Manage Email Signatures Centrally - For All Users

mlouie · Just can't stay away Joined: 19 Jul 2007 Posts: 50

The cockpit for e-mail signature was working fine for us and then suddenly today when I click on "Insert Field" nothing happens (no list of field appears) and if I change a signature and try to save it, I get the following error:
The field Display_name is not a merge field from the database or the fields could be case sensitive. Please correct this and try to save again."
It is not true that field is not a field from the database. We are using Active Directory 2003 and if I do the Verify Domain function in the cockpit it works fine. I cannot figure out what is wrong that is causing this. I also tried running the cockpit on the domain controller and got the same error.

Jesper Frier · Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:19 am Post subject:

Your Cockpit has somehow lost it's connection to your Active Directory.

Uninstall the Cockpit (remove all entries in HKCU/Software/Office add-on/).
Install Cockpit on PC and verify that you can insert fields and preview signatures using default settings DB - and before making any changes.
Then connect to your settings DB and test again.

OK now?

Next steps

Same result on another PC?
Run set command line and manually enter LDAP or GC string to your Active Directory (Tool -> Data Source Manager).

_________________
</Jesper> | Test Email Signature | Showcase |

mlouie · Just can't stay away Joined: 19 Jul 2007 Posts: 50

Well, this is very bizarre. I reinstalled the Cockpit as instructed and that did not help. The problem occurs on both my PC and the domain controller where Cockpit is also installed. My LDAP string in the Cockpit is correct:
LDAP://DC=transzap,DC=com
When I run the set command, I see:
USERDNSDOMAIN=TRANSZAP.COM

In desperation I started clicking thru every signature and then clicking on the Insert button and it suddenly worked on one of the signatures low in the list (that I have not edited in a long time). Once it worked on that signature, now it works on all the signatures. So, it's like something broke on the newer signatures I've been deploying and I had to click on an old signature to fix it. Very weird.

Bjarne Mess · Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:35 am Post subject:

It seems like you have lost the connection to the data source for the signature for some reason.

Please check for the signatures where you experience the problem, that you actually have a data source, and that it is Active Directory. You can do then when you have selected the signature, and then check the combo box "data source".

Thanks,

mlouie · Just can't stay away Joined: 19 Jul 2007 Posts: 50

This is definitely the problem. How do I get the Data Source back for the signature? I tried typing "Active Directory" in the Data Source box and clicking on Save, but when I click on another signature and then go back to this signature where I just typed in Active Directory, the Data Source box is blank again. Also, when I preview the signature, it gives the following error:
"An error occurred while trying to preview the signatures. Error code: Q1.3". I have 2 signatures of my 14 signatures that have "Active Directory" showing in the Data Source box and I can preview those 2 signatures successfully. All other signatures have the Data Source box blank and I cannot preview them. However, at the moment, the Insert Field box is working properly on every signature and they are deploying fine.

FYI, the above behavior is exactly the same no matter where I run the Cockpit. I have the cockpit newly re-installed on my PC (as instructed) and I also have it installed on the file server where the signature database is located.

Bjarne Mess · Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:57 pm Post subject:

You first need to create the data source if it has been lost. You do so by opening the Cockpit and choose Tools and the Data Source Manager. You will probably not have any sources here. You click on the New Data source button, and then give it a name "Active Directory" e.g. Let the selection AD stay and then save it.

Now you can select a signature. For html rtf and text, you need to select the newly created data source from the drop-down box and then click save. You need to do this for all formats of the sig. Now you can preview without errors.

Do this for all signatures you need.

I have no explanation of how your data sources can disappear, but this fixes it hopefully.

Please let me know if it works for you.

Thank you,
Bjarne

mlouie · Just can't stay away Joined: 19 Jul 2007 Posts: 50

No, that didn't help. Active Directory is already listed when I go to Tools, Data Source Manager. I did try creating a new one that I just called "AD" and that doesn't work either. When I go back to the signatures, I don't get a drop-down box when I click on the arrow next to the Data Source box. I don't get one even when I click on the arrow in the 2 signatures that have Active Directory listed as their data source. And when I type in "Active Directory" or "AD" manually and save the signature, it looses that setting as soon as I click away from the signature. I also don't get a dropdown box when I click on the dropdown arrow next to the Edit this format box either.

mlouie · Just can't stay away Joined: 19 Jul 2007 Posts: 50

OK, more weirdness. I decided to try the cockpit on the server and I got the dropdown boxes to work there. So I was able to choose Active Directory for each signature on the server in the Cockpit (I just reinstalled Cockpit on my PC this week so it shouldn't be messed up like this). After I selected Active Directory for each signature and saved it on the server, then when I went into Cockpit on my PC, the dropdown box works now.

However, the preview is still throwing up that error. I thought maybe that had something to do with the signature being created in Word. I don't really care that much about the preview as long as the signature works.

mlouie · Just can't stay away Joined: 19 Jul 2007 Posts: 50

Well, now the preview is working. I went thru all the signatures choosing Active Directory from the dropdown for all 3 (HTML, RTF, Plain Text), as I realized I only had set it for HTML, and then closed and opened Cockpit and now preview is working. Strange!

Bjarne Mess · Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 11:02 pm Post subject:

Thanks for sharing your experiences...

It is really difficult to explain the behavior, but I'm goad it seems to be working now.

Thanks,
Bjarne