Creating an outlook 2007 postmark

Question

Is there a way to access the routines that create the outlook postmark (the puzzle and solution) programatically?  I am trying to incorporate the outlook postmark into a email newsletter sending application and I have reviewed the open specification but do not completely understand it.  I was hoping there was an office api/object etc. that would have a method for creating the 2 headers if I pass in the required information.

Thanks,
Rob

Answer 1

Hello Rob,

About this feature, have you already read this official document ? http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA100625921033.aspx?pid=CH100777041033

As my understand the original design of the feature is to prevent other stand-alone application from simulate what outlook will behave when sending a Email, so it seems hopeless that we could programmatcially add a postmark to an outgoing Email.

However, I could not find any develop document of thie topic either, I'll try to consult internally, if I have update I'll follow up at once.

Thanks.

Tim Li

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Answer 2

Hi Tim,

My understanding from this is:

"The cost in this case would not be monetary, but computational, and although it would be a small burden for individuals, it would be a huge burden for spammers"

and

"Why wouldn't spammers use this feature for their own benefit? Good question. Here's why: Spammers rely on being able to send thousands of spam messages per hour. To generate a postmark for each message and continue to send these at the same rate as when they were sent without postmarks, spammers would need to spend a significant amount of money to acquire more computers. Therefore, spammers are less likely to send messages that are postmarked."

Since the newsletters we send are relatively small in subscriber base (a few thousand), i thought it would make sense to try and take advantage of a coding solution to prevent messages from ending up in the junk box.  Not everyone remembers (even when told upon subscription) to whitelist the "from" address to prevent this.  Since these messages are not spam nor are there enough for a computational cost to be prohibitive, i thought it would make sense to jump on the bandwagon and use the method.  After all, i would bet at least 70% of all (business) mail clients are Outlook.

Also, since there is an open specification for this, it would seem that MS is encouraging legitimate mail systems to adopt the specification.

I am just looking for help bridging the gap between cryptic specification and actual code implementation.

I appreciate your comments and assistance, please let me know if you find any code or library call that would be of assistance.

Rob Sulzman

Answer 3

Hi Tim,

Just checking in to see if you were able to find any additional documentation from your internal consult..

Thanks
Rob

Answer 4

Hi Robo,

I'm sorry but as far as we konw there's no library implement this protocol except Outlook itself, you need to implement it yourself according to the open specification.

The protocol document is as below, but I think you already have it:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc433493.aspx

Thanks.

Tim Li

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Answer 5

Hello, 

I am writing to check the status of the issue on your side. Could you please let me know if the suggestion works for you or not? If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to let me know. I will be more than happy to be of assistance.

 

Tim Li

MSDN Subscriber Support in Forum

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