Microsoft support policy for the customization of Outlook Web Access for Exchange

This article describes the Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) policy for the customization of scripts, graphics, and other files in Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA) for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003, Exchange 2000 Server, and Exchange Server 5.5.

The Exchange 5.5 version of OWA is made up of Active Server Pages (ASPs).

The Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 versions of OWA are composed of two main components: templates and controls. Templates are served from a binary Internet Server Application Programming Interface (ISAPI) extension that communicates with the Exchange store. Controls are referenced by the templates and are located in the Program Files\Exchsrvr\Exchweb folder. Controls are made up of script or HTML files, such as JScript files (.js), HTML Component files (.htc), cascading style sheet files (.css), Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) transform files (.xsl), and graphics files.

You may want to customize OWA by changing features or by modifying the user interface. Although you can customize OWA objects by modifying either the script code or the HTML, Microsoft does not recommend that you do so. Microsoft Product Support Services (PSS) also cannot help you with the customization. However, if you want to customize OWA, the following limitations and considerations apply:

• PSS does not provide assistance to customize OWA objects.
• If you contact PSS about an OWA issue for a server that OWA is customized on, you must replace the customized files with the original versions of the files and verify that you can reproduce the issue by using the original versions of the files. If the issue occurs only with the customized versions of the files, and you cannot reproduce the issue with the original versions of the files, PSS cannot help you troubleshoot the issue.
• If you install a service pack or hotfix that updates the files in the Program Files\Exchsrvr\Exchweb folder, any customized files that exist in that folder are overwritten. If you do not want to lose the customizations that you created, create a backup of the customized files, and then restore the files after you install the service pack or hotfix.

Resources

Although PSS cannot help you customize OWA, the following resources are available:

• Microsoft hosts public newsgroups where you can post questions and discuss topics that are related to Exchange Server or Exchange 2000. One of the newsgroups where you can ask questions that are related to Exchange 2000 development is microsoft.public.exchange2000.development. To access this newsgroup and other Exchange Server newsgroups, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb341336.aspx (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb341336.aspx)
• To locate other Exchange Server communities, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb341336.aspx (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/bb341336.aspx)