Posted on 04-10-2019 07:20 PM
HI we want to set the Controls for download of pictures in the reading panel. GUI Preference > Email > Reading > Security to 2 = In all messages.
Ive followed the info from here https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ESX5td0y0OP3jdzZ-C2SItm-TUi-iA_bcHCBvaoCumw/edit#gid=0 (defaults write com.microsoft.Outlook AutomaticallyDownloadExternalContent -int 2) it writes to the plist but can not get the value to change does anyone know if this is supported in 16.23 ? or if there is something I am missing ?
Thanks for the help :)
Posted on 04-11-2019 08:54 AM
I don't see anything wrong with the defaults command you've used here. And you're using the correct key for the Outlook version you specified. (This specific key use to have a typo, but was corrected a while back. It use to be AutomaitcallyDownloadExternalContent. Oy!)
I was able to set this using your command in Terminal. It works, but you must do it only while Outlook is quit. If you're testing while Outlook is running, then it'll override the plist and revert the change as it's saving its settings.
Because you're running this from Jamf Pro, you must also script this to run for each user. Otherwise, it'll run for the root account and you won't see any change in behavior.
I've tested this script minimally, but you should be able to add it to a policy in Jamf Pro to set the key/value for every user on a Mac. I recommend running it at Login to ensure Outlook isn't running for anyone.
#!/bin/bash
# create a list of all users with UIDs over 500
userList=$( /usr/bin/dscl . list /Users UniqueID | awk '$2 > 500 { print $1 }' )
# create or modify existing com.microsoft.Outlook setting
for aUser in $userList
do
# run the defaults command as a user
su "$aUser" -c '/usr/bin/defaults write com.microsoft.Outlook AutomaticallyDownloadExternalContent -int 2'
# test whether the command was successful and report
if [ $? = 0 ] ; then
echo "Setting Outlook key 'AutomaticallyDownloadExternalContent' to '2 = In all messages' for user $aUser."
else
echo "Failed setting Outlook key 'AutomaticallyDownloadExternalContent' to '2 = In all messages' for user $aUser."
fi
done
exit 0
Posted on 04-11-2019 06:47 PM
thanks @talkingmoose great explanation! :) makes perfect sense and appreciate the script
Posted on 04-14-2020 09:54 AM
Could it be deployed by Configuration Profile as well?
Posted on 04-14-2020 11:56 AM
@mhasman, if you're running Jamf Pro 10.18 or later, it's already built in!
Posted on 04-14-2020 12:54 PM
@talkingmoose Thank you!
I just tested by uploading the XML file, it also works... File location
~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Outlook/Data/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.Outlook.plist
I deleted everything but AutomaticallyDownloadExternalContent key
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>AutomaticallyDownloadExternalContent</key>
<integer>2</integer>
</dict>
</plist>
Posted on 10-16-2023 01:38 PM
Hi,
Curious to know if we can modify the json to only apply these settings to one specific internal email address? Any thoughts?
Our communications team is testing a email campaign right now and would like for those images to download automatically, however, security will no allow us to auto download images for all emails.
Posted on 10-16-2023 03:36 PM
I haven’t tested in a long time, but it used to be that Outlook would automatically download images for addresses added to the Contacts list.