iPhone & Outlook: With Exchange and Without

[andrew87]

I'm considering the move from my Blackberry to iPhone however, like many people, I use my phone extensively for work and we use Outlook in my office.

My question is this: We do not have an Exchange server today however we will be buying it in a few months time, what Outlook syncing issues might I have today and how will those improve with an Exchange server in the future?

Thank you.

 

[rayward]

I'm considering the move from my Blackberry to iPhone however, like many people, I use my phone extensively for work and we use Outlook in my office.

My question is this: We do not have an Exchange server today however we will be buying it in a few months time, what Outlook syncing issues might I have today and how will those improve with an Exchange server in the future?

Thank you.

I don't know about your issues pre-Exchange, but I have my work Outlook email synced via Exchange to my iPhone, and it works like a charm, including full address book and calendar integration.

It's kinda fun to delete and email on my iPhone, and watch it disappear from my Outlook desktop a second or two later.

As an aside, it's so much easier to view attachments on an iPhone over a BB. Unless you're still tied to the whole BB keyboard-thing, there's really no comparison between the two (and, yes, I had to carry a BB for work prior to our move to Outlook/Exchange).

 

[azxr]

I'm considering the move from my Blackberry to iPhone however, like many people, I use my phone extensively for work and we use Outlook in my office.

My question is this: We do not have an Exchange server today however we will be buying it in a few months time, what Outlook syncing issues might I have today and how will those improve with an Exchange server in the future?

Thank you.

Not sure how Outlook is retrieving your email now. I expect either using IMAP or POP. It should work fine. I have a 3G (yes a three year old Iphone with version 3.XX of IOS) and I receive Hotmail, Gmail and my Exchange email to my old phone without any problems. Everything should work better with IOS5 and the updated 4S.

I have been using my Iphone with Exchange mail, contacts, and calendar for the past three years with no issues.

 

[andrew87]

I did have an iPhone 3G a while back and in conjunction with Outlook, I do know that I was not able to "Accept/Decline" meeting invitations. I believe that issue has not been fixed but I'm not sure. I'm looking for issues like this that might come up with people.

Basically, if I switch to an iPhone today, what won't work as smoothly as I might expect?

 

[Hankster]

I have a BB and iPhone now, once my 4S arrives my BB is going in the trash. I've been looking forward to synching my Outlook with iOS...makes life easier.

 

[deeddawg]

I believe that issue has not been fixed but I'm not sure. I'm looking for issues like this that might come up with people.

Basically, if I switch to an iPhone today, what won't work as smoothly as I might expect?

Since you stated that you don't have an Exchange server, it would be helpful if you'd say what you DO have as your email/calendar/contacts server that Outlook is working against. That may have a lot to do with any functionality differences you might see.

Since iOS 4 (came out last year), I've been able to accept/decline meeting invites. Might have been possible in iOS3, I don't know.

I have a BB and iPhone now, once my 4S arrives my BB is going in the trash. I've been looking forward to synching my Outlook with iOS...makes life easier.

Just to clarify, sync things in a hub fashion rather than trying to sync to your computer's Outlook as well as the server. i.e. set the phone email/calendar sync to the Exchange server, not to the computer. It can get messy otherwise.

 

[takeshi74]

Since you stated that you don't have an Exchange server, it would be helpful if you'd say what you DO have as your email/calendar/contacts server that Outlook is working against. That may have a lot to do with any functionality differences you might see.

^ This. It's really impossible to say without the details. Obviously, the items that would sync via ActiveSync won't sync via ActiveSync so another method of sync will have to be used. If your email isn't push then that's another potential drawback. If you're on POP your mail won't sync at all due to POP limitations.

 

[Geckotek]

Basically, if I switch to an iPhone today, what won't work as smoothly as I might expect?

Without knowing what your backend mail system is, nobody can tell you. Outlook tells us nothing as the iPhone does not connect to Outlook, it is just another mail client (just like the iPhone is a mail client). We need to know the server info.

(Disclosure: MS Exchange Admin)

 

[MrBob910]

I have iPhone 3G, 3GS, and 4 working flawlessly with Exchange 2010. On two occasions (one was power outage, and the other was hardware replacement on the server) when the Exchange server was down, all iPhones lost all contacts information until the server was brought back up.