Mac Mail Question - Exchange

[jennconducts@ho]

Hi all,

I wish to access my work email from home on my Mac. I can do this via MS Entourage, but when I enter the account settings from Entourage into Mail, it can't find the server. It is an Exchange account. Any ideas or hints?

Many thanks for any help,
Jenn

 

[MisterMe]

There are too many possibilities to list them all. Many Exchange servers are like mine and cannot be directly accessed from a different domain. Some firms allow remote access via IMAP. If it they allow it, I would bet dollars to donuts that your IT staff has given you instructions how to get your mail remotely.

The takeaway message is that there is no way that anyone but you on this forum can do anything better than guess at how to access your Exchange server. You are just going to have to go through proper channels.

 

[jennconducts@ho]

There are too many possibilities to list them all. Many Exchange servers are like mine and cannot be directly accessed from a different domain.

But evidently I CAN access the account from my domain, as I can do it through Entourage, but not Mail.

" Some firms allow remote access via IMAP. If it they allow it, I would bet dollars to donuts that your IT staff has given you instructions how to get your mail remotely. "

They want us to use Outlook Web Access, which is terrible and just adds yet another amil process. I'm just trying to use Mail (like at work) for all of my email reading and organizing, personal and work.

"The takeaway message is that there is no way that anyone but you on this forum can do anything better than guess at how to access your Exchange server. You are just going to have to go through proper channels.

It just doesn't make sense to me that what works in Entourage doesn't work in Mail, as I've tried very carefully to use the settings that work in Entourage. I guess that I'm just slow I do have a request in to our IT staff for help, but it will take about a month to get an answer, based on previous experience. The poor guys are overworked, especially this time of year.
Jenn

 

[gauchogolfer]

It just doesn't make sense to me that what works in Entourage doesn't work in Mail, as I've tried very carefully to use the settings that work in Entourage. I guess that I'm just slow I do have a request in to our IT staff for help, but it will take about a month to get an answer, based on previous experience. The poor guys are overworked, especially this time of year.
Jenn

The issue is that Mail is set to interface with IMAP or POP servers, which account for the majority of webmail programs. Exchange servers, like you're talking about, require different configurations. They're just not very easy to get to work with Mail, as they're almost specifically designed to work with Entourage/Outlook. Like MisterMe said, the best way is to go through your IT dept. I've dealt with this situation myself, and that's what it took (and wasn't straightforward).

 

[MisterMe]

It just doesn't make sense to me that what works in Entourage doesn't work in Mail, as I've tried very carefully to use the settings that work in Entourage. I guess that I'm just slow I do have a request in to our IT staff for help, but it will take about a month to get an answer, based on previous experience. The poor guys are overworked, especially this time of year.
Jenn

The first thing that you have to get your brain around is that Exchange is designed to give your IT staff numerous and sundry opportunities to restrict your access to it. They want you to use Exchange Web Access off site and there is nothing that you can do to get around that. Even though Entourage 2004 works onsite, it works only in a fashion. FWIW, this is the first version of Entourage that featured Exchange settings. A year ago, Mail worked better with my Exchange server than Entourage 2004. However, my firm upgraded its server which rendered Mail's Exchange settings inoperable.

Apple has tried to provide Exchange-compatibility in Mail, but Microsoft moved the bar.
Your IT staff implemented Exchange the way that it wants it. They are not going to change it to accomodate you.
Just because your IT staff takes a month to help you with its implementation of Exchange does not mean than anyone here can help you any faster.