Webex with Outlook 2016 (on premise)

romain.charpie · ‎02-16-2022

Hi,

My Webex Meetings was automaticaly upgraded to last version of Webex 42.2.0.21338.

Since then, I cannot see my future Webex appointments anymore!

I have enabled the checkbox "Connect Webex to microsoft Outlook".

The Health Checker is all green. Outlook integration is also OK.

I repeat we have an Exchange on premise installation, not Office 365.

I am running Office version 2016 32 bits.

Igor Lukic · ‎02-17-2022

Hi @romain.charpie,

the option "Connect Webex to Microsoft Outlook" is not used by the Webex App to access your calendar (via MAPI). Instead this option enables the presence and calling integration into Outlook, which means that it allows you to see the presence state of contacts in Outlook and also call or chat with them, by clicking on the details of the contact card.

The new Webex App will only show Webex-based meetings, but not other meetings (from Outlook). In order to get the full meeting list, your company will need to deploy the Hybrid Calendar service. There are two options for the integration:

Microsoft Exchange on-premises (for this type you will need to install at least an Expressway-Core Hybrid VM, so that you can integrate Exchange with Webex)
Exchange Online (O365) in the Cloud, which does not require the deployment of an Expressway-Core Hybrid, as it is a cloud-to-cloud integration

You can find further details here:

https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/mwka5l/Cisco-Webex-Hybrid-Calendar-Service-with-Microsoft-Exchange-integration-reference

Best regards,

Igor

romain.charpie · ‎02-17-2022

Thank you for your answer.

So There isn't an easy solution to enable that feature.

Since then that new Webex application is not usable for me since I have many appointments and conference each day.

Could you please tell me then how to prevent Cisco Webex Meetings (the old app) to auto update to the new version?

I will have to use that old version with the Outlook integration App to be abble to work an easy way.

Thank you in advance.

Best regards

Igor Lukic · ‎02-18-2022

Hi @romain.charpie,

thanks for your feedback!

You have stated that your Webex Meetings Desktop App was automatically upgraded to the new Webex App. Could you please be more specific regarding that:

Did you see the "Update" button in the right corner of the "old" Webex Meetings Desktop App (please refer to https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/n1kwkd6/Update-the-Cisco-Webex-Meetings-Desktop-App)?
Or did the "old" Webex Meetings Desktop App start and update automatically?

Either way, it seems that you or your admin did not delay the Webex Desktop Meetings to Webex App migration in Webex Control Hub, which is repsonsible for the observed behaviour. Technically speaking, this migration leads to the Webex Desktop Meetings App being uninstalled and the Webex App being installed.

It was possible to postpone this until May 2022 (or even longer if the Webex Meetings site would have been changed from Latest to Slow Channel, please refer to https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/ns12j0bb/Cisco-Webex-Meetings-Slow-Channel-Policy).

On top of that, in the past it was possible to disable automatic updates of the Webex Meetings Desktop App by contacting your Cisco Customer Success Manager (CSM), who then could disable this feature for your Webex Meetings Site (please refer to https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/WBX9000010176/How-Do-I-Prevent-the-Webex-Desktop-App-Updates-Appearing-After-a-Meeting? and https://help.webex.com/en-us/article/WBX15/How-Do-I-Contact-My-Customer-Success-Manager-(CSM)?).

I am not sure if that is still possible for your Webex Meetings site, but you could give it a try. If that is possible, then you will have reinstall the "old" Webex Meetings Desktop App, but you will still see the "Update" button. As long as you do not click that button, the app will stay installed.

The reason behind all of this is that Cisco is consolidating all its collaboration apps (Jabber, Webex Meetings Desktop App, etc.) in an all-in-one app, namely the Webex App.

By stating "old Outlook Integration App" I assume that you are referring to the additional Outlook Plug-In "Webex Productivity Tools" (which is a separate installation file to the "old" Webex Meetings Desktop App) or am I mistaken? If so, then please keep in mind that it will go end of life in June 2022.

All in all you can still both use the Webex Meetings Desktop App and the Webex Productivity Tools, but I would really suggest to consider migrating towards the Webex App (taking into account the extra steps needed to close most of the feature gaps), as this the way to go.

Best regards,

Igor

romain.charpie · ‎02-17-2022

Any news ?

At least if it's not working with on premise installations let me know.