WebReady Document Access

WebReady Document Access is a feature of Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 that can render specific file types attached to e-mail messages to be rendered without having to download the attachment to the client machine or requiring any software on the client machine. This feature allows for increased security since an administrator can require that users logging in from public computers cannot download these attachment types and can only view them with WebReady Document Acess.

To configure WebReady Document Access:

On the Exchange Management Console you have to locate the Server configuration node and then locate the Client Access Server. Beneath the server you see the virtual directories (e.g. owa default web site) right click on it, click properties and locate the Private Computer File Access tab.

There are the configuration settings to enable or disable the File Access Service through OWA. There is also the check box for the Web Ready functionality, which you have to set, once enabled you can specify the file types that you want to support. By default there are: .doc; .dot; .pps; .ppt; .rtf; .xls enabled and preconfigured. To force the use of WebReady functionality you must mark the checkbox for forcing the WebReady feature.

Repeat the steps above for the Public Computer File Access tab to support when OWA is used from a public computer. The public use settings might be wise to force the use of WebReady functionality for security reasons.

Note: This only applies to the OWA virtual directory!!