iPad like email for OSX?

[mailman199]

I searched like crazy for this and cannot figure it out. What I am trying to accomplish is replacing my iPad with a MBA. The one thing that has me hung up is the email. I use exchange for my work email and the way it functions on the iPad is perfect. Very simple set up and syncing. In OSX things seem more robust, but also much more difficult to get going. What I am curious is there a way to get the mail app to handle exchange webmail like the iPad does?

 

[danielbrowning]

Hi mailman199

Mail has built in support for Exchange, at least in Snow Leopard and for Exchange 2007.

If you're starting it from scratch, just enter your name, email address and password... If it doesn't auto configure, then you can select an account type, including either Exchange 007 or Exchange IMAP.

If you've already got Mail configured for other accounts, it's under preferences, accounts... Just add a new account and specify Exchange 2007.

Hope this is what you're after?

 

[MisterMe]

I searched like crazy for this and cannot figure it out. What I am trying to accomplish is replacing my iPad with a MBA. The one thing that has me hung up is the email. I use exchange for my work email and the way it functions on the iPad is perfect. Very simple set up and syncing. In OSX things seem more robust, but also much more difficult to get going. What I am curious is there a way to get the mail app to handle exchange webmail like the iPad does?

It is not quite clear what you are talking about. iPad Mail accesses Exchange natively, not through Outlook Web Access. The iPad and iPhone versions of Mail have better support for Exchange on Apple hardware than any product offering from Microsoft. The MacOS X 10.6 version of Mail is only as good as Microsoft's offerings in this regard. Of course if your Exchange Server is restricted to your LAN as mine is, then Outlook Web Access is the only way to access your account when you are outside your LAN.

If it is Outlook Web Access for the iPad, then which app? It requires a third-party app or your browser. I made the the mistake of paying for an OWA app. The developer of my app has a different version for each version of Exchange Server. It is difficult to setup and to get working. To add to my grief, the app suddenly lost its settings and now refuses to let me reenter them.

 

[miknos]

Try Sparrow:
http://sparrowmailapp.com/

 

[ScoobyMcDoo]

Try Sparrow:
http://sparrowmailapp.com/

I have no idea why you would suggest this app for the OP as it does not claim any exchange support - it doesn't even have imap support yet.

 

[ScoobyMcDoo]

Mail should work with your exchange server, however I have found that it does not do a good job of rendering the RTF format that any outlook users may send you. For some reason, the iPad, iPhone do a lot better job with these formats than OSX mail.

I ended up having to use M$ exchange to effectively work with all the outlook uses at my workplace - of course Office 2011 just came out with outlook.

What version of Exchange server are you connecting to?

 

[mailman199]

Thanks for the help. It is the OWA that I am using. I cannot connect to my exchange server outside of work any other way. It's the webmail.domain.com. Thing is on the iPad and iPhone there is great support for this. Seems like no so much in OS X. Tried Thunderbird, Outlook 2011, and Mail all with no luck. Not sure if the iPad and iPhone are getting routed through a special server or just have better support for OWA.

 

[mailman199]

I need to check the version. I'm afraid it might be 2003 which I have read is not supported in Outlook 2011.

 

[MisterMe]

Thanks for the help. It is the OWA that I am using. I cannot connect to my exchange server outside of work any other way. It's the webmail.domain.com. Thing is on the iPad and iPhone there is great support for this. Seems like no so much in OS X. Tried Thunderbird, Outlook 2011, and Mail all with no luck. Not sure if the iPad and iPhone are getting routed through a special server or just have better support for OWA.

OK. Your Exchange server limits direct access to its local area network. This is an optional feature of Exchange. This forces users to use the Outlook Web Access webmail client when they are outside the local area network. Before the iPad, the only way to use OWA was through a browser. OWA for the iPad does not allow direct access to Exchange. It uses Outlook Web Access in much the same way as a browser. No email program on any platform gives the user direct access to Exchange from outside the LAN if access to the server is limited to its LAN like yours. Outside your restricted server's LAN, Windows does not have direct access. Outside your restricted server's LAN, Outlook does not have access--not Outlook 2010, not Outlook 2011, not nothing.