The StarLeaf Scheduler for Outlook Exchange Server is an add-in that allows all Outlook users in an organization to schedule video meetings directly from their Outlook client.
In this topic:
Users install the StarLeaf Scheduler on their Windows computer or you can mass-deploy the StarLeaf Scheduler.
(For information about using the StarLeaf Scheduler, refer to StarLeaf Scheduler for Outlook Exchange Server.)
The StarLeaf Scheduler allows users to schedule meetings from Outlook. The meeting invitations are pre-populated with the correct dial-in details for the video meeting and with invitation text. This invitation text is customizable.
The StarLeaf Scheduler for Outlook Exchange Server supports Microsoft Outlook 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2019.
- You can invite meeting room systems to the video meeting. StarLeaf meeting room systems display a join button making it very easy for people to join their video meeting
- If you later want to update any of the meeting details (e.g. change the time of your meeting), you can do so by editing the meeting details in your Outlook calendar. All participants receive email updates
- To cancel a meeting, find the meeting details in your Outlook calendar and select Cancel meeting. All participants who accepted the meeting receive email updates informing them that the meeting is canceled
- To convert a regular Outlook meeting into a video meeting, open the meeting details and select schedule:
- Outlook 2010: If you are using this version of Outlook, and you create a repeating conference, you cannot later edit a single occurrence of that conference
Installing the StarLeaf Scheduler
Installing the StarLeaf Scheduler on a computer
- Close Outlook on your computer.
- Download the StarLeaf Scheduler from here .
Clicking the link starts the download automatically.
- Run the file you have downloaded and follow onscreen instructions.
- Restart Outlook. A new option appears on the Outlook ribbon:
Mass-deploying the StarLeaf Scheduler for Exchange Server
StarLeaf provides an MSI installer for the StarLeaf Scheduler.
The MSI installer can be used with Microsoft deployment tools to mass deploy the StarLeaf Scheduler to a group of users.
By default the StarLeaf Scheduler installer installs to a single user profile in Windows.
Optionally, you can use the
ALLUSERS flag to control this behavior:
- ALLUSERS=0 This is the recommended default and installs to a single user. The StarLeaf Scheduler automatically upgrades in this case
- ALLUSERS=1 This causes a machine-wide install and in this case, auto upgrade is disabled. You need to manually push upgrades to your users
To enable the legacy version of the StarLeaf Scheduler that requires users to sign in, use the parameter LEGACYPASSWORDMODE=1 when you are mass-deploying.
For more information on how to mass deploy the add-in to a group of users, go to
Deploy Office add-ins in the Office 365 admin center .
How to integrate the StarLeaf Scheduler with your room calendar
If you use Outlook Calendar to schedule meeting rooms, it is useful to integrate that with the StarLeaf Scheduler. This means that when a user schedules a video meeting, and books a meeting room, the
Join button on the meeting room system in that room will automatically light up when the meeting is due to start. To do so:
- Contact StarLeaf technical support to enable this feature for your organization.
- For each meeting room system, go to Edit room system and enter the Email address that the Outlook system associates with that meeting room.
Now, when users choose this meeting room for their video conference (in Outlook > Schedule), the join button will light up to enable participants to join the meeting with one press.
How to customize the invitation text
The StarLeaf Scheduler for Outlook Exchange Server pre-populates an invitation with text from the
footer.rtf file, which it finds in the directory on each user’s PC:
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\StarLeaf\StarLeaf Scheduling
footer.rtf supports text with text formatting and can contain images.
The footer file can contain any text along with special tags. These tags are used as place holders, which the StarLeaf Scheduler replaces with conference specific information. The tags are described in the table below:
| Tag |
URL hyperlink |
Description |
| <formatted_access_code> |
%3cformatted_access_code%3e |
A URI that a participant could dial to join the conference using a StarLeaf endpoint. |
| <dial_standards> |
%3cdial_standards%3e |
A URI that a participant could use to join the conference using a standards-based (H.323 or SIP) endpoint. |
| <access_code_pstn> |
%3caccess_code_pstn%3e |
The access code required by participants who dial in from the PSTN (audio-only telephone). |
| <local_pstn> |
%3clocal_pstn%3e |
A PSTN number, which is either a relevant PSTN number based on the user’s location, or a default PSTN number. |
| <dial_info_url> |
%3cdial_info_url%3e |
A link to a web page that provides all the relevant dialing information for a conference. |
| <dial_info_url_pstn> |
%3cdial_info_url_pstn%3e |
A link to the web page with the PSTN tab selected by default. |
| <app_url> |
%3capp_url%3e |
A link which takes users to “https://meet.starleaf.com/<ConfID>/app” so that they can join using StarLeaf app. |
| <skype_info_url> |
%3cskype_info_url%3e |
A link that a Skype for Business user can use to launch Skype for Business and join the conference. |
| <webrtc_link> |
%3cwebrtc_link%3e |
A link that launches a browser so that the user can join the conference from the browser. |
| <user_text> |
No hyperlink required |
The text of an existing meeting will not be formatted when StarLeaf is added to the meeting afterward. The message body contains this text. |
| <dial_polycom> |
No hyperlink required |
This makes the join button on your Polycom endpoint light up (if StarLeaf is already integrated with the Polycom endpoint). |
| <mobile_pstn_dial> |
No hyperlink required |
Outputs a list of PSTN numbers in a one-click dial format that is readable by mobile devices. |
If you are editing the footer.rtf in Microsoft Word and you want to embed links (rather than putting the whole hyperlinked address in the text) you must URL-encode the tag. For example, instead of <dial_info_url> the hyperlink should be set to %3cdial_info_url%3e. This is shown in the example footer.rtf .
To download an example
footer.rtf file click
here . Clicking the link starts the download automatically.
How to deploy the customization
- Design your footer files.
- Test the files on a test client PC.
- Deploy to your users. Either:
- each user simply places the footer files in the appropriate directory
- you can deploy the footer files using centralized management software
Proxy support
StarLeaf Scheduler for Outlook Exchange Server supports connection through proxies. The add-in supports the
HTTP-CONNECT proxy protocol and it uses the proxy configuration from a user’s Internet Explorer proxy settings. The add-in supports all HTTP proxies that Internet Explorer supports. For scheduling meetings, the add-in communicates with api.starleaf.com.
Release notes
Version 1.4.2.1002
| ID |
Description |
| 22088 |
In previous versions, when you scheduled a meeting, formatted the invite text, and then selected the scheduler, the formatting of that invite text would disappear. From version 1.4, text formatting no longer disappears when you select the scheduler. |
| 24374 |
In previous versions, when you scheduled a meeting, used special characters (for example ú, é, Å) in the invite text, and then selected the scheduler, the special characters would change to alternative and incorrect characters. From version 1.4, special characters are no longer changed when you select the scheduler. |
Version 1.4.0.1002
| ID |
Description |
| 20100 |
When you edit a scheduled meeting, you can now change the StarLeaf meeting options, such as video layout, from the StarLeaf Scheduler panel. |
Version 1.3.1.1001
| ID |
Description |
| 21625 |
When you edit an invitation by adding a new participant to the invitee list, you now receive the option before sending the update of whether you want to send it to all participants or just the new participant |
| 21748 |
The Video URI now appears as expected in the text of a customized invitation (from a footer.rtf) |
Version 1.3.0.1005
| ID |
Description |
| 20100 |
When you customize the text of an Outlook meeting and subsequently make it a StarLeaf meeting, your text is no longer erased*. This can also be done with a tag in custom footers. For more information about customizing the invite text, go to StarLeaf Scheduler for Outlook Exchange Server: admin guide
*Known limitation: original formatting is removed |
| 19879 |
StarLeaf can now enable user log in within the password-less authentication flow if required by an organization |
| 12825 |
Multiple dial-in numbers per country are now provided in the meeting invite |
Version 1.2.0.1018
| ID |
Description |
| 21065 |
The scheduler does not require you to log in with a username and password. However, if you force a log in with your username and password, the scheduler will fail to perform any StarLeaf operations if Outlook is left open for more than an hour. If you wish to continue logging in with a username and password, you can resolve this issue if you close and reopen Outlook. This fix will be rolled out over the coming weeks (from 5 April 2019) |
Version 1.2.0.1015
| ID |
Description |
| 19851 |
Bug fix and improvement to the process of editing one meeting in a series of recurring meetings when the privacy setting is enabled. This fix will be rolled out over the coming weeks (from 15 February 2019) |
| 20210 |
Under certain circumstances, if the scheduler was mass-installed using the MSI installer, a request to install the StarLeaf app could appear when you launch the scheduler even if the StarLeaf app is already installed. Cloud 8.7 fixes this issue and this will be visible in the coming weeks (from 15 February 2019) |
Version 1.2.0.1004
| ID |
Description |
| 11867 |
If you are a StarLeaf app user, you no longer need to enter your username and password to use the StarLeaf Scheduler for Outlook Exchange Server. The scheduler automatically uses the credentials from when you signed into StarLeaf |
Version 1.1.10
| ID |
Description |
| 18278 |
When you schedule a meeting using the add-in, the local PSTN number that can be used to dial in now appears in the meeting invite text |
Version 1.1.9
| ID |
Description |
| 17571 |
In previous versions, some organization security settings do not allow the add-in to launch correctly in Outlook. Version 1.1.9 updates the signing of the add-in and fixes this issue |
| 18214 |
In previous versions, under certain circumstances, the add-in asks users to log in after a period of inactivity. Version 1.1.9 fixes this issue |
Version 1.1.8
| Description |
| General improvements |
Version 1.1.6
| ID |
Description |
| 17411 |
In the previous release, when a user creates or updates a meeting, the add-in can sometimes take a long time to respond and return an error saying it failed to create/update the meeting. Version 1.1.6 fixes this issue |
Version 1.1.5
| ID |
Description |
| 16953 |
In the previous release, the quiet option of the MSI installer still causes some notifications for the user. Version 1.1.5 fixes this issue |
Version 1.1.4b6
| ID |
Description |
| 16109 |
In the previous release, when a user edits a meeting that was originally created using the add-in, a dialog box sometimes appears advising that no changes have been made to the meeting request. Version 1.1.4b6 fixes this issue |
Version 1.1.4b5
| Description |
| General improvements and bug fixes |
Version 1.1.4b2
| ID |
Description |
| 12693 |
In the previous release, some users saw an error message after they were unexpectedly required to log in to the add-in. Version 1.1.4b2 fixes this issue |
| 12862 |
The user experience for converting an existing meeting into a StarLeaf meeting has been improved |
Version 1.1.3b1
| ID |
Description |
| 9786 |
The add-in update message now runs in the background, rather than having the focus and causing users to inadvertently start the update and interrupt their outlook process |
| 10100 |
The add-in buttons now have explanatory tool-tips |
| 10702 |
In previous releases, the add-in could interfere with the opening of .msg files. Version 1.1.3b1 fixes this issue |
| 11608 |
In the previous release, you could get unexpected behavior when attempting to convert a single occurrence of a meeting, where an occurrence of this series has already been edited in Outlook, into a StarLeaf meeting. The behavior now is that the add-in will not allow you to do this |
| 11630 |
In the previous release, you could not convert a single occurrence of a meeting into a StarLeaf meeting. Version 1.1.3b1 fixes this issue |
| 12041 |
The add-in will no longer show the error: Custom UI Runtime Error in StarLeaf Scheduling |
| 12569 |
The add-in now allows the character £ in user passwords |
| 12483 |
The add-in now updates a series occurrence when dragging and dropping |
| 12862 |
Converting an existing Outlook meeting into a StarLeaf meeting now behaves as expected |
Where to find more information or get help
You or your reseller can get help by raising a case with StarLeaf Technical Support.