Lync Custom Status 2014 BETA

A newer version is now available from here

Here it is!

The very first public BETA release of my latest project.. I decided to build this application to add a little ‘Je ne sais quoin’ to the Microsoft Lync client status selection. I am a big fan of the Microsoft Lync product, and unified communications.. However, as those close to me will know – I am a big fan of automation. Which is when the idea for this app was born..

So.. What does it do.. Well, check out the details below! Please remember this is an extremely early public release BETA. It’s in its early stages, and I still have BIG plans for this app.

Features

• Custom Status – This application eases the pain of creating 4 custom status options for the Microsoft Lync Client. Rather then just telling your contacts you are away or busy, you can now give them more insight into what you are on with.
• Automated(Canned) Responses – Upon selecting a custom status, the application is capable of intercepting conversation requests and replying (automatically) with your predefined response.
  • Exception Lists – Sometimes you don’t want your automated responses going to every contact in your list, the application works with a list of predefined addresses which it won’t respond to.
  • Frequency of response – Much like Microsoft Outlook, you can prevent (if you want) the recipient receiving multiple copies of your ‘canned’ response in a 24 hour period. Alternatively, you can set the app to reply every time.
• Tools – The application alsocontains a tool set for some often required ‘tweaks’/file manipulations to resolve some of the niggles we come across in ourLync environment.
  • Lync Cache Cleaning -Lync caches information locally to aid with performance, this can often cause delays when informationis updated on other clients or centrally.
    • Photo Cache Cleaning – The application enables the end-user to ‘point and click’ clear down the Lync Client photo cache. Very useful when diagnosing photo synchronisation issues.
    • Contact Cache Cleaning – The application enables the end-user to ‘point and click’ clear down the Lync Client Contact cache cleaning. This saves having to remove all the users login information, but often helps clear spurious contact list issues. Such as people’s status’ being listed incorrectly.
  • Appear Offline – The application gives the end-user the ability to enable a hidden Lync feature, the ability to appear offline.. This is especially useful if you are out of the office and need to make calls, but do not want to receive calls/IM’s
  • Force GAL Download – The application enables the end-user to override the delay of download for the GAL, very handy during a rebuild of an end users machine.
  • Backup GAL – The application makes backing up the local copy of the GAL a point and click process. This comes in handy when migrating a user from one machine to another.

System Requirements

The application has been tested and developed on a Windows 7 machine, running the very latest version of the Microsoft Lync client. I have no reason to believe it will work on older versions of Windows, however I am not currently able to test on older versions so I can’t guarantee it will work. However, if it does – please let me know in the comments section below.

Known Requirements

• Microsoft Windows
• Microsoft Lync
• .NET Framework 4.5
• Active Internet connection (for product activation)

Future Plans

I would love to get some feature requests from my readers, and add as many features as possible into this application.. Whilst I wait for these to flood in, I will be working on implementing the following:

• Extended automated responses – to work with standard Lync status selections and not just the custom ones.
• Status ‘titles’ – giving you the ability to tie in status titles when choosing a custom status.
• GUI Improvements
• Multi lingual support
• Call filtering
• Busy on busy prevention

Download

As per the text above, as this is an early release BETA I am offering the app completely free of charge for the first 15 days of its usage (with the possibility of an extension dependent on how the testing goes) After that I will be offering the app at a discounted rate to all those who helped BETA test, and a small fee of just £5 for the version for those of you who missed the opportunity.

If you would like to help BETA test the app please select the BETA test button.

File Size: ~1.7MB

Documentation

As the application develops I will be updating the documentation over at the DocuWiki

That’s it for now.. If you have any queries, comments, questions, feature requests etc etc – please get in touch!