Skip to main content

Sending a No Reply, No ReplyAll, No Forward Email using EWS and Powershell

I've you haven't seen this before Gavin Smyth from Microsoft Research put together this cool VSTO plugin to allow you to send an Email from Outlook that will disable the Reply, ReplyAll and Forward Buttons on the Outlook ribbon http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/researchdesktop/noreplyall.aspx and the how to posts about the VSTO http://blogs.msdn.com/b/gsmyth/archive/2011/09/18/noreply-vsto-add-in-wrap-up.aspx .

Note this only works in Outlook (not OWA or ActiveSync etc) but basically what a users would see when they receive a message is



How this works is it sets the PidLidVerbStream Property on a message which is mostly documented in the http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee218541(v=exchg.80).aspx protocol document. I say mostly because the format you get when using the methods from the NoReply Addin is a little different from the format documented which is for Voting buttons but its good enough to work with. The Verbs that this property refers to are the standard Verbs that MAPI implements which are documented in http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/cc815879(v=office.15).aspx .

So to use this same property in an EWS script you can just set it using the Extended Properties, the value you use is a little tricky as only the voteoption format is fully documented. But because this is pretty standard you can cut a past the Hex Values which contains the two streams from this property out of an existing message and then just change the bits that either enables or disable the Verbs for what you want to enable or disable on the Message your sending.

So this is what the following script does is allows you to send a message using EWS and set the options to enable and disable each of these verbs.

In the script I've got the following custom object where you can set the verbs on or off
  1. $VerbSetting = "" | Select DisableReplyAll,DisableReply,DisableForward,DisableReplyToFolder  
  2. $VerbSetting.DisableReplyAll = $true  
  3. $VerbSetting.DisableReply = $true  
  4. $VerbSetting.DisableForward = $true  
  5. $VerbSetting.DisableReplyToFolder = $true  

The rest of the script builds the VerbStream value property based on the setting in the custom object and the rest of the script is a standard EWS script to send a message.

I've put a download of this script here the script itself looks like

  1. $MailboxName = $args[0]  
  2. $SentTo = $args[1]  
  3.   
  4. $VerbSetting = "" | Select DisableReplyAll,DisableReply,DisableForward,DisableReplyToFolder  
  5. $VerbSetting.DisableReplyAll = $true  
  6. $VerbSetting.DisableReply = $true  
  7. $VerbSetting.DisableForward = $true  
  8. $VerbSetting.DisableReplyToFolder = $true  
  9.   
  10. ## Load Managed API dll    
  11.   
  12. ###CHECK FOR EWS MANAGED API, IF PRESENT IMPORT THE HIGHEST VERSION EWS DLL, ELSE EXIT  
  13. $EWSDLL = (($(Get-ItemProperty -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -Path Registry::$(Get-ChildItem -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -Path 'Registry::HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\Web Services'|Sort-Object Name -Descending| Select-Object -First 1 -ExpandProperty Name)).'Install Directory') + "Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.dll")  
  14. if (Test-Path $EWSDLL)  
  15.     {  
  16.     Import-Module $EWSDLL  
  17.     }  
  18. else  
  19.     {  
  20.     "$(get-date -format yyyyMMddHHmmss):"  
  21.     "This script requires the EWS Managed API 1.2 or later."  
  22.     "Please download and install the current version of the EWS Managed API from"  
  23.     "http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=255472"  
  24.     ""  
  25.     "Exiting Script."  
  26.     exit  
  27.     }  
  28.     
  29. ## Set Exchange Version    
  30. $ExchangeVersion = [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExchangeVersion]::Exchange2010_SP2    
  31.     
  32. ## Create Exchange Service Object    
  33. $service = New-Object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExchangeService($ExchangeVersion)    
  34.     
  35. ## Set Credentials to use two options are availible Option1 to use explict credentials or Option 2 use the Default (logged On) credentials    
  36.     
  37. #Credentials Option 1 using UPN for the windows Account    
  38. $psCred = Get-Credential    
  39. $creds = New-Object System.Net.NetworkCredential($psCred.UserName.ToString(),$psCred.GetNetworkCredential().password.ToString())    
  40. $service.Credentials = $creds        
  41.     
  42. #Credentials Option 2    
  43. #service.UseDefaultCredentials = $true    
  44.     
  45. ## Choose to ignore any SSL Warning issues caused by Self Signed Certificates    
  46.     
  47. ## Code From http://poshcode.org/624  
  48. ## Create a compilation environment  
  49. $Provider=New-Object Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider  
  50. $Compiler=$Provider.CreateCompiler()  
  51. $Params=New-Object System.CodeDom.Compiler.CompilerParameters  
  52. $Params.GenerateExecutable=$False  
  53. $Params.GenerateInMemory=$True  
  54. $Params.IncludeDebugInformation=$False  
  55. $Params.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.DLL") | Out-Null  
  56.   
  57. $TASource=@' 
  58.   namespace Local.ToolkitExtensions.Net.CertificatePolicy{ 
  59.     public class TrustAll : System.Net.ICertificatePolicy { 
  60.       public TrustAll() {  
  61.       } 
  62.       public bool CheckValidationResult(System.Net.ServicePoint sp, 
  63.         System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate cert,  
  64.         System.Net.WebRequest req, int problem) { 
  65.         return true; 
  66.       } 
  67.     } 
  68.   } 
  69. '@   
  70. $TAResults=$Provider.CompileAssemblyFromSource($Params,$TASource)  
  71. $TAAssembly=$TAResults.CompiledAssembly  
  72.   
  73. ## We now create an instance of the TrustAll and attach it to the ServicePointManager  
  74. $TrustAll=$TAAssembly.CreateInstance("Local.ToolkitExtensions.Net.CertificatePolicy.TrustAll")  
  75. [System.Net.ServicePointManager]::CertificatePolicy=$TrustAll  
  76.   
  77. ## end code from http://poshcode.org/624  
  78.     
  79. ## Set the URL of the CAS (Client Access Server) to use two options are availbe to use Autodiscover to find the CAS URL or Hardcode the CAS to use    
  80.     
  81. #CAS URL Option 1 Autodiscover    
  82. $service.AutodiscoverUrl($MailboxName,{$true})    
  83. "Using CAS Server : " + $Service.url     
  84.      
  85. #CAS URL Option 2 Hardcoded    
  86.     
  87. #$uri=[system.URI] "https://casservername/ews/exchange.asmx"    
  88. #$service.Url = $uri      
  89.     
  90. ## Optional section for Exchange Impersonation    
  91.     
  92. #$service.ImpersonatedUserId = new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ImpersonatedUserId([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ConnectingIdType]::SmtpAddress, $MailboxName)   
  93.   
  94.   
  95. function Get-VerbStream{    
  96.     param (    
  97.             $VerbSettings = "$( throw 'VerbSettings is a mandatory Parameter' )"    
  98.           )    
  99.     process{    
  100.       
  101.     $Header = "02010400000000000000"  
  102.     $ReplyToAllHeader = "055265706C790849504D2E4E6F7465074D657373616765025245050000000000000000"  
  103.     $ReplyToAllFooter = "0000000000000002000000660000000200000001000000"  
  104.     $ReplyToHeader = "0C5265706C7920746F20416C6C0849504D2E4E6F7465074D657373616765025245050000000000000000"  
  105.     $ReplyToFooter = "0000000000000002000000670000000300000002000000"  
  106.     $ForwardHeader = "07466F72776172640849504D2E4E6F7465074D657373616765024657050000000000000000"  
  107.     $ForwardFooter = "0000000000000002000000680000000400000003000000"  
  108.     $ReplyToFolderHeader = "0F5265706C7920746F20466F6C6465720849504D2E506F737404506F737400050000000000000000"  
  109.     $ReplyToFolderFooter = "00000000000000020000006C00000008000000"  
  110.     $VoteOptionExtras = "0401055200650070006C00790002520045000C5200650070006C007900200074006F00200041006C006C0002520045000746006F007200770061007200640002460057000F5200650070006C007900200074006F00200046006F006C0064006500720000"  
  111.     if($VerbSetting.DisableReplyAll){  
  112.         $DisableReplyAllVal = "00"  
  113.     }  
  114.     else{  
  115.         $DisableReplyAllVal = "01"  
  116.     }  
  117.     if($VerbSetting.DisableReply){  
  118.         $DisableReplyVal = "00"  
  119.     }  
  120.     else{  
  121.         $DisableReplyVal = "01"  
  122.     }  
  123.     if($VerbSetting.DisableForward){  
  124.         $DisableForwardVal = "00"  
  125.     }  
  126.     else{  
  127.         $DisableForwardVal = "01"  
  128.     }  
  129.     if($VerbSetting.DisableReplyToFolder){  
  130.         $DisableReplyToFolderVal = "00"  
  131.     }  
  132.     else{  
  133.         $DisableReplyToFolderVal = "01"  
  134.     }  
  135.     $VerbValue = $Header +  $ReplyToAllHeader + $DisableReplyAllVal + $ReplyToAllFooter + $ReplyToHeader + $DisableReplyVal +$ReplyToFooter + $ForwardHeader + $DisableForwardVal + $ForwardFooter + $ReplyToFolderHeader + $DisableReplyToFolderVal + $ReplyToFolderFooter + $VoteOptionExtras  
  136.     return $VerbValue  
  137.     }  
  138. }  
  139.   
  140. function hex2binarray($hexString){  
  141.     $i = 0  
  142.     [byte[]]$binarray = @()  
  143.     while($i -le $hexString.length - 2){  
  144.         $strHexBit = ($hexString.substring($i,2))  
  145.         $binarray += [byte]([Convert]::ToInt32($strHexBit,16))  
  146.         $i = $i + 2  
  147.     }  
  148.     return ,$binarray  
  149. }  
  150.   
  151.   
  152.   
  153. $VerbStreamProp = new-object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.ExtendedPropertyDefinition([Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.DefaultExtendedPropertySet]::Common,0x8520, [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.MapiPropertyType]::Binary)  
  154.   
  155. $VerbSettingValue = get-VerbStream $VerbSetting  
  156.   
  157. $EmailMessage = New-Object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.EmailMessage -ArgumentList $service    
  158. $EmailMessage.Subject = "Message Subject"    
  159. #Add Recipients      
  160. $EmailMessage.ToRecipients.Add($SentTo)    
  161. $EmailMessage.Body = New-Object Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.MessageBody    
  162. $EmailMessage.Body.BodyType = [Microsoft.Exchange.WebServices.Data.BodyType]::HTML    
  163. $EmailMessage.Body.Text = "Body"   
  164. $EmailMessage.SetExtendedProperty($VerbStreamProp,(hex2binarray $VerbSettingValue))  
  165. $EmailMessage.SendAndSaveCopy()    
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

The MailboxConcurrency limit and using Batching in the Microsoft Graph API

If your getting an error such as Application is over its MailboxConcurrency limit while using the Microsoft Graph API this post may help you understand why. Background   The Mailbox  concurrency limit when your using the Graph API is 4 as per https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/throttling#outlook-service-limits . This is evaluated for each app ID and mailbox combination so this means you can have different apps running under the same credentials and the poor behavior of one won't cause the other to be throttled. If you compared that to EWS you could have up to 27 concurrent connections but they are shared across all apps on a first come first served basis. Batching Batching in the Graph API is a way of combining multiple requests into a single HTTP request. Batching in the Exchange Mail API's EWS and MAPI has been around for a long time and its common, for email Apps to process large numbers of smaller items for a variety of reasons.  Batching in the Gr...
Read more

Sending a Message in Exchange Online via REST from an Arduino MKR1000

This is part 2 of my MKR1000 article, in this previous post  I looked at sending a Message via EWS using Basic Authentication.  In this Post I'll look at using the new Outlook REST API  which requires using OAuth authentication to get an Access Token. The prerequisites for this sketch are the same as in the other post with the addition of the ArduinoJson library  https://github.com/bblanchon/ArduinoJson  which is used to parse the Authentication Results to extract the Access Token. Also the SSL certificates for the login.windows.net  and outlook.office365.com need to be uploaded to the devices using the wifi101 Firmware updater. To use Token Authentication you need to register an Application in Azure https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/office365/howto/add-common-consent-manually  with the Mail.Send permission. The application should be a Native Client app that use the Out of Band Callback urn:ietf:wg:oauth:2.0:oob. You ...
Read more

How to test SMTP using Opportunistic TLS with Powershell and grab the public certificate a SMTP server is using

Most email services these day employ Opportunistic TLS when trying to send Messages which means that wherever possible the Messages will be encrypted rather then the plain text legacy of SMTP.  This method was defined in RFC 3207 "SMTP Service Extension for Secure SMTP over Transport Layer Security" and  there's a quite a good explanation of Opportunistic TLS on Wikipedia  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opportunistic_TLS .  This is used for both Server to Server (eg MTA to MTA) and Client to server (Eg a Message client like Outlook which acts as a MSA) the later being generally Authenticated. Basically it allows you to have a normal plain text SMTP conversation that is then upgraded to TLS using the STARTTLS verb. Not all servers will support this verb so if its not supported then a message is just sent as Plain text. TLS relies on PKI certificates and the administrative issue s that come around certificate management like expired certificates which is why ...
Read more
All sample scripts and source code is provided by for illustrative purposes only. All examples are untested in different environments and therefore, I cannot guarantee or imply reliability, serviceability, or function of these programs.

All code contained herein is provided to you "AS IS" without any warranties of any kind. The implied warranties of non-infringement, merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are expressly disclaimed.