Hints to getting started

This section describes how to get started with CodeTwo Exchange Rules by providing hints associated with the program's installation, settings, and configuration.

Installation

1. Install the Exchange Rules Service on Exchange Server with the Mailbox role installed.
2. In multi-server environments, install the Exchange Rules Service on each Exchange Server (with the Mailbox role).
3. Install the Administration Panel of the program on any machine (servers, clients) that fulfills the system requirements.
4. Install multiple Administration Panels only if necessary. For example, if you want other people in your company to manage rules. Note that changes saved in one Administration Panel are populated to other instances of the panel installed in your environment. However, the outcome is only visible on the rest of panels after restarting them (in the case of rules' configuration) or by reopening the Program settings window (when changing other preferences, e.g. message splitting). 

General settings

1. Make sure to configure Access Rights straight after the fresh installation of CodeTwo Exchange Rules. Otherwise, by default, everybody within the organization who has access to the Administration Panel of the program will be able to configure all settings.
2. Remember to click the Submit changes button in the main window of the Administration Panel every time any new rules are introduced, or the existing ones are changed within the program. The only exception applies to the Program settings window: each change done within this area is automatically saved via the OK button. Therefore, using the Submit changes button will not be necessary.
3. In environments where more than one Administration Panel is installed, once settings are changed on a particular panel, they are instantly replicated to the rest of the panels. However, the outcome is only visible in the rest of panels after restarting them (in the case of rules configuration) or by reopening the Program settings window (in the case other options are changed, e.g. message splitting).
4. Make use of the set of rules configured on any previous version of CodeTwo Exchange Rules family by using the Settings Importer tool.
5. If you are importing settings in a multi-server environment with many instances of the Administration Panel installed on several machines, import the settings on one particular Administration Panel only. The real-time replication mechanism will automatically push them onto other instances of the panel. Note that if you import the settings on more than one Administration Panel, you will end up with duplicated rules.

Configuration of rules, including conditions and actions

1. If you have several different rules to be applied once the defined conditions are met, make sure to mark the Go to the next rule if the rule is applied option in the Options tab within the Rule's properties area, as it is unmarked by default. Otherwise, if the first rule is applied, the second (and any subsequent) one will not be excluded. On the other hand, leave the default settings if you do not want to apply any more rules once the first one is applied.
2. While configuring conditions within rules, make sure that they do not exclude one another.
3. If you want a rule to be applied only within a particular time range, define the scope via the Scheduler feature, available from the Options tab.
4. If you want to remove the defined condition, delete the entire row, and then enter a new one.
5. While creating the signature/disclaimer templates, use placeholders to insert Active Directory variables directly into the templates. Once you add a particular placeholder, it will be replaced with sender's data specified in the Active Directory database after the messages is processed by the program.
6. If you define conditions/exceptions based on keywords, use wildcards (*) instead of defining each word one by one (e.g. email* instead of email and emails). Additionally, you can use wildcards to define email addresses that start or end with a common string of characters, e.g. mike*, *company.com.

   Info

   Wildcards used for email addresses can only be defined for Sender and Recipient conditions. To define wildcards for different types of phrases, go to Subject or Body conditions.

7. As some of the users may not have all the necessary attributes filled in in the Active Directory, it is worth to use the {RT} Remove Text tag to avoid adding empty placeholders to signatures/disclaimers. Thanks to this solution, once such user's mail is processed, the empty placeholder will be removed along the empty line from the signature/disclaimer, keeping the professional look of the sent mail. Learn more on how to properly use the Remove Text tags
8. Use Rules Tester to see how the message will look like after being processed by the program, before you actually send the message outside your company.

See also

Quick guide to creating rules - this article describes step-by-step how to create a new rule including the chosen action along the configuration of essential features of the program.
Good and bad practices of creating signatures / disclaimers - this article helps to build a signature with consistent appearance between various platforms.