[kman42]

My wife's company uses Outlook Web Access for their email, calendars, etc. She hates it, hates it, hates it. Is this based on IMAP? Is there a way for me to get her email working through Mail so she doesn't have to deal with OWA?

Thanks,
kman

[ManOfSteal]

Not sure on Mail; however, I know you can through Entourage:2004 depending on what version of Exchange her company is running...

[Hash]

Yes, Mail can perfectly work with Outlook Web Access to collect mail. In my case, I configure the account as POP, then you have enter mail.xxx.xxx.xxx as a mail server, sometimes same server as SMTP server (I use another one), and then enter password and it works just OK.

[cpac]

POP or (even better) IMAP *can* work - it just depends whether they've turned on IMAP access.

And it doesn't necessarily work perfectly for group folders and calendar invites and the like, but for simple sending/receiving email it works wonderfully.

[kman42]

Cool, thanks.

I didn't quite understand that last point, does POP also require they turn on IMAP on the server or should POP work regardless?

Thanks,
kman

[Hash]

I think POP does not need IMAP.

[legacyb4]

You are talking about three separate protocols for trying to access your wife's mail.

First, Outlook Web Access is a web-based (HTTP, port 80 or 443 depending on security settings of her company) front end for reading/writing mail on the Exchange mail system. OWA itself doesn't support mail.

Second, POP3 and IMAP are also different protocols for reading mail; either will require both enabling of the services (disabled by default in Exchange 2003) as well as providing a path through her company's firewall (assuming they have one in place).

Companies generally have a good reason why they will only allow one or the other as each additional access method will add another layer of complexity and support that her IT guys will have to deal with.

[CorpITGuy]

Originally posted by legacyb4:
You are talking about three separate protocols for trying to access your wife's mail.

First, Outlook Web Access is a web-based (HTTP, port 80 or 443 depending on security settings of her company) front end for reading/writing mail on the Exchange mail system. OWA itself doesn't support mail.

Second, POP3 and IMAP are also different protocols for reading mail; either will require both enabling of the services (disabled by default in Exchange 2003) as well as providing a path through her company's firewall (assuming they have one in place).

Companies generally have a good reason why they will only allow one or the other as each additional access method will add another layer of complexity and support that her IT guys will have to deal with.

This guy is 100% correct. More than likely, her company's mail server has everything you would need disabled. You'll also need a way to tunnel in and get behind the firewall legacyg4 just talked about. Unless she does lots of really important work at home that requires network access, the IT department where she works isn't likely to help you out much.

[kman42]

Originally posted by legacyb4:

First, Outlook Web Access is a web-based (HTTP, port 80 or 443 depending on security settings of her company) front end for reading/writing mail on the Exchange mail system. OWA itself doesn't support mail.

She can currently access her email from home using OWA on port 443. I think there is a VPN page she has to log onto prior to accessing OWA. She just doesn't like OWA.

I see in the Mail preferences that one can set up POP, IMAP, .Mac, and Exchange email accounts. If one sets up an account as Exchange can it access the Exchange servers or does it still require something on the server side? You mentioned that both POP and IMAP would have to be enabled, but if you select Exchange in Mail will it work with the default server settings?

On a related note. Why would anyone use a system that is so closed? Don't people want their employees working from home? This just seems counterintuitive to me. I'm in an academic environment so we are still running POP (some IMAP), but this just seems to be a much better solution. I understand the desire for the collaboration features offered by Exchange, but to have such a closed email system seems silly.

kman

[turtle777]

Originally posted by kman42:
She can currently access her email from home using OWA on port 443. I think there is a VPN page she has to log onto prior to accessing OWA. She just doesn't like OWA.

Ok, since she has to go throu a VPN, security seems to be a concern for the company. In that case, there is a 99% chance that POP and IMAP are blocked. This company would be very stupid to require web-access thru VPN and still enable POP or IMAP. Very unlikely.

-t

[cpac]

Originally posted by kman42:
I see in the Mail preferences that one can set up POP, IMAP, .Mac, and Exchange email accounts. If one sets up an account as Exchange can it access the Exchange servers or does it still require something on the server side? You mentioned that both POP and IMAP would have to be enabled, but if you select Exchange in Mail will it work with the default server settings?

No. IMAP must be enabled even for the "Exchange" type account to work. ("Exchange" in Mail.app just means IMAP, but smartly not showing the contacts and calendar "folders" that Exchange servers broadcast via IMAP)

On a related note. Why would anyone use a system that is so closed? Don't people want their employees working from home? This just seems counterintuitive to me. I'm in an academic environment so we are still running POP (some IMAP), but this just seems to be a much better solution. I understand the desire for the collaboration features offered by Exchange, but to have such a closed email system seems silly.

It does seem silly - but then, everybody can access OWA. And server-wise, as closed as Exchange is, it is still a very common solution, that works well with Outlook, which is what most people are using for email anyway.

Bottom line, it sucks, but the chances of either (a) getting MS to open up the Exchange standards, or (b) getting those institutions that have invested the money into Exchange to switch are similarly tiny.