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Outlook for OpenTalk

OpenTalk for Outlook provides an Office Addin, which allows you to add OpenTalk meetings to an Outlook calendar entry. The Addin adds two buttons to the ribbon and to schedule an OpenTalk meeting or open an ad-hoc meeting. Using the Addin requires am active Premium Account for the OpenTalk online service or local deployment of OpenTalk Enterprise Edition.

Installation​

Pre-Requisites​

The OpenTalk for Outlook Addin supports Windows 10 and later as well as Microsoft Outlook 2013 and later (32/64 bit). M365 Outlook-Web, Outlook Web Access, Outlook for Mac and Outlook for Mobile are not supported for now. Do not try to install the Addin with a different Windows or Outlook version.

The Addin requires Microsoft .Net Framework 4.8. This comes with Windows 11 build-in. For Windows 10 this should be automatically installed by the setup program. If this doesn't happen or fails you should install the framework 4.8 before running the Addin installer.

All Users vs. Current User​

The Addin can be installed in two modes (usually by running the included setup.exe).

  • For All Users (recommended) In this case a global instance of the Addin is registered, which will then be installed in the user context the first time Outlook is opened under that user. The binaries get installed under %ProgramFiles\OpenTalk\OpenTalk for Outlook . Settings are shared between the users.
  • Only for the current user In this case the Addin gets installed in the user space of the file system and Outlook and settings are for that specific user only.

Running the installer​

The installation process requires administrative privileges. Even if you are a local administrator you might need to run setup.exe with the "Run as administrator" function.

  • Close Microsoft Outlook before running the installer.
  • Run setup.exe (remember to use Run as administrator, follow the instructions.
  • Select installation mode (All Users vs. Current User)
  • Depending on the installed .NET Framework the installer might install version 4.8 of the framework (already included with Windows 11)
  • Once the installation is complete you could start Microsoft Outlook. During initialization you should see that Outlook starts the "OpenTalk for Outlook Addin".
  • Once Outlook is initialized you see two new buttons in the ribbon band. if not, check the Trouble Shooting section.

Disable / Uninstall Addin​

If you want to temporally deactivate the Addin open Outlook, go to File → Options → Add-Ins. At the bottom you'll find a button labeled Go.... Click this one and remove the checkmark before the OpenTalk for Outlook entry, click Close. The OpenTalk action buttons should be gone when you open Outlook the next time.

The Addin gets installed as regular Windows program / feature. As admin you can deinstall the Addin:

  • Make sure Microsoft Outlook is closed
  • Open Windows Control Panel
  • Select Program → Uninstall a program
  • Look for OpenTalk for Outlook, right-click Uninstall

Using OpenTalk for Outlook​

Start Ad-Hoc Meeting​

When you click this action button a new meeting room is created. You need to login to the OpenTalk Dashboard, a meeting is created and you are presented with the URLs to enter the meeting as moderator or as guest. In addition, you'll see the dialin information if you want to attend by phone. Copy the link/phone information and forward it to the other participants. You could join the meeting yourself by clicking Open Meeting button.

Schedule a Meeting​

A scheduled meeting is connected to the Outlook calendar. There are two ways to schedule an appointment including an OpenTalk meeting.

From the Global Toolbar One the Addin is started you’ll find 2 new action buttons in Outlook’s global toolbar / ribbon band. Click on OpenTalk → Schedule Meeting and follow these steps:

  • Depending on the login status you are requested to login to the OpenTalk service and confirm access to some of your personal information. Once the login was successfully completed you the see a confirmation in the browser. Close the browser window to return to the Schedule Meeting dialog.
  • Now you could select one of your favorite meeting rooms in OpenTalk or create a new meeting room. (Check "Create personal favorite meeting rooms" for more details)
  • Enter the meeting title, if you use one of your favorite rooms this gets automatically filled in using the room information. If you set a meeting password the participants have to enter this in the OpenTalk lobby before joining the meeting. If you leave the password empty attendees are not required to enter a meeting password.
  • You could select the option to enable the waiting room, so your guests have to wait until you let them into the meeting.
  • Click on Next, this creates a room in the OpenTalk dashboard.
  • The title and body fields of the calendar entry get filled with all information required to join the meeting as moderator or guest via a browser or to dial in using a regular phone. The body also includes information around data protection and links to further information.

You could now proceed adding attendees as you would do for a regular invite (without an OpenTalk meeting). Once you are done click the Send button and Outlook will send an invitation to all participants. The invitation e-mail includes an .ics attachment. The recipient could double click that file to import the invite to the personal calendar. Depending on the mail client it automatically detects the invitation and you don't need to manually import it.

When you open the Meetings sections in the OpenTalk Dashboard you'll see the newly created meeting with the attendee list. Each time you edit meeting information the attendees get a notification.

From the global Calendar View​

This works in a similar way

  • Open the calendar view.
  • Double click on the time slot you want to create the appointment.
  • Click on the Schedule OpenTalk Meeting button in the top area of the calendar view.
  • Complete the dialog as described above.

Edit an existing Appointment​

Beside creating a new appointment, you could also add an OpenTalk meeting to an existing one. Just double click the calendar entry and click the Schedule OpenTalk Meeting button in the top area of the dialog. Follow the same instructions as this entry was created completely new (see previous section).

Cancel a Meeting​

You can cancel a meeting as usual. Delete the calendar entry by right clicking on the appointment and selecting Cancel. The Addin takes care that the corresponding OpenTalk meeting room (which is also deleted) and a cancellation message is send to all participants.

Create personal Favorite Meeting Rooms​

The Addin supports a quick access to your personal favorite rooms. Those could be selected from the drop-down list when creating a meeting.

To setup a new favorite you need to

  • Go to the OpenTalk Dashboard
  • Select time independent appointment from the meeting options. This turns the room into a static room, which is constantly available (e.g. for team meetings, sales presentations, webinars etc.)
  • Go to the meeting overview and click on ... for the newly created meeting. Click on favorite.

You could add as many favorites as you like. The Addin retrieves a list when initializing the dialog and provides a drop down list.

Trouble Shooting​

Addin doesn't show up​

Sometimes the Addin gets installed, but the action buttons doesn't show up in the ribbon band. This could happen when Outlook deactivates the Addin.

Please have a look at:

Only one action button in the ribbon band​

When Outlook loads the Addin the first time (after installation) only 1 of 2 Ribbon buttons are show. You need to close Outlook and re-open, then both actions buttons are available.

Problems during installation​

If the installation doesn't complete your could activate Windows Installer logging and check the log file in %temp%. The Addin installer also creates information there. Create registry entry HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Installer\Logging, type REGSZ, value "voicewarmup". The log file will then be written to %temp%. For details check here

Uninstall fails​

In general you should check %ProgramFiles(x86)%\OpenTalk\Outlook Addin\OpenTalkInstaller.log if this shows problems.

If you can't uninstall the Addin even not as administrator your have some low level options. Read the information carefully.

When this doesn't work there are two low level options:

Using wmic (for details check → Details​

Open the command prompt (cmd.exe) as administrator and run

wmic product where name="OpenTalk for Outlook" call uninstall /nointeractive

If this fails (displayed ReturnCode != 0) try the MS repair utility

Using MS repair utility (for details check → Details)​

Download and run MicrosoftProgram_Install_and_Uninstall.meta.diagcab as administrator Click Next, select OpenTalk for Outlook from the list of installed products Click on Try uninstall, this initiates the deletion process, which should report a successful uninstall