Mimecast for Outlook - When to Upgrade

This article contains information on upgrading to Mimecast for Outlook v7.10, including prerequisites, release types, recommendations, enabling update notifications, user experience, and steps for automated or manual updates.

All versions of Mimecast for Outlook before v7.10 have been made end-of-life. Older versions of Mimecast for Outlook will no longer be operable, or able to communicate with Mimecast.

Before Upgrading

Before deploying Mimecast for Outlook v7.10 to your users, you should ensure you've done the following:

• • • Identify and review all Authentication profiles applied to your Mimecast for Outlook users.
    • No action is required if the profile is configured to use SAML or IWA, or already has 2-step Authentication enabled.
    • If the profile is configured to use either Cloud or Domain authentication, you must enable 2-step Authentication before deploying Mimecast for Outlook v7.10.
    • Choose the method for users to receive their 2-step authentication code using SMS, Email, or 3rd party app. See Configuring Two-Step Authentication Profiles
    • Communicate this change to your users before updating authentication profiles.
    • Once you have updated all Authentication Profiles to use 2-Step Authentication and Cloud or Domain Authentication, Mimecast for Outlook v7.10 can be deployed as normal.
    • Mimecast for Outlook can be downloaded from the Application Downloads page.

Release Type

Release Type	Build Descriptor	Description
Generally Available (GA)	v7.1	Includes major new functionality and enhancements. Includes a roll-up of any fixes and enhancements delivered in a prior Maintenance Revision.
Maintenance Revision	v7.1 R1	In general, this includes minor improvements and bug fixes. This build will not be published to the updated URLs and will not trigger a new version available notification.

Release Schedule

Mimecast for Outlook builds fall into one of the following categories:

• • • You are advised to evaluate the release guidance for each GA build. Customers may wish to adopt the version and deploy it to their users if appropriate.
    • You should not feel compelled to take each Maintenance Revision build. These will largely include fixes targeted at specific customer environments or third-party add-in conflicts. You are advised to evaluate the release guidance and adopt the build should it include specific fixes they require. Service Delivery will advise you of the versions that specific issues are being resolved in, as soon as that is confirmed.

Recommendations

Mimecast strongly recommends adopting the latest GA version as far as possible. However, we fully understand that some customers have lengthy compliance-driven change management processes lasting up to 9 months. In general, you should:

• • • Ensure you have at least deployed the latest major version (e.g., v7.x),
    • Deploy a GA build at least once every twelve months.

You are strongly advised to:

• • • See Service Updates to review notifications by Mimecast of the release of new builds.

      Mimecast will also announce the end of life via this channel before direct customer communications. Further information can be found in the Product Life Cycle article.

    • Enable new versions of available notifications for the Configuring Application Settings applicable to Administrator groups.
    • Move away from any major version as soon as possible after the new version is released.

Enable notifications of a new version 

With the notifications enabled, the user receives a message in their Inbox notifying them of the availability of the new release and a link to the Service Updates release guidance.

These notifications have the following benefits:

• Useful for IT Administrators wishing to be notified of an update.
• Disabling this functionality for all end users in managed software environments is advisable.
• Mimecast generates notifications for Outlook directly and not by the Mimecast gateway.

Enable New Version Notifications

You can enable new version notifications, by using the following steps:

1. Log in to the Mimecast Administration Console.
2. Navigate to the Services | Applications menu item.
3. Open the relevant Application Settings profile.
4. Expand the Outlook accordion.
5. Check the Enable New Version Available Notifications option.

6. Click Save and Exit.

User Experience

This section describes how users can check for updates to their Mimecast for Outlook application. To install an update, you have administrator rights on your machine. Many organizations manage software deployments to end-user machines. Check with your IT Administrator if you cannot install Mimecast for Outlook manually.

With new version notifications enabled, End-Users will experience both of the following:

• • • When opening the About view, the application checks if updates are available. If there are, the dialog displays a download link.
    • When a new version is available, an inbox notification is created.

If new version notifications are disabled and a new version is available, users can still access the download link from the About view.

Automated Update Notifications

A check for an update is automatically performed when you start Microsoft Outlook. If an update is available, an alert is displayed:

You can update your Mimecast for Outlook version by using the following steps:

1. Click on the i link. The About dialog is displayed, providing current information and a link to the latest version.
   
   
2. Click on the link for the new version. The Mimecast for Outlook Application Downloads page is displayed.
3. Download the required Mimecast for Outlook installation file.
4. Install the update.

Manually Checking for Updates

With Microsoft Outlook open, you can manually check for a Mimecast for Outlook update by using the following steps:

1. Either:

• • • Click on the  icon in the bottom left-hand corner, and click on the About Mimecast menu item.
    • Click on the Mimecast ribbon, and click on the About Mimecast button from the General section.

2.  Follow the instructions in the Automated Update Notifications section above to download and install the update.