I wonder if the problem will disappear if I remove the SmarterMail global catalog.   This assumes that the SmarterMail global catalog has been configured using LDAP.   We only have the problem with a few users, and most of our Outlook users do not have this feature configured.

0
Steve Vibert Replied
This is not related to LDAP authentication; we don't use LDAP authentication with SmarterMail and have been experiencing this issue for a couple of years now.  As best as I can determine it's related to an index issue in the Outlook users' downloaded SmarterMail GAL and always seems to happen after we delete an email user account in SmarterMail.  Why an index issue?  Because the (wrong) recipient of the email as always one or 2 positions away from the email address that the message was addressed to.  For example:

Original message is addressed to shelly.johnson@yourdomain.com
Email is sent to incorrect recipient: sharon.belmore@yourdomain.com

I still have a hard time believing that this is an Outlook issue.

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