We all know the pressure of being an IT Pro - it is a busy and challenging life!  Late nights, nervous strain, repetitive work, and talking to themselves.  Does this sound familiar to you?

Today Microsoft is announcing All-In-One Script Framework - an IT Pros' Time Saver.   It is a sister project of Microsoft All-In-One Code Framework – Developers' Pain Killer.  We can't guarantee that the late-night work will disappear but we can try our best to save your time!

All-In-One Script Framework is an automation script sample library for IT Professionals.  The key value that All-In-One Script Framework is trying to deliver is Scenario-Focused Script Samples driven by IT Pros' real-world pains and needs.  The team is monitoring all TechNet forums, IT Pros' support calls to Microsoft, and will start to monitor the script requests submitted to TechNet Script Repository soon. We collect frequently asked IT scenarios, and create script samples to automate the tasks and save some time for IT Pros. Samples will illustrate the frequently asked IT scripting scenarios of Microsoft products (Windows Server, Windows Client, SQL Server, Exchange, O365, SharePoint, Lync, Dynamics, IIS, etc) through scripting languages such as PowerShell, VBScript and T-SQL.  The team of All-In-One Script Framework sincerely hope that these customer-driven automation script samples can help our IT community in this script-centric move.  

In three short months,  the team of All-In-One Script Framework has collected over 80 qualified script sample topics from TechNet Forums.  These topics are frequently asked by IT Pros and can be eased with automation scripts.  29 of these script topics have been tuned into actual script samples published on TechNet Script Repository. 

The initial feedback was great! 
"All-In-One Script Framework promises to be an amazing place for IT Pros to get help with their scripting needs for Windows, SharePoint, SQL Server, Exchange, and a growing number of products". – Dan Ruder, Principal Escalation Engineer.

This is just the beginning.  With the next script-centric wave, more and more script samples are coming.  In the following one year, Microsoft will release lots of big products such as Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, the new Office, Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, etc.  The All-In-One Script Framework team has planned 200 script samples, and more surprises, to be shared with our IT Pro community.  

Please spread the word of the new All-In-One Script Framework offering.  Please also keep track of our news and offerings in this portal.  We look forward to hearing from your feedback.

Microsoft All-In-One Script Framework is providing a script sample request function.  This is a proactive way for our IT community to obtain script samples for certain IT tasks directly from Microsoft.

IT Pros are encouraged to submit script sample requests dealing with any Microsoft products and any scripting languages to the TechNet Script Request Forum (http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/site/requests).  At the same time, IT Pros can vote for newly submitted or existing script sample topics. Here’s the exciting part!  In this active IT community, your script request may be quickly resolved by the strong MVPs and other community members.  Microsoft engineers will also pick the requests with high number of votes and provide the script samples, free of charge.
 

We have a few suggestions for you in order that your request can be served at the earliest.

1. Before you open a new request, we suggest that you quickly search among existing script requests and vote them up.  

In addition, the TechNet Script Center has provided over 7000 script samples.  A quick search in this big script repository may give you surprises.

2. Please be specific about what the script sample is going to demonstrate.  Here is an example of a good script request: 

"I want a script sample that demonstrates how to change the background color of the Windows 8 start screen”.

General script requests such as “I want more script samples for Windows 8” will require more back-and-forth clarifications before our engineer can understand the actual script requirement and start to produce scripts.

3. If possible, please provide some proof that this script is needed by many IT Pros.  The team prioritizes to produce scripts that can benefit more people.  You may share the business impact of the script, or share the forum threads that are discussing the topic.  For example,

"I want a script sample that demonstrates how to change the background color of the Windows 8 start screen.  Many people are asking how to do this in the TechNet forum: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w8itprogeneral/thread/a5699003-9233-4ddc-96fc-e3c1e4a2a81b”.

How are you prioritizing the script requests?

The higher the script request is voted, the higher priority will the team offer to handle, write and publish the script sample.

Besides the Script Request Service, Microsoft All-In-One Script Framework is also featured by creating scripts for frequently asked IT tasks in TechNet forums and Microsoft support calls.  The team prioritizes to handle your script requests over the script topics collected from forums, in order to give you a better and faster service experience.

Meanwhile, with the launch of many new Microsoft products such as Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, Office 2013, etc, we prioritize to handle requests for these new products.

What happens after I submit a script request?

Microsoft All-In-One Script Framework Team is monitoring the script request forum everyday.  Meanwhile, we have a very active and strong IT community in TechNet.  MVPs and community members may share their scripts to help you.

If the script request gets more than 2 votes, and no script sample is posted to resolve the script request, Microsoft All-In-One Script Framework engineers will start to handle the request.  They will first clarify the request with you when necessary, and research to see if any existing scripts can answer your requirement.  If none of the existing scripts helps, the team will submit the script topic to the field experts at Microsoft and triage the script topic:

• Is the script going to demonstrate recommended practices from Microsoft?  (We will surely not demonstrate any hacking solutions )
• Can the request be resolved with one of two lines of code?  If the request can be resolved with a few lines of code, we will post the lines of code directly in your script request, instead of creating a complete, downloadable script sample package.
• Does the script topic involve any 3rd party solutions?  If the solution requires the use of 3rd party components, please understand that it will be hard for us to make the demonstration.
• Is the script topic too sophisticated and more like a product feature request?  If the script topic requires more than 1000 lines of scripts, we will consider it as a product feature request, and route it to the relevant product team for future consideration.

The field experts are Microsoft Escalation Engineers and the Product Group members.  If the script request is declined by the field experts, we will share the reason of the decision, and expect your understanding.

Next, Microsoft All-In-One Script Framework engineers will start to produce the script sample.  We will not keep you waiting for the complete script.  You will receive “code snippets” from our engineers for your instant needs.  The script sample will be tested by our testers, and reviewed by the field experts before publishing.

Throughout the process, the Microsoft All-In-One Script Framework engineers will keep you updated about the request status every few days.  If you have any feedback, please email onescript@microsoft.com.

Acknowledgement

By taking this opportunity, the All-In-One Script Framework team wants to thank Don Totten and his TechNet Script Repository team for creating the Script Request Forum, and making it possible for us to launch the Script Request Service program. 

Microsoft All-In-One Script Framework is updated today with 9 new script samples.   These new script samples cover Lync Server, Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, and Office. All of these scripts are written for solving frequently asked IT tasks that our team observed in TechNet forums and Microsoft Support Incidents.  Many customers are asking about these IT scenarios, so we expect that the script samples can save some time for IT Pros.

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New Lync Server Script Samples

Script to Enable Users and Enterprise Voice in Microsoft Lync Server 2010

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Script-to-Enable-Users-and-f56306ed

Description: This script could be used to enable users and enterprise voice feature in Microsoft Lync Server 2010. It will help you to generate LineUri and provide a confliction detection mechanism. Also you can assign dial plans and voice policies at the same time. It is recommended to use this script right after deploying a new Lync environment. You need to find another solution or extend this script to support user provisioning.

User Scenarios: With Enterprise Voice, Microsoft Lync Server 2010 delivers a stand-alone Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) offering to enhance or replace traditional PBX systems. Enterprise Voice users can call colleagues on your organization’s VoIP network or PBX, and they can call traditional phone numbers outside your organization.  Currently, administrators feel difficulties when they try to enable users and enterprise voice right after deploying a new Lync environment. It requires a lot of work to assign phone numbers (LineUri) to each user. So administrators do need a script to mitigate this problem.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Sean Xiao for collecting the script idea.  Thanks Greg Gu for producing the script sample.  Thanks  Christopher Tart  (Microsoft SR SUPPORT ESCALATION ENGINEER) for reviewing it and improving its quality.

Import Contacts for Microsoft Lync 2010 (PowerShell)

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Import-Contacts-for-Lync-5fe0e671

Description: This script could be used to import custom groups and distribution groups for Microsoft Lync 2010.

User Scenarios: In a real world, IT help desks are often required to add dozens of predefined custom groups or distribution groups for Lync clients in different department. It is a time-consuming task for adding predefined custom group or distribution group for each Lync client.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Anders Wang for collecting this script idea.  Thanks Greg Gu for composing the script.  Thanks Christopher Tart  (Microsoft SR SUPPORT ESCALATION ENGINEER) for reviewing it and improving its quality.

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New Exchange Server Script Samples

Generate report of user mailbox’s size for Exchange 2010 (PowerShell)

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Generate-report-of-user-e4e9afca

Description: This script could be used to export mailboxes’ information to a CSV file, including SamAccountName, DisplayName, TotalItemSize. Based on these CSV files, script will also generate a report about the variation tendency of user mailbox.

User Scenarios: IT Administrators may care about the size of user’s mailbox.  It’s good for admins to log this size information every day, and create report when admins want to check the variation tendency of user mailbox.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Zifeng Wang for collecting the script topic from TechNet forums.  Thanks Edward Qi for composing the script sample.  Thanks Flo Raharja – Microsoft Escalation Engineer – for reviewing the script sample before we publish it.

Create Report for Average Mailbox Size and Item Count per DB in Exchange 2010

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Create-Report-for-Average-8bbd0467

Description: This script could be used to create report for average mailbox size and item count per database in Microsoft Exchange 2010. Also you can use this script to measure all the properties which can be measured.

User Scenarios: In a real world, IT Administrators may want to know the detail information about Mailbox Database, some of them even require the average mailbox size of each database, and they need these data to manage the exchange server better.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Zifeng Wang for collecting the script idea.  Thanks Greg Gu for writing the script sample.  Thanks Mike Hendrickson for reviewing the sample before it’s published.

Remove E-Mail address with Specific Domain Name in Microsoft Exchange 2010

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Remove-E-Mail-address-with-d716e055

Description: This script could be used to remove E-Mail address with specific domain Name in Microsoft Exchange 2010. This script can remove E-Mail address from mailbox, distribution group and dynamic distribution group.

User Scenarios: In a real world, IT Administrators may want to remove new e-mail addresses due to variety of reasons. If an organization has thousands of recipients, it’s impossible to remove e-mail addresses for these recipients one by one. IT administrators do need a script to complete this task.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Zifeng Wang for collecting the script idea.  Thanks Greg Gu for writing the script sample.  Thanks Mike Hendrickson for reviewing the sample before it’s published.

Add Proxy Addresses for Recipients by Using a CSV file in Exchange 2010

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Add-Proxy-Addresses-for-3a317074

Description: This script could be used to add proxy addresses for recipients by using a CSV file in Microsoft Exchange 2010. You can export the recipients which you want to add new proxy address by using this script also.

User Scenarios: In a real world, IT Administrators may want to add new proxy addresses due to variety of reasons. If an organization has thousands of recipients, it’s impossible to add proxy address for these recipients one by one. IT administrators do need a script to complete this task.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Zifeng Wang for collecting the script idea.  Thanks Greg Gu for writing the script sample.  Thanks Mike Hendrickson for reviewing the sample before it’s published.

Manage Large Messages in Microsoft Exchange 2010

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Manage-Large-Messages-in-f1076d8f

Description: This script could be used to manage large messages in Microsoft Exchange 2010. You can use this script for suspending or resuming large messages. Meanwhile, this script will send notifications to these users who are sending large messages.

User Scenarios:  In a real world, IT administrators may want to find out the users who are sending lager messages. They hope these messages will be delivered at afterhours. Large quantity of newsletter messages is a typical scenario for using this script.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Christy Zhang for collecting this script topic from TechNet forums.  Thanks Greg Gu for composing the script sample.  Thanks Mike Hendrickson for reviewing it.

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New SharePoint Server Script Samples

Get Checkout Files List in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 (PowerShell)

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Get-Checkout-Files-List-in-040002fd

Description: This script could be used to get a list of checkout files from a site collection in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. You can also get a list of files which checkout by specific user.

User Scenarios: In a real world, IT administrators often need to get a checkout files list in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, especially after the resignation of an employee. It will be a heavy task if they do it manually. It’s better to use a script to generate a checkout files list automatically.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Pengyu Zhao for collecting the script topic from TechNet forums.  Thanks Greg Gu for composing the script sample.  Thanks Nishand Vasudevan from Microsoft  for reviewing the script before it’s published.

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New Office Script Samples

Automating Out of Office in Outlook (VBScript)

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Automating-Out-of-Office-bc0edb1e

Description: This VBScript illustrates how to automate the user's Out of Office state in Outlook.

User Scenarios:  Sometimes user will forget to turn on or turn off the Out of Office assistant, this could be annoying. Using this script will help user to manage his/her Out of Office state automatically.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Rex Zhang for collecting the script idea.  Thanks Cristin Yan for writing the script sample.  Thanks Shaleen Thapa (Microsoft Support Escalation Engineer) for reviewing the script to ensure its quality.

Microsoft All-In-One Script Framework was publicly announced four months ago.  For those of us who are working on the project, it is like we gave birth to a baby.  The feedback from many warm-hearted community has changed him for better.  It’s a great joy to watch him grow under our careful guidance.  We take pride in his remarkable potential to serve the world of IT.  

Today, we open a new channel to closely watch your feedback.   The survey is composed of 9 questions.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Microsoft All-In-One Script Framework is updated today with 10 new script samples.   These new script samples cover Office and SharePoint. All of these scripts are written for solving frequently asked IT tasks that our team observed in TechNet forums and Microsoft Support Incidents.  Many customers are asking about these IT scenarios, so we expect that the script samples can save some time for IT Pros.

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New Office Script Samples

Save attachments from multiple selected items in Outlook (VBA)

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Save-attachments-from-5b6bf54b

Description: This VBA sample illustrates how to save attachments from multiple selected items in Outlook.

User Scenarios: When multiple items are selected, the Save Attachments option in the File menu will be grayed out, and it's inconvenient to save attachments one by one. This script is useful and can be used to save attachments from multiple selected items all at once.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Zhiliang Zhou for collecting the script topic.  Thanks Cristin Yan for composing the script sample.   Thanks  Pranav Wagh (Microsoft Support Escalation Engineer) for reviewing it and ensuring the quality.

Convert PowerPoint Presentation to Word Document (VBA)

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Convert-PowerPoint-c3a26165

Description: This VBA sample illustrates how to convert PowerPoint presentations to Word documents, in the meantime, it will try to keep the original format and layout and reduce the output file size. It can be only run on PowerPoint 2010.

User Scenarios: Converting PowerPoint presentations to Word documents is a frequently asked question by end-users in many public forums. Although there are similar methods available from built-in feature or 3rd-party applications, but most of them have evident disadvantage, some of them make large file size, some of them break or lose the format or layout.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Zhiliang Zhou for collecting the script topic.  Thanks Cristin Yan for composing the script sample.   Thanks  Shiv Khare (Microsoft Tech Lead) for reviewing it.

Remove or Change Password for Multiple PowerPoint Presentations (VBA)

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Remove-or-Change-Password-0efd9823

Description: This VBA sample illustrates how to convert PowerPoint presentations to Word documents, in the meantime, it will try to keep the original format and layout and reduce the output file size. It can be only run on PowerPoint 2010.

User Scenarios: Converting PowerPoint presentations to Word documents is a frequently asked question by end-users in many public forums. Although there are similar methods available from built-in feature or 3rd-party applications, but most of them have evident disadvantage, some of them make large file size, some of them break or lose the format or layout.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Zhiliang Zhou for collecting the script topic.  Thanks Cristin Yan for composing the script sample.   Thanks  Shiv Khare (Microsoft Tech Lead) for reviewing it.

Import Multiple Tables from Access to Excel (VBA)

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Import-Multiple-Tables-ad78b80f

Description: This VBA sample illustrates how to import multiple Access tables to Excel worksheets at once, meanwhile each worksheet‘s name will correspond to each table's name. It can be run on Excel 2003, 2007 and 2010.

User Scenarios: Users would like to import Access tables to Excel worksheets, meanwhile each worksheet's name will correspond to each table's name.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Cristin Yan for collecting the script topic and composing the script sample.  Thanks Shiv Khare (Microsoft Tech Lead) for reviewing it.

Remove Notes Pages in PowerPoint (VBA)

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Remove-Notes-Pages-in-9cd979c7

Description: This VBA demo illustrates how to remove notes pages in PowerPoint 2007 and the later version.

User Scenarios: Removing notes pages in PowerPoint is a frequently asked question by users in the Answers forums. For example, 1) remove slide numbers from PowerPoint notes pages using VBA  2) VBA shut off for PowerPoint 2007 Notes Page Header.  

Acknowledgement: Thanks Cristin Yan for collecting the script topic and composing the script sample.  Thanks Shiv Khare (Microsoft Tech Lead) for reviewing it.

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New SharePoint Script Samples

Retrieve SharePoint list data (PowerShell)

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Retrieve-SharePoint-list-8e7fb421

Description: This script demonstrates how to retrieve Microsoft SharePoint list data by Windows PowerShell and Microsoft SharePoint PowerShell snapin.

User Scenarios: Retrieve list data is a regular but important task for SharePoint content management. From the related cases, we could see that there are requirements from the IT administrators. There are some scripts in Internet, but all of them just focus on one section (e.g. retrieve all the list items), and also hard to read due to lack of explanations.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Simon Huang for collecting the script topic.  Thanks Greg Gu for composing the script.  Thanks Sojesh Sreelayam (Microsoft Support Escalation Engineer) for reviewing the script sample.

SharePoint List Enumerator (PowerShell)

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/SPListEnumerator-PowerShell-b0ce0b9f

Description: This script enumerates through a "large" list or document library and provides information about items in it.

User Scenarios: In SharePoint (2007 and 2010) we have a threshold on the number of list items in a container. In SharePoint 2007, the threshold value is 2,000 and in SharePoint 2010, it is 5,000. We often come across customers who have a large number of items in their lists/document libraries and complain of overall site performance. It is possible for customers to create nested folders and have a large number of documents/list items reside in them. But exceeding the threshold value can cause slowness and have a performance impact on the backend SQL content database.  This script traverses through each folder in a given list/document library and will enumerate items at each container level. It writes the output to a .CSV file to make it easier for viewing in Excel and perform further filtering.

Acknowledgement: Thanks J Vijay William (Microsoft Support Escalation Engineer) for collecting the script topic and composing the script sample.

Reset the User Profile Synchronization Service in SharePoint (PowerShell)

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Reset-the-User-Profile-cebcdee1

Description: This script will help IT administrator to reset the User Profile Synchronization Service in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.

User Scenarios: The User Profile Synchronization service interacts with Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager (FIM) to synchronize profile information with external systems such as directory services and business systems. The two FIM services, Forefront Identity Manager Service and Forefront Identity Manager Synchronization Service, are provisioned when you start the User Profile Synchronization service. Being unable to start the User Profile Synchronization service is the most common profile synchronization (profile sync) issue that administrators encounter. The farm account is used to start the User Profile Synchronization service. If you have configured a wrong service account, User Profile Synchronization Service won’t be started. This script could be used to reset the User Profile Synchronization service and its service account.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Anders Wang for collecting the script topic.  Thanks Greg Gu for composing the script sample.   Thanks Sojesh Sreelayam (Microsoft Support Escalation Engineer) for reviewing it before publishing.

Add attachments for a specific list item in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Add-attachments-for-a-1e931663

Description:  This script could be used to add attachments for a specific list item in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.

User Scenarios: In a real world, IT Administrators may need to add attachments for a specific list item. It will be a heavy task if we do it manually, so the IT Administrators need a script to complete this task.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Wenxuan Fan for collecting the script topic.  Thanks Greg Gu for composing the script sample.   Thanks Nishand Vasudevan (Microsoft Escalation Engineer) for reviewing it.

Add Allowed Inline Downloaded MIME Types for one Web Application in SharePoint

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Add-Allowed-Inline-1ae367ae

Description:  This script could be used to add allowed inline downloaded MIME types for one Web Application in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.

User Scenarios: By default PDF files cannot open in browser. It is not listed as a safe MIME type. But for most companies, PDF files are widely used in their daily work, so it is necessary to add PDF to the allowed inline downloaded MIME types list.

Acknowledgement: Thanks Wenxuan Fan for collecting the script topic.  Thanks Greg Gu for composing the script sample.   Thanks Sojesh Sreelayam (Microsoft Support Escalation Engineer) for reviewing it.

We look forward to learning your feedback and serving you better.  If you have any suggestions, please email All-In-One Script Framework: onescript@microsoft.com.