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Exchange Server Support in SL vs. OWA support

S

sissified84

macrumors member
Original poster
May 11, 2009
30
0
I know this is talked about a lot... but I really don't know what to do. Here is my story. When I am at home and want to check my work email I have to login to https://mail.companyname.com and enter my user name and password. I HATE the layout of Outlook Web Access in Safari and want to take advantage of the new built in Exchange Server Support in SL. Is there any way to do this? I have contacted my IT department and was told that I don't have any privileges to the company server. All I want to do is use my Mail.app the same way my iPhone works. Is this not possible? I would try entourage, but since I have the Home and Student version I don't have any exchange support.

Is there any way for me, knowing ONLY my OWA web address, my username, and password to use the newly built in Exchange support? Or what do you recommend.

MY GOAL: To use ANY software (preferably Mail.app) to access my work email from home besides safari.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 
What version of Exchange is your company running? (You can find this out from the Options link in OWA I think.) If they are running Exchange 2007 and your admin has deployed the autodiscover service properly - all you need to do is enter your email and password in Mail.app and it will do the rest.

Have you actually tried setting up your work account in Mail.app? For me it worked but it crashes a lot. If you already have Entourage 2008 - download the free Exchange Web Services version and it works great if you have Exchange 2007.
 
I have a similar problem.

I have to go to https://outlook.companyname.com and log in there to get my mail. Its all setup on my iphone with no problems but I haven't got it working in mail or entourage! They don't even seem to have the same options as when setting up mail accounts on the iphone?

Oh we use Exchange 2007.
 
I have a similar problem; Entourage works fine but can't get Mail to work with Exchange. I've tried every possible configuration I know, and gave up for now, will stick with Entourage '04 for now.

Here's a tip, though, for the original poster, you might be able to use Thunderbird, or at least follow the instructions in the following article on your computer at work and find the server info you need to try to set up Mail:
Thunderbird with Exchange
 
You don't need to enter any options in Snow Leopard's Mail.app - just enter your email / pwd and it will figure out the rest if your Exchange Admin has done his/her job!

(It's called "Autodiscover" for a reason!)

Or are you saying you had problems setting it up after entering the email/pwd?
 
in reply...

Well... upon further investigation... I was told by my IT guy that the company does run Exchange 2007 server, BUT my email application is Outlook 2003. Does that make sense? Even possible? I don't know.

I try to create a new account and it asks for my email address and password; upon entering it, I am prompted to select whether it is a POP, IMAP, Exchange IMAP, or Exchange 2007 account. I have tried them all, but I don't know what to put in for the incoming mail server.

I was told by my IT guy that I would have to be IN the office and have my mac plugged into the network for it to work, or I would have to go through a VPN from home. He said that the "autodiscover" is set up, but I would have to be plugged into the network.

Is my IT guy filling me full of it?
 
sissified84 said:
Well... upon further investigation... I was told by my IT guy that the company does run Exchange 2007 server, BUT my email application is Outlook 2003. Does that make sense? Even possible? I don't know.
[...]
I was told by my IT guy that I would have to be IN the office and have my mac plugged into the network for it to work, or I would have to go through a VPN from home. He said that the "autodiscover" is set up, but I would have to be plugged into the network.

Is my IT guy filling me full of it?
Click to expand...

All Exchange versions are backwards compatible with all Outlook versions - so 2003 Outlook -> 2007 Exchange or vice versa is perfectly possible - many organizations do that in fact.

What your IT guy seems to be saying is that per company policy the Autodiscover service is configured to not send the publicly accessible URLs ( the IT people need to host a Internet facing Exchange Client Access Server for Auto discover to work without VPN - some companies do not allow that although it is considered crazy to not have anywhere email now a days).

Since they do not have a Internet facing client access server the Auto Discover does not work - you need to VPN in for that to work.
 
Thanks for your help...

I just called IT again and spoke with someone a little more up to pace... We are in fact still running 2003 Exchange Server and yesterday with the release of SL, many of the "big-whigs" called in complaining that they couldn't use Mail.app on their MBPs. I was told that due to that they will be making the switch to 2007 shortly! I guess I will just have to wait. But kudos to the "big-whigs" who run a HUGE, very well known company throughout the US and overseas for being MAC users!!!!
 
alent1234 said:
It won't work going through a front end server like with the iPhone?
Click to expand...

Mail.app needs Exchange 2007 SP1 - plus your administrator has to have the Autodiscover service configured, and a publicly accessible Client Access Server configured.

It all generally works for Exchange 2007 SP1+ - why not try it out?
 
Is anyone else coming across a problem that mail is not actually pushed to Mail in snow leopard. It only receives mail during the routine 5 minute or whatever you have setup intervals. Am I missing something here?
 
Thanks for the replys so far.

Looks like I'll stick to using the iPhone for my work email!

I'm still puzzled as to why I can just put the web address in the iPhone exchange settings and it works including push and not Mail or Entourage?!?
 
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