XGEN: How Special Folder Names Are Assigned in Outlook Web Access (OWA)

This article discusses how folder names are assigned when Exchange 2000 is supporting multiple-language Microsoft Outlook Web Access (OWA) clients.

OWA obtains client language information by using the HTTP header that the client sends with every browser request to the OWA Web server. This header is the HTTP Accept-Language header. The header has a number of effects on the OWA client interface, which include the following:

• The Exchange 2000 information store generates special folder names when a user logs on for the first time. The folder names are not affected by which client language is used in later connections.
• The information store determines how to localize the content of messages, such as e-mail messages and out-of-office messages.
• The information store determines the OWA language pack to use for the user interface (UI).
• The information store determines how to format OWA date and time options.

For example, you create a new mailbox, and then the mailbox owner uses OWA to log on to Exchange 2000 for the first time. The user's Microsoft Internet Explorer language is set to German. The Accept-Language header tells the information store to generate the names of the Inbox, Calendar, Contacts, and other special folder names in German.

After the mailbox owner logs on for the first time, the links to the folders on the Outlook Bar are in German, regardless of the language setting in Internet Explorer. Because the UI depends on the Accept-Language header that is sent by the browser, the other sections of the UI are displayed in the language that is specified in the Accept-Language header.

If the UI must consistently appear in English, regardless of the language settings of the client browser, use an Internet Services API filter (ISAPI filter) to intercept each incoming request and replace the Accept-Language header.

For additional information about how to use an ISAPI filter to replace the Accept-Language header, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about the Accept-Language header and localized folder names, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: