Chapter 5. Managing Exchange Server 2013 clients
As a Microsoft Exchange administrator, you need to know how to configure and maintain Exchange clients. With Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 and Exchange Online, you can use any mail client that supports standard mail protocols. For ease of administration, however, you’ll want to choose specific clients for users. I recommend focusing on Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and later and Outlook Web App (OWA) as your clients of choice. Each client supports a slightly different set of features and messaging protocols, and each client has its advantages and disadvantages, including the following:
With Outlook 2007 or later, you get a full-featured client that on-site, off-site, and mobile users can use. Outlook 2007 or later is part of the Microsoft Office system of applications. They are the only mail clients that support the latest messaging features in Exchange Server. Corporate and workgroup users often need their rich support for calendars, scheduling, voice mail, and email management. Only Microsoft Office Outlook 2010 and Outlook 2013 support calendar sharing and other enhancements available with Exchange 2010 and Exchange 2013.
With Outlook Web App, you get a mail client that you can access securely through a standard web browser. With Microsoft Internet Explorer 9.0, Internet Explorer 10.0, Firefox 17 or later, and Chrome 24 or later, Outlook Web App supports many of the features found in Outlook 2007 and later, including calendars, scheduling, and voice mail. With other browsers, the client functionality remains the same, but some features might not be supported. You don’t need to configure Outlook Web App on the client, and it’s ideal for users who want to access email while away from the office.
Outlook 2007 and later versions are the most common Exchange clients for corporate and workgroup environments. With the Outlook Anywhere feature of Exchange, which eliminates the need for a virtual private network (VPN) to securely access Exchange Server over the Internet by using a remote procedure call (RPC) over Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS) connection, Outlook 2007 and later versions might also be your clients of choice for off-site and mobile users. With Exchange 2013 and Exchange Online, Outlook Anywhere is enabled by default.
This chapter shows you how to manage Outlook 2007 and later. For ease of reference, I will refer to Outlook 2007 and later simply as Outlook, unless I need to differentiate between them.
Configuring mail support for Outlook
You can install Outlook as a client on a user’s computer. This section looks at the following topics:
Understanding address lists, offline address books, and autodiscover
Configuring Outlook for the first time
Adding Internet mail accounts to Outlook
Reconfiguring Outlook mail support
Unless specified otherwise, the procedures in this section work with desktop computers running Windows 7 or later as well as server operating systems running Windows Server 2008 R2 or later. Additionally, unless noted otherwise, the procedures work with Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010, and Outlook 2013.
Understanding address lists, offline address books, and autodiscover
Address lists are collections of recipients in an Exchange organization. Offline address books (OABs) are copies of address lists that are downloaded and cached on a computer so an Outlook user can access the address book while disconnected from the Exchange organization.
Every Exchange organization has a global address list and a default OAB. In the Exchange organization, address lists reside in Active Directory. If mobile users are disconnected from the Internet, they are unable to access the address lists stored on Exchange Online. If mobile users are disconnected from the corporate network, they are unable to access the address lists stored on Exchange 2013. To allow users to continue working when disconnected from the network, Exchange 2013 and Exchange Online generate offline address books and make them accessible to Outlook clients so that they can be downloaded and cached for use while working offline.
Although Exchange 2013 and Exchange Online continue to support public folders, public folders are not required for access to the global address list or the OAB. Exchange 2013 and Exchange Online provide these features through a web-based distribution point. Outlook clients use the web-based distribution point to obtain the global address list and the OAB automatically.
Exchange Online largely manages the default address lists and OABs automatically. On-premises Exchange, however, includes many configuration options, as discussed in the remainder of this section. For more information on global address lists and OABs, see “Managing online address lists” and “Managing offline address books” in Chapter 8.
A designated Mailbox server, referred to as the generation server, is responsible for creating and updating the OABs. OAB data is produced by the Microsoft Exchange OABGen Service and stored in a special arbitration mailbox with the persisted capability “OrganizationCapabilityOABGen.” When a client initiates an OAB distribution request, the request is directed through a Client Access server that routes the request to the Mailbox server hosting the OAB data. The OAB data is then distributed directly from the Mailbox server to the client.
Outlook 2007 and later as well as some mobile devices use the Autodiscover service to automatically configure themselves for access to Exchange. Outlook relies on DNS lookups to locate a host service (SRV) resource record for the Autodiscover service, then uses the user’s credentials to authenticate to Active Directory and search for the Autodiscover connection points. After retrieving the connection points, the client connects to the first Client Access server in the list and obtains the profile information. The connection point uses the globally unique identifier (GUID) for the user’s mailbox plus the at symbol (@) and the domain portion of the user’s primary SMTP address. The profile information includes the user’s display name, the location of the user’s mailbox server, connection settings for internal and external connectivity, Outlook Anywhere settings, and the URLs for Outlook features including those for free-busy data, the OAB, and Unified Messaging.
When you install a Client Access server, an Autodiscover virtual directory is created on the default website in Internet Information Services (IIS), and an internal URL is set up for automatic discovery and other features, such as the OAB (which can be automatically discovered as well). Typically, the Autodiscover URL is either https://domain/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml or https://autodiscover.domain/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml, where domain is your organization’s primary SMTP domain address, such as https://autodiscover.pocket-consultant.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml. When you deploy multiple Client Access servers, a connection point is created for each. This connection point stores the server’s fully qualified domain name (FQDN) in the form https://servername/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml, where servername is the FQDN of the Client Access server, such as https://server18.pocket-consultant.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml.
The OAB virtual directory is the web-based distribution point for the OAB. By default, when you install a Client Access server, this directory is created on the default website in IIS and configured for internal access. You can specify an external URL as well. Typically, the internal URL is set as https://servername/OAB, where servername is the FQDN of the Client Access server, such as https://server18.pocket-consultant.com/OAB.
For Outlook Anywhere to be automatically configured by using the Autodiscover service, external users running Outlook 2007 or later clients must have a valid Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate on the Internet-facing Client Access server that includes both the common name, such as mail.pocket-consultant.com, and a Subject Alternative name for the Autodiscover service, such as autodiscover.pocket-consultant.com. Also, the external URLs for the offline address book, Exchange Web Services, and Outlook Anywhere must be configured.
To configure the external URL for the OAB, you can use the -ExternalUrl parameter of the Set-OABVirtualDirectory cmdlet. In the following example, you set the OAB external URL and configure it for use with SSL:
Set-OABVirtualDirectory -identity "CASServer01OAB (Default Web Site)" -externalurl https://mail.pocket-consultant.com/OAB -RequireSSL $true
To configure the external URL for Exchange Web Services, you can use the -ExternalUrl parameter of the Set-WebServicesVirtualDirectory cmdlet. The following example sets the Exchange Web Services external URL and configures it for use with basic authentication:
Set-WebServicesVirtualDirectory -identity "CASServer01EWS (Default Web Site)" -externalurl https://mail.pocket-consultant.com/EWS/Exchange.asmx -BasicAuthentication $True
To configure the external host name for Outlook Anywhere, you can use the -ExternalHostname parameter of Set-OutlookAnywhere. The following example sets the external host name and configures authentication:
Set-OutlookAnywhere -Server CASServer01 -ExternalHostname "mail.pocket-consultant.com" -ExternalClientAuthenticationMethod Negotiate -InternalClientAuthenticationMethod NTLM -IISAuthenticationMethods Basic, NTLM, Negotiate -SSLOffloading $False
Once you’ve configured Autodiscover, OAB, and EWS, you can test these services by using Test-OutlookWebServices. Here is an example:
Test-OutlookWebServices -ClientAccessServer "CASServer01"
Configuring Outlook for the first time
You can install Outlook as a standalone product or as part of Microsoft Office. Outlook can be used to connect to the following types of email servers:
Microsoft Exchange. Connects directly to Exchange Server, Exchange Online, or both; best for users who are connected to the organization’s network. Users will have full access to Exchange. If users plan to connect to Exchange using Outlook Anywhere, this is the option to choose as well. With Exchange, users can check mail on an email server and access any private or public folders to which they have been granted permissions. If you define a personal folder and specify that new email messages should be delivered to it, messages can be delivered to a personal folder on a user’s computer.
POP3. Connects to Exchange 2013 or another POP3 email server through the Internet; best for users who are connecting from a remote location, such as a home or a remote office, using dial-up or broadband Internet access. With POP3, users can check mail on an email server and download it to their inboxes. Users can’t, however, synchronize mailbox folders or access private or public folders on the server. By using advanced configuration settings, the user can elect to download the mail and leave it on the server for future use. By leaving the mail on the server, the user can check mail in Outlook Web App or on a home computer and then still download it to an office computer later.
IMAP4. Connects to Exchange 2013 or another IMAP4 email server through the Internet; best for users who are connecting from a remote location, such as a home or a remote office, using dial-up or broadband Internet access. It’s also well suited for users who have a single computer, such as a laptop, that they use to check mail both at the office and away from it. With IMAP4, users can check mail on an email server and synchronize mailbox folders. Users can also download only message headers and then access each message individually to download it. Unlike POP3, IMAP4 has no option to leave mail on the server. IMAP4 also lets users access public and private folders on an Exchange server.
ActiveSync. Connects to an Exchange ActiveSync compatible service, such as Outlook.com, through the Internet; best as an additional email configuration option. Users can have an external email account with a web-based email service that they can check in addition to corporate email.
Additional server types. Connects to a third-party mail server or other services, such as Outlook Mobile Text Messaging. If your organization has multiple types of mail servers, including Exchange Server, you’ll probably want to configure a connection to Exchange Server first and then add more email account configurations later.
To begin, log on to the computer as the user whose email you are configuring or have the user log on. If the computer is part of a domain, log on using the user’s domain account. If you are configuring email for use with a direct Exchange 2013 or Exchange Online connection rather than a POP3, IMAP4, or ActiveSync connection, ensure that the user’s mailbox has been created. If the user’s mailbox has not been created, auto-setup will fail, as will the rest of the account configuration.
The first time you start Outlook, the application runs the Welcome Wizard. You can use the Welcome Wizard to configure email for Exchange, POP3, IMAP4, and ActiveSync mail servers, as discussed in the sections that follow.
First-time configuration: Connecting to Exchange Server
With Outlook 2007 or later, you can use the Welcome Wizard to configure email for Exchange 2013 or Exchange Online in Outlook by completing the following steps:
Start Outlook and tap or click Next on the Welcome page. The procedure is nearly identical whether you are working with Outlook 2007, Outlook 2010, or Outlook 2013.
When prompted to indicate whether you would like to configure an email account, verify that Yes is selected, and then tap or click Next.
The next page of the wizard varies depending on the computer’s current configuration:
For computers that are part of a domain and for users that have an existing Exchange Server mailbox, the wizard uses the Autodiscover feature to automatically discover the required account information.
For computers that are part of a domain and for users without an on-premises Exchange mailbox, leave the wizard open, create the user’s Exchange mailbox, and then proceed with the wizard once the mailbox is automatically discovered.
For all other configurations, including computers that are part of a workgroup and computers on which you are logged on locally, Outlook assumes you want to configure an Internet email account for the user. Enter the user’s account name, email address, and password. Then type and confirm the user’s password (see Figure 5-1).
After you tap or click Next, the wizard uses the new Auto Account Setup feature to automatically discover the rest of the information needed to configure the account and then uses the settings to log on to the server. If the auto-configuration and server logon are successful, tap or click Finish and skip the remaining steps in this procedure. The wizard then sets up the user’s Exchange mailbox on the computer as appropriate.
If auto-configuration is not successful, tap or click Next so that the wizard can attempt to establish an unencrypted connection to the server. If the auto-configuration and server logon are successful this time, tap or click Finish, and then skip the remaining steps in this procedure.
If auto-configuration fails twice, you’ll see a prompt to confirm the user’s email address. If the email address is incorrect, correct it, and then tap or click Retry. If the auto-configuration and server logon are successful this time, tap or click Finish, and then skip the remaining steps in this procedure.
If all attempts at auto-configuration fail, you can try to configure settings manually (and might also want to confirm that the Autodiscover service is working properly). Tap or click Next. On the Choose Service page, select a service. Tap or click Next. On the next wizard page, complete the necessary information for the type of email service you selected. If necessary, tap or click More Settings, and then use the Properties dialog box to configure the additional required settings. When you are finished, tap or click OK to close the Properties dialog box. Tap or click Next, and then tap or click Finish to complete the mail configuration.
First-time configuration: Connecting to Internet email servers
When a user is logged on to a domain, Outlook automatically attempts to configure itself for use with the user’s Exchange mailbox as part of its initial configuration. This configuration works for internal users but not for remote users who need or prefer to access Exchange using POP3 or IMAP4 (rather than Outlook Anywhere). For these users, you can complete the first-time configuration of Outlook by following these steps:
In the Welcome Wizard, when you are prompted to indicate whether you would like to configure an email account, verify that Yes is selected, and then tap or click Next.
Select the manual setup option. In Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010, this checkbox is labeled as Manually Configure Server Settings Or Additional Server Types. In Outlook 2010, this checkbox is labeled as Manual Setup Or Additional Server Types. Tap or click Next.
On the Choose Service page, choose the service to use. In Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2010, choose Internet E-Mail as the service. In Outlook 2013, choose POP Or IMAP as the service. Tap or click Next.
In the Your Name text box, type the name to appear in the From field of outgoing messages for this user, such as William Stanek.
In the E-Mail Address text box, type the email address of the user. Be sure to type the email user name as well as the domain name, such as [email protected].
From the Account Type list, select POP3 or IMAP4 as the type of protocol to use for the incoming mail server. The advantages and disadvantages of these protocols are as follows:
POP3 is used to check mail on an email server and download it to the user’s inbox. The user can’t access private or public folders on the server. By using advanced configuration settings, the user can elect to download email and leave it on the server for future use. By leaving the email on the server, the user can check a message on a home computer and still download it to an office computer later.
IMAP4 is used to check mail on an email server and download message headers. The user can then access each email individually and download it. Unlike POP3, IMAP4 has no option to leave mail on the server. IMAP4 also lets users access public and private folders on an Exchange server. It is best suited for users who have a single computer, such as a laptop, that they use to check mail both at the office and away from it.
Enter the FQDN for the incoming and outgoing mail servers. Although these entries are often the same, some organizations have different incoming and outgoing mail servers. If you are not certain of your mail servers’ FQDN, contact your network administrator.
Under Logon Information, type the user’s logon name and password. If the mail server requires secure logon, select the Require Logon Using Security Password Authentication check box.
To verify the settings, tap or click Test Account Settings. Outlook verifies connectivity to the Internet and then logs on to the Mail server. Next, Outlook sends a test message to the specified mail server. If the test fails, note the errors and make corrections as necessary.
If necessary, tap or click More Settings. Use the Properties dialog box to configure the additional required settings, and then tap or click OK. When you are ready to continue, tap or click Next, and then tap or click Finish to complete the configuration.
Configuring Outlook for Exchange
If you didn’t configure Outlook to use Exchange the first time it was started, don’t worry: You can change the Outlook configuration to use Exchange. It does take a bit of extra work, however.
To get started, close Outlook if it is started, and then follow these steps to configure Outlook to use Exchange:
Start the Mail utility. In Control Panel, tap or click Small Icons on the View By list, and then start the Mail app by tapping or clicking its icon.
If your computer doesn’t have any current mail profiles, you see the profiles view of the Mail dialog box. Here, you need to create a mail profile before you can add an account. Tap or click Add. In the New Profile dialog box, type a name for the mail profile, such as Outlook, and then tap or click OK. This starts the Add Account Wizard.
If your computer has a default mail profile, you see the Mail Setup–Outlook dialog box. In the Mail Setup–Outlook dialog box, tap or click E-Mail Accounts. The Accounts Settings dialog box appears. In the Account Settings dialog box, the E-Mail tab is selected by default. Tap or click New. This starts the Add Account Wizard.
Follow steps 3–7 outlined previously in the First-time configuration: Connecting to Exchange Server section.
When you finish the previous procedure, close all the open dialog boxes, and then start Outlook.
Adding Internet mail accounts to Outlook
Through email account configuration, each mail profile for Outlook supports only one Exchange Server account at a time. If you need access to multiple Exchange Server mailboxes in the same mail profile, you must configure access to these mailboxes as discussed in the section Accessing multiple Exchange mailboxes later in the chapter.
Although you can configure only one Exchange email account for each mail profile, Outlook allows you to retrieve mail from both Exchange Online and Exchange Server as well as from multiple Internet servers. For example, you can configure Outlook to check mail on the corporate Exchange server, a personal account with an ActiveSync compatible service, and Exchange Online.
You can add Internet mail accounts to Outlook. In Outlook 2007, complete the following steps:
To display the Account Settings dialog box, select Tools, and then select Account Settings.
In the Account Settings dialog box, the E-Mail tab is selected by default. Tap or click New.
On the Choose E-Mail Service page, select Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, Or HTTP, and then tap or click Next.
Follow steps 2–10 outlined previously in the First-time configuration: Connecting to Internet email servers section.
In Outlook 2010, tap or click the Office button, tap or click Account Settings, and then select Add Account. Follow steps 4–10 outlined previously in the First-time configuration: Connecting to Internet email servers section.
In Outlook 2013, on the File pane, select Add Account. Follow steps 4–10 outlined previously in the First-time configuration: Connecting to Internet email servers section.
Repairing and changing Outlook mail accounts
When you first configure Outlook on a computer, you can configure it to connect to an Exchange server, to Exchange Online, to Internet email, or to another email server. With Exchange Server, Outlook uses MAPI to connect to the RPC Client Access service on the appropriate Client Access server, and the RPC Client Access service connects Outlook to the appropriate Mailbox server for the user by proxying or redirecting the connection as necessary. Outlook clients remain connected to the Client Access server. They use the RPC Client Access service as the MAPI endpoint, and the Address Book service as the Active Directory endpoint. The Client Access server that is proxying or redirecting the connection for them then communicates with the appropriate Mailbox server using MAPI/RPC.
Because of this connection process, the underlying infrastructure is transparent to users—they are connected automatically to their mailboxes. If a user’s mailbox is moved to a different server within the Exchange organization, the user is connected to this server automatically the next time he or she starts Outlook. If, for some reason, a user has a problem connecting to Exchange or needs to update configuration settings, you can use a repair operation. Repairing the user’s account restarts the Auto Account Setup feature.
With non-Exchange servers, access to email very much depends on the account and server configuration remaining the same. If the account or server configuration changes, the account configuration in Outlook must be updated. The easiest way to do this is with a repair operation.
To start a repair, follow these steps:
Log on as the domain account of the user for whom you are repairing email.
In Outlook 2007, to display the Account Settings dialog box, select Tools, and then select Account Settings. In Outlook 2010, tap or click the Office button, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option. In Outlook 2013, on the File pane, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option.
In the Account Settings dialog box, the E-Mail tab lists all currently configured email accounts by name. Select the account to repair, and then tap or click Repair.
On the Auto Account Setup page, check the account settings. With Exchange accounts for domain users and with Exchange Online, you cannot change the displayed information. With other accounts, you can modify the user’s email address and password, as necessary.
When you tap or click Next, the Repair E-Mail Account Wizard contacts the mail server and tries to determine the correct account settings. If the auto-configuration and server logon are successful, tap or click Finish. Skip the remaining steps in this procedure.
If auto-configuration is not successful, tap or click Next so that the wizard can attempt to establish an unencrypted connection to the server. If the auto-configuration and server logon are successful this time, tap or click Finish, and then skip the remaining steps in this procedure. You must restart Outlook.
If auto-configuration fails twice, you can try to configure settings manually. Select the manual setup option, and then tap or click Next.
Use the fields provided to update the mail account configuration. If you need to configure additional settings beyond the user, server, and logon information, tap or click More Settings, and then use the Properties dialog box to configure the additional required settings. When you are finished, tap or click OK to close the Properties dialog box.
To check the new settings tap or click Test Account Settings.
Tap or click Next, and then tap or click Finish.
In some cases, if you’ve incorrectly configured Exchange, you might not be able to start Outlook and access the Account Settings dialog box. In this case, you can repair the settings using the following procedure:
Start the Mail utility. In Control Panel, tap or click Small Icons on the View By list, and then start the Mail app by tapping or clicking its icon or by double-tapping or double-clicking its icon.
In the Mail Setup–Outlook dialog box, tap or click E-Mail Accounts. The Accounts Settings dialog box appears.
In the Account Settings dialog box, the E-Mail tab is selected by default. Tap or click the incorrectly configured Exchange account, and then do one of the following:
Tap or click Change to modify the Exchange settings using the techniques discussed previously.
Tap or click Remove to remove the Exchange settings so that they are no longer used by Outlook.
When you are finished, close the Mail Setup–Outlook dialog box, and then start Outlook.
For POP3 or IMAP4, you can change a user’s email configuration at any time by completing the following steps:
In Outlook 2007, to display the Account Settings dialog box, select Tools, and then select Account Settings. In Outlook 2010, tap or click the Office button, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option. In Outlook 2013, on the File pane, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option.
In the Account Settings dialog box, the E-Mail tab lists all currently configured email accounts by name. Select the account you want to work with, and then tap or click Change.
Use the fields provided to update the mail account configuration. If you need to configure additional settings beyond the user, server, and logon information, tap or click More Settings, and then use the Properties dialog box to configure the additional required settings. When you are finished, tap or click OK to close the Properties dialog box.
To check the new settings, tap or click Test Account Settings.
Tap or click Next, and then tap or click Finish.
Leaving mail on the server with POP3
If the user connects to an Internet email server, an advantage of POP3 is that it lets a user leave mail on the server. By doing this, the user can check mail on a home computer and still download it to an office computer later.
With Outlook, you can configure POP3 accounts to leave mail on the server by completing the following steps:
Start Outlook. In Outlook 2007, on the Tools menu, tap or click Account Settings. In Outlook 2010, tap or click the Office button, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option. In Outlook 2013, on the File pane, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option.
In the Account Settings dialog box, select the POP3 mail account you want to modify, and then tap or click Change.
Tap or click More Settings to display the Internet E-Mail Settings dialog box.
In the Internet E-Mail Settings dialog box, tap or click the Advanced tab, as shown in Figure 5-2.
Use the options below Delivery to configure how and when mail should be left on the server. To enable this option, select the Leave A Copy Of Messages On The Server check box. The additional options depend on the client configuration. Options you might see include the following:
Remove From Server After N Days. Select this option if the user will be connecting to an Internet service provider (ISP) and you want to delete messages from the server after a specified number of days. By deleting ISP mail periodically, you ensure that the mailbox size doesn’t exceed the limit.
Remove From Server When Deleted From “Deleted Items”. Select this option to delete messages from the server when the user deletes them from the Deleted Items folder. You’ll see this option with Internet-only Outlook configurations.
Tap or click OK when you’ve finished changing the account settings.
Tap or click Next, and then tap or click Finish. Tap or click Close to close the Account Settings dialog box.
Checking private and public folders with IMAP4 and UNIX mail servers
With IMAP4, you can check public and private folders on a mail server. This option is enabled by default, but the default settings might not work properly with UNIX mail servers.
With Outlook, you can check or change the folder settings used by IMAP4 by completing the following steps:
Start Outlook. In Outlook 2007, on the Tools menu, tap or click Account Settings. In Outlook 2010, tap or click the Office button, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option. In Outlook 2013, on the File pane, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option.
In the Account Settings dialog box, select the IMAP4 mail account you want to modify and then tap or click Change.
Tap or click More Settings to display the Internet E-Mail Settings dialog box.
In the Internet E-Mail Settings dialog box, tap or click the Advanced tab, as shown in Figure 5-3.
If the account connects to a UNIX mail server, enter the path to the mailbox folder on the server, such as ~williams/mail—don’t end the folder path with a forward slash (/)—and then tap or click OK.
Tap or click Next, and then tap or click Finish.
Managing the Exchange configuration in Outlook
Whenever you use Outlook to connect to Exchange, you have several options for optimizing the way mail is handled. These options include the following:
Email delivery and processing
Remote mail
Scheduled connections
Multiple mailboxes
Each of these options is examined in this section.
Managing delivery and processing email messages
When Outlook uses Exchange, you have strict control over how email is delivered and processed. Exchange mail can be delivered in one of two ways:
To server mailboxes with local copies
To personal folders
Exchange mail can be processed by any of the information services configured for use in Outlook. These information services include the following:
Microsoft Exchange
Internet email
Let’s look at how you use each of these delivery and processing options.
Using server mailboxes
When you are using Outlook 2007 or later with Exchange 2013 or Exchange Online, server mailboxes with local copies are the default configuration option. With server mailboxes, new email is delivered to a mailbox on the Exchange server, and users can view or receive new mail only when they’re connected to Exchange. When users are connected to Exchange, Outlook retrieves their mail and stores a local copy on their computer in addition to the email stored on Exchange.
The local copy of a user’s mail is stored in an offline folder .ost file. With Windows 7 or with Windows 8 and later, the default location of a .ost file is %LocalAppData%MicrosoftOutlook, where %LocalAppData% is a user-specific environment variable that points to a user’s local application data. Using server mailboxes offers users protected storage and the ability to have a single point of recovery in case something happens to their computers.
Using personal folders
An alternative to using server mailboxes is to use personal folders. Personal folders are stored in a .pst file on the user’s computer. With personal folders, you can specify that mail should be delivered to the user’s inbox and stored on the server or that mail should be delivered only to the user’s inbox. Users have personal folders when Outlook is configured to use Internet email or other email servers. Users might also have personal folders if the auto-archive feature is used to archive messages.
Real World
With Windows 7 or with Windows 8 and later, the default location of a .pst file is %LocalAppData%MicrosoftOutlook, where %LocalAppData% is a user-specific environment variable that points to a user’s local application data. Personal folders are best suited for mobile users who check mail through dial-up connections and who might not be able to use a dial-up connection to connect directly to Exchange.
Users with personal folders lose the advantages that server-based folders offer—namely, protected storage and the ability to have a single point of recovery in case of failure. In addition, .pst files have many disadvantages. They get corrupted more frequently and, on these occasions, you must use the Inbox Repair Tool to restore the file. If the hard disk on a user’s computer fails, you can recover the mail only if the .pst file has been backed up. Unfortunately, most workstations aren’t backed up regularly (if at all), and the onus of backing up the .pst file falls on the user, who might or might not understand how to do this.
Determining the Presence of Personal Folders
You can determine the presence of personal folders by following these steps:
Start Outlook. In Outlook 2007, on the Tools menu, tap or click Account Settings. In Outlook 2010, tap or click the Office button, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option. In Outlook 2013, on the File pane, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option.
In the Account Settings dialog box, tap or click the Data Files tab.
The location of the data file associated with each email account is listed. If the file name ends in .pst, the account is using a personal folder.
Creating New or Opening Existing Personal Folders
If personal folders aren’t available and you want to configure them, follow these steps:
Start Outlook. In Outlook 2007, on the Tools menu, tap or click Account Settings. In Outlook 2010, tap or click the Office button, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option. In Outlook 2013, on the File pane, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option.
In the Account Settings dialog box, tap or click the Data Files tab.
Tap or click Add. If the New Outlook Data File dialog box appears, Office Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst) should be selected by default. Tap or click OK.
Use the Create Or Open Outlook Data File dialog box, as shown in Figure 5-4, to create a new .pst file or open an existing .pst file:
Figure 5-4. Using the Create Or Open Outlook Data File dialog box to search for an existing .pst file or to create a new one.To create a new .pst file in the default folder, type a name for the Outlook data file in the text box provided or accept the default value. To secure the file and ensure only a person with this password can access the file, select the Add Optional Password checkbox. In the Create Microsoft Personal Folders dialog box, specify a password, verify the password for the .pst file, and tap or click OK.
To create a new .pst file in a nondefault folder, tap or click Browse Folders to show the folder view if it is hidden. Browse for the folder you want to use, type the file name in the text box provided or accept the default value, and then tap or click OK. Optionally, select the Add Optional Password checkbox. In the Create Microsoft Personal Folders dialog box, specify a password, verify the password for the .pst file, and tap or click OK.
To open an existing .pst file, tap or click Browse Folders to show the folder view if it is hidden. Browse to the folder containing the .pst file. Select the .pst file, and then tap or click OK. In the Personal Folders dialog box, use the options provided to change the current password or compact the personal folder, and then tap or click OK.
Note
It is important to be aware that Exchange Server does not ship with any password recovery utility for .pst files. If a user sets a password on a .pst file and forgets it, the Exchange administrator has no way to reset it. You might find third-party vendors who make password-cracking or recovery tools, but they are not guaranteed to work and they are not supported by Microsoft.
Tap or click Close. The personal folder you’ve selected or created is displayed in the Outlook folder list. You should see related subfolders as well.
Delivering Mail to Personal Folders
When you configure mail to be delivered to a personal folder, Outlook saves email messages only locally on the computer. As a result, Outlook removes the messages from Exchange Server after delivery and you can access the messages only on the currently logged-on computer.
If you want mail to be delivered to a personal folder, complete the following steps:
Start Outlook. In Outlook 2007, on the Tools menu, tap or click Account Settings. In Outlook 2010, tap or click the Office button, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option. In Outlook 2013, on the File pane, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option.
In the Account Settings dialog box, tap or click the Data Files tab.
Select the .pst file to use in the list of data files provided, and then tap or click Set As Default.
When prompted to confirm, tap or click Yes, and then tap or click Close.
Exit and restart Outlook. Outlook will now use personal folders.
If you want mail to resume using server-stored mail, complete the following steps:
Start Outlook. In Outlook 2007, on the Tools menu, tap or click Account Settings. In Outlook 2010, tap or click the Office button, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option. In Outlook 2013, on the File pane, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option.
In the Account Settings dialog box, tap or click the Data Files tab.
Select the .ost file to use in the list of data files provided, and then tap or click Set As Default.
When prompted to confirm, tap or click OK, and then tap or click Close.
Exit and restart Outlook. Outlook will now use personal folders.
Repairing .pst data files
When Outlook uses personal folders, you can use the Inbox Repair tool (scanpst.exe) to analyze and repair corrupted data files. This tool is stored in the %SystemDrive%Program FilesMicrosoft OfficeOfficeVersion folder, where Version is the internal version of Office you are using, such as Office15 for Outlook 2013. If a .pst file won’t open or is damaged, you can use the Inbox Repair tool to repair it by completing the following these steps:
Exit Outlook. Open the Office folder in File Explorer and then double-tap or double-click the Inbox Repair tool (scanpst.exe).
Tap or click Browse. In the Select File To Scan dialog box, browse to the folder where .pst files are stored, select the .pst file you want to work with, and then tap or click Open. By default, .pst files are stored in %LocalAppData%MicrosoftOutlook, where %LocalAppData% is a user-specific environment variable that points to a user’s local application data.
Tap or click Start, and the Inbox Repair tool will begin analyzing the file. The larger the file the longer the analysis will take.
If errors are found, click Repair to start the repair process. The Inbox Repair tool will create a copy of the .pst file before attempting the repair operation. During the repair, the Inbox Repair tool will rebuild the .pst file.
Start Outlook with the profile that contains the .pst file that you repaired. Press Ctrl+6 to display the Folder List view and look for a folder named Recovered Personal Folders. This folder contains the default Outlook folders as well as a Lost And Found folder, which contains any items recovered by the Inbox Repair tool.
Create a new .pst data file to store your mail items. Drag the items from the Lost And Found folder into the appropriate folder under the new Personal folders. When you’ve moved all the items, you can remove the Recovered Personal Folders.
The Inbox Repair tool creates a backup of the original .pst file and names it with the .bak file extension. By default this file is stored in the same location as the original .pst file. If you make a copy of this file and name it with a .pst extension, you may be able to recover additional items. To do this, add the .pst file to the mail profile, and then move any additional mail items from this old .pst file to the new data file created in step 6.
Repairing .ost data files
When Outlook uses server mailboxes, .ost data files contain copies of information saved on the server. If an .ost file won’t open or is damaged, you can re-create the file by completing the following steps:
Exit Outlook. Start the Mail utility. Press the Windows key +I and then tap or click Control Panel. In Control Panel, tap or click Small Icons on the View By list, and then start the Mail app by tapping or clicking its icon or double-tapping or double-clicking its icon.
In the Mail Setup–Outlook dialog box, tap or click E-Mail Accounts. The Accounts Settings dialog box appears.
In the Account Settings dialog box, tap or click the Data Files tab.
Select the Exchange account and then click Open File Location. This opens File Explorer to the location of the data file. Note this location. By default, .ost files are stored in %LocalAppData%MicrosoftOutlook, where %LocalAppData% is a user-specific environment variable that points to a user’s local application data.
Close the Account Settings and Mail Setup dialog boxes. In File Explorer, press and hold or right-click the .ost file, and then click Delete. If you are unable to delete the file, make sure all mail and Office windows are closed.
Start Outlook. Download a copy of the mail items again to automatically re-create the .ost file.
Accessing multiple Exchange mailboxes
Earlier in the chapter, I discussed how users could check multiple Internet mail accounts in Outlook. You might have wondered whether users could check multiple Exchange mailboxes as well—and they can. Users often need to access multiple Exchange mailboxes for many reasons:
Help desk administrators might need access to the help desk mailbox in addition to their own mailboxes.
Managers might need temporary access to the mailboxes of subordinates who are on vacation.
Project team members may need to access mailboxes set up for long-term projects.
Resource mailboxes might need to be set up for accounts payable, human resources, corporate information, and so on.
Normally, a one-to-one relationship exists between user accounts and Exchange mailboxes. You create a user account and add a mailbox to it; only this user can access the mailbox directly through Exchange. To change this setup, you must change the permissions on the mailbox. One way to change mailbox access permissions is to do the following:
Log on to Exchange as the owner of the mailbox.
Delegate access to the mailbox to one or more additional users.
Have users with delegated access log on to Exchange and open the mailbox.
The sections that follow examine each of these steps in detail.
Logging on to Exchange as the mailbox owner
Logging on to Exchange as the mailbox owner allows you to delegate access to the mailbox. Before you can do this, however, you must complete the following steps:
Log on as the user or have the user log on for you.
Start Outlook. Make sure that mail support is configured to use server mailboxes. If necessary, configure this support, which creates the mail profile for the user.
After you configure Outlook to use Exchange, you should be able to log on to Exchange as the mailbox owner.
Delegating mailbox access
After you’ve logged on as the mailbox owner, you can delegate access to the mailbox by completing these steps:
Start Outlook. Do one of the following:
In Outlook 2007, on the Tools menu, tap or click Account Settings. On the Delegates tab or in the Delegates dialog box, tap or click Add.
In Outlook 2010, tap or click the Office button, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option. On the Delegates tab or in the Delegates dialog box, tap or click Add.
In Outlook 2013, on the File pane, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Delegate Access option. In the Delegates dialog box, tap or click Add.
The Add Users dialog box appears. To add users, double-tap or double-click the name of a user who needs access to the mailbox. Repeat this step as necessary for other users, and then tap or click OK when you’re finished.
In the Delegate Permissions dialog box, assign permissions to the delegates for the Calendar, Tasks, Inbox, Contacts, and Notes. The available permissions include
None. No permissions
Reviewer. Grants read permission only
Author. Grants read and create permissions
Editor. Grants read, create, and modify permissions
Tap or click OK twice. These changes go into effect when the user restarts Outlook.
Delegated users can access the mailbox and send mail on behalf of the mailbox owner. To change this behavior, set folder permissions as described later in the Granting permission to access folders without delegating access section.
Opening additional Exchange mailboxes
The final step is to let Exchange Server know about the additional mailboxes the user can open. To do this, follow these steps:
Have the user who will be accessing additional mailboxes log on and start Outlook.
In Outlook 2007, on the Tools menu, tap or click Account Settings. In Outlook 2010, tap or click the Office button, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option. In Outlook 2013, on the File pane, tap or click Account Settings, and then select the Account Settings option.
Select the Microsoft Exchange Server account, and then tap or click Change.
In the Change Account dialog box, tap or click More Settings.
In the Microsoft Exchange dialog box, on the Advanced tab, tap or click Add. Type the name of a mailbox to open. Generally, this is the same name as the mail alias for the user or account associated with the mailbox. Tap or click OK. Repeat this step to add other mailboxes.
Tap or click Next, and then tap or click Finish.
Tap or click Close. The additional mailboxes are displayed in the Outlook folder list.
Granting permission to access folders without delegating access
When a mailbox is stored on the server, you can grant access to individual folders in the mailbox. Granting access in this way allows users to add the mailbox to their mail profiles and work with the folder. Users can perform tasks only for which you’ve granted permission.
To grant access to folders individually, follow these steps:
Press and hold or right-click the folder for which you want to grant access, and then select Properties. In the Properties dialog box, select the Permissions tab, as shown in Figure 5-5.
The Name and Permission Level lists display account names and their permissions on the folder. Two special names might be listed:
Default. Provides default permissions for all users.
Anonymous. Provides permissions for anonymous users, such as those who anonymously access a published public folder through the web.
To grant permission that differs from the default permission, tap or click Add.
In the Add Users dialog box, double-tap or double-click the name of a user who needs access to the mailbox. Tap or click Add to put the name in the Add Users list. Repeat this step as necessary for other users, and tap or click OK when finished.
In the Name and Role lists, select one or more users whose permissions you want to modify. Then use the Roles list to assign permissions or select individual permission items. The roles are defined as follows:
Owner. Grants all permissions in the folder. Users with this role can create, read, modify, and delete all items in the folder. They can create subfolders and change permissions on folders as well.
Publishing Editor. Grants permission to create, read, modify, and delete all items in the folder. Users with this role can create subfolders as well.
Editor. Grants permission to create, read, modify, and delete all items in the folder.
Publishing Author. Grants permission to create and read items in the folder, to modify and delete items the user created, and to create subfolders.
Author. Grants permission to create and read items in the folder and to modify and delete items the user created.
Nonediting Author. Grants permission to create and read items in the folder.
Reviewer. Grants read-only permission.
Contributor. Grants permission to create items but not to view the contents of the folder.
None. Grants no permission in the folder.
When you’re finished granting permissions, tap or click OK.
Using mail profiles to customize the mail environment
The mail profile used with Outlook determines which information services are available and how they are configured. A default mail profile is created when you install and configure Outlook for the first time. This mail profile is usually called Outlook.
The active mail profile defines the mail setup for the user who is logged on to the computer. You can define additional profiles for the user as well. You can use these additional profiles to customize the user’s mail environment for different situations. Here are two scenarios:
A manager needs to check the Technical Support and Customer Support mailboxes only on Mondays when she writes summary reports. On other days, the manager doesn’t want to see these mailboxes. To solve this problem, you create two mail profiles: Support and Standard. The Support profile displays the manager’s mailbox as well as the Technical Support and Customer Support mailboxes. The Standard profile displays only the manager’s mailbox. The manager can then switch between these mail profiles as necessary.
A laptop user wants to check Exchange mail directly while connected to the LAN. When at home, the user wants to use remote mail with scheduled connections. On business trips, the user wants to use SMTP and POP3. To solve this problem, you create three mail profiles: On-Site, Off-Site, and Home. The On-Site profile uses the Exchange Server service with a standard configuration. The Off-Site profile configures Exchange Server for remote mail and scheduled connections. The Home profile uses the Internet mail service instead instead of the Exchange information service.
Common tasks you’ll perform to manage mail profiles are examined in this section.
Creating, copying, and removing mail profiles
You manage mail profiles through the Mail utility. To access this utility and manage profiles, follow these steps:
Start the Mail utility. Press the Windows key +I, and then tap or click Control Panel. In Control Panel, tap or click Small Icons on the View By list, and then start the Mail app by tapping or clicking its icon or by double-tapping or double-clicking its icon.
In the Mail Setup–Outlook dialog box, tap or click Show Profiles.
As Figure 5-6 shows, you should see a list of mail profiles for the current user. Mail profiles for other users aren’t displayed. You can now perform the following actions:
Tap or click Add to create a new mail profile using the Account Settings Wizard.
Delete a profile by selecting it and tapping or clicking Remove.
Copy an existing profile by selecting it and tapping or clicking Copy.
View a profile by selecting it and tapping or clicking Properties.
Selecting a specific profile to use on startup
You can configure Outlook to use a specific profile on startup or to prompt for a profile to use.
To start with a specific profile, follow these steps:
Start the Mail utility. Press the Windows key +I, and then tap or click Control Panel. In Control Panel, tap or click Small Icons on the View By list, and then start the Mail app by tapping or clicking its icon or by double-tapping or double-clicking its icon.
In the Mail Setup–Outlook dialog box, tap or click Show Profiles.
Select Always Use This Profile, and then use the drop-down list to choose the startup profile. Tap or click OK.
To prompt for a profile before starting Outlook, follow these steps:
Start the Mail utility. Press the Windows key +I, and then tap or click Control Panel. In Control Panel, tap or click Small Icons on the View By list, and then start the Mail app by tapping or clicking its icon or by double-tapping or double-clicking its icon.
In the Mail Setup–Outlook dialog box, tap or click Show Profiles.
Select Prompt For A Profile To Be Used, and then tap or click OK.
The user will be prompted for a profile the next time Outlook is started.