Installing Outlook To JIRA via Active Directory’s Group Policy

 A. Pre-Requisites:

Users should have these prerequisites installed on their PC's in order for the add-on to run
  • Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5
  • Microsoft Office 2007 Primary Interop Assemblies
  • Microsoft Visual Basic PowerPacks 10.0
  • Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Tools for Office Runtime
  • Windows Installer 4.5

B. Preparation For a Fresh Installation:


OTJ Setup bit version

The OTJ Binaries bit version x32bit and x64bit are for OFFICE VERSION installed and NOT OS bit version.


  1. Login into your Active Directory(AD)
  2. Copy the Outlook To JIRA (OTJ) installer folder into the AD to be shared
  3. Share your copied folder:
    • Right click the folder
    • Choose Properties
    • Click on Sharing tab
    • Click on Share Button
    • Enter the Name of the group to share with (ex. Everyone) and Click Add
    • Click on Share
    • Click on Done

4. Manage the Group Policy Management in your AD:

    • Click on Start -> Administrative Tools -> Group Policy Management
    • Expand Domains tree
    • Navigate to your domain and expand it
    • Right Click Group Policy Objects
    • Choose New
    • Enter the Name for the New GPO (ex. OTJ Installer)
    • Click OK

Note: The new added GPO (ex. OTJ Installer) is now listed under the Group Policy Objects.

    • Right Click on this new GPO created
    • Choose Edit
    • In the new Opened Dialog, in the Left panel move to :

User Configuration -> Policies -> Software Settings  ->Software Installation

  • Right Click the SoftwareInstallation
  • Choose New -> Package
  • In the new opened window fill the FileName with the location of the shared folder (ex. \\server2008a-name\OTJ)
  • You’ll get the content of the folder shown, Choose OutlookToJIRA.msi
  • Click on OK
  • New window DeploySoftware is shown, choose Advanced and click OK
  • Outlook To JIRA will now appear in the Software Installation view area.
  • Right Click Outlook To JIRA ->Properties
  • Click on the Deployment tab
  • Select the Assigned Deployment Type
  • Check the Uninstall this application when it falls out of the scope of management
  • Check the Install this application on Logon
  • Click on OK
  • Go back to the Domains tree in the Group Policy Management
  • Select your Domain and the Right Click
  • Choose Link an Existing GPO..
  • Choose the new GPO created (ex. OTJ Installer)
  • Click OK
  • Select this New GPO that will be Shown under your Domain
  • In the Security Filtering panel-group Click on Add
  • Enter the Name to select (ex. Everyone)
  • Click OK




Auto-Fill JIRA URL to all Users in AD

Now You can Push you JIRA Instance URL to all users in the AD Domain, so it will be automatically filled as the JIRA URL Filed in OTJ Setup window !!

To implement this feature in your AD, please follow these additional steps to the above Installation actions:

  • Right Click on the above created GPO (ex. OTJ Installer)
  • Choose Edit
  • In the new Opened Dialog, in the Left panel move to :

UserConfiguration -> Preferences-> WindowsSettings  ->Registry

  • Right Click Registry -> New -> Registry Item
  • Choose Action : Create
  • Fill the Key Path : SOFTWARE ( navigate to : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SOFTWARE)
  • Fill the Value name : OTJUrl
  • Fill the Value data : your JIRA URL (ex. https://myjira.com)
  • Click Apply
  • Click OK



All users joining this AD group will have OTJ installed once they log off and log on to their computer.

C. Upgrade an Existing Version of OTJ:

  • Remove any previous GPO added for pushing the OTJ Add-on to the users in AD.
  • Create a new GPO following the above steps and using the MSI binaries for the new OTJ version