Central configuration

As part of OnePlace Solutions products a series of configuration files are added to the Windows User profile.

These files contain settings relating to the functionality of the OnePlace Solutions products (OnePlaceMail, OnePlaceDocs, and OnePlaceLive) and can be adjusted via the Settings dialog .

Changes to user specific configurations can be deployed on an Enterprise level by administrators, and these configuration setting changes can be made anytime via this method.

The Process:

Create:

All changes deployed by this process are specified in a UTF-8 XML document named config_update.xml.

Publish and consume:

The OnePlace Solutions products create a series of configuration files added to the user's local window profile. The default location for the configuration files will be:

It is not necessary to modify the client configuration settings when installing any products in the OnePlace Solutions suite.

The software will install with a default configuration.

Config_update.xml Creation rules

The config_update.xml file can be created using an xml authoring program or by using the Notepad.exe program available in Windows.

In order to create a config_update.xml file it is assumed that you have a basic understanding of xml files and the rules of writing valid xml.

Saving config_update.xml

When saving the config_update.xml file the file should be set to UTF-8. This is available when selecting 'Save As' in Notepad

Setting the encoding to UTF-8 is critical if your xml file contains non-English characters. Failing to do this will result in errors on Outlook startup when the config_update.xml file is processed.

The config_update.xml file can contain a combination of instructions for updating the configuration settings. You may combine as many instructions into a single config_update.xml as is necessary to meet your objective.

Deleting entire sections of a configuration file:

The <configElementDeletions> tag is included to identify a whole section of the config.xml file for that element.

Example: Delete All Site Collections:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<configuration>
   <configElementDeletions>
   <configElementDeletion elementPath="siteCollections"/>
   </configElementDeletions>
</configuration>

Example: Delete all Favorite Folders:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> 
<configuration>
    <configElementDeletions>
    <configElementDeletion elementPath="outlookFolders"/>
    </configElementDeletions>
</configuration>

Rules to create config_update.xml

Most of the OnePlace Solutions tags that you can enter into the config_update.xml file have a mandatory parameter called action. This action parameter can have a value of insert or delete.

The rules applied for an insert action:

If a matching tag has already been set (or changed from the default), then ignore the insert action.
Example 1: if a library has already been added to Favorites and an insert action is encountered that tries to insert the same library again, then the insert action is ignored.
Example 2: if a menu item has been renamed and an insert action is encountered that tries to rename the menu item again, then the insert action is ignored

If no matching tag has been set, and/or the functionality has not been modified from the default then the insert action is performed.
Example 3: if a library does not exist in a user Favorites folders list and an insert action occurs, then the library will be added to the users Favorites folders list.

The rules applied for a delete action:

If a matching tag has already been set, then delete the matching tag (returning functionality back to the default)
Example 4: if a library has already been added to Favorites and a delete action is encountered, then the library will be deleted from the users Favorites folders list.
Example 5: if a menu item has been previously renamed and a delete action is encountered then the previous customization of the menu name is removed, returning the menu item back to its default (non-customized) state.
If no matching tag has been set, and/or the functionality has not been modified from the default then ignore the delete action.
Example 6: if a library does not exist in a user’s Favorites folders list and a delete action occurs for the library, then the delete action is ignored.

Best Practice:

Enforcing a setting : Recommended to perform a delete action before an insert action. This will ensure that all users will receive the same setting that is being applied, in the event that the user has modified these settings independently.

Resetting (Clearing) Client Configuration back to default settings

OnePlaceMail and OnePlaceDocs can be set back to default settings by deleting/renaming the users configuration files that is located in the OnePlace Solutions directory.
Ensure Outlook and Docs Explorer are closed and delete/rename this file, then restart the applications.

The Configuration Update Process