Configuring Evolution for use with an Exchange server

Prerequisites:

• Exchange server with working Outlook Web Access (OWA) which only works on Exchange 2003 servers. For Exchange 2007/2010 use the Evolution MAPI connector.

Wizard:

• 1.) Welcome - Upon opening Evolution, you are welcomed with a setup wizard. Click Next. 2.) Identity - Now the fun begins and we're asked to enter our Name and Email address. You can enter more information, but it's unnecessary.

  3.) Receiving Email - On this page, we select the "Microsoft Exchange" server type. The username in question if the Exchange username. For the OWA URL, this means the Outlook Web Access URL. If you have webmail access to exchange, you put in that URL such as http://exchange.mydomain.com/Exchange (you may optionally use https:// if you have ssl enabled web access). If you see a mailbox field after the OWA URL, just leave it blank, click authenticate, and Evolution should fill it in for you on a successful authentication. 4.) Receiving Options - The defaults work, but optionally, you may enter your Global Catalog server name. This screen is a little bit of a mystery. Enter your Global Address List/Active Directory server for Global Catalog server, if you have one. To discover the Global Address List/Active Directory in Outlook:

• Open a new email message in Outlook.
• Click on the "To:" button to get the "Select Names" dialog
• Put "Show Names from the" to "Global Address List".
• Right-click on the "Global Address List" to get "Properties". This opens a dialog with the name of the Global Address List server and the path. You just need the server name or the IP address.

(Thanks to Andre on the Gnome.org evolution-mail list. If you get a local file path in Properties it is because your Exchange account is in Cached mode that copies the Global Address List to your PC, go into account settings and turn off the Cached mode temporarily and you should see the actual server name. The Global Catalog server name can also just be the IP address of the server.)

• 5.) Account Management - This is what shows up in your folder list on the left when all is said and done. I typically use the email address, but it's completely arbitrary and has no bearing on functionality. 6.) Timezone - Find where you live! 7.) Done - Rejoice and hit apply!

Completion:

After the wizard is done, you're presented with a new account where you must click the arrow to expand it and show all your folders.

If anyone knows how the offline stuff works, please add info about it. I'm not sure what options actually work.