Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Exchange

Use Exchange. Not too much. Mostly unobtrusively.

michaelh — Thu, 23 May 2013 12:29:05 -0800

I, sadly, have to keep an eye on an Exchange e-mail account. There is no IMAP. Is there a small Mac app that will live in the menu bar and notify me of new e-mail that actually works? Bonus if I can quickly reply to the e-mail when it appears. Things that haven't worked so far:
Anything in the search results for "exchange" in the Mac App Store. They all have one-star reviews, too.
Anything that says "Outlook" -- they either only work for Microsoft's Outlook.com/Live/Hotmail services or are full mail apps.
OWANotifier although I do have access to OWA (Outlook Web Access), this does not work.

If anyone knows a smart way to banish Outlook to the menu bar, that'd be an acceptable alternative.

Best way to convert half a dozen currencies into one?

peachtree — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:38:14 -0800

I have at least $500 worth of cash from half a dozen different Asian countries sitting in my underwear drawer for at least two years now. What's the cheapest, lowest-fee but legal way to convert them into one currency (Euro or USD)? I travel frequently to France and the United States, so changing them to Euro or USD is fine either way, but just not sure if the best way is the airport counter, a random bank, at the hotel I stay at, or something else...? I would like to have a good idea on how to go forward with this, before I go about traveling with all this random cash, only to find out I'd have to lug them back to home to my ultra top secret underwear drawer hideout since it's too expensive/all these currencies aren't accepted for exchange/not worth it. What I'm most concerned about are fees. Once, I exchanged some cash at the airport and the fees were insane at probably $15-20 for the transaction. Since I have so many different types of currencies, would they each be a separate transaction fee?

They range anywhere from $50-$100 worth each, totaling up to ~$500, from the following types:
Indonesian Rupiah
Thai Baht
Hong Kong Dollar
Singapore Dollar
Japanese Yen
Argentinian Peso

I also have some others of lower value, ~$30 each, possibly not worth bothering but also would be great to convert:
Chinese Renminbi
Korean Won

As a note, I live in Russia so exchanging them at "home" is a lot more challenging- along with the language barrier- than going to a more international city such as Paris or NYC.

How can I sync free/busy data between my multiple calendars?

daHIFI — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 10:06:39 -0800

I have several different calendar accounts that I use on my iPhone, 1 personal Google Calendar, an Exchange account for my primary job, and another GCal that my part time job uses to dispatch technician jobs to me. My part time job uses this calendar to schedule calls, so as it stands now I have to manually block out anything that I schedule on my other calendars so that they don't double book me. How can I create a setup where if I enter something on one of my calendars it will mark me as busy during that time? I don't want to have to create every event 3 times, and I don't want full synchronization as I don't want personal details and business information where other people can see it.

Help me create the perfect Contacts Manager

zooropa — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 12:01:26 -0800

After years of being an Android user, I finally bought my first iPhone. I'm having trouble and getting thoroughly confused with merging and syncing all my contacts. Please help me start over and create the Ultimate Contacts Manager solution that doesn't require me to become a sync wizard. Here are the details:

I use Gmail for personal mail and Google Contacts for personal contacts.

I use Exchange at work for email and the global address book for contacts.

I am a social media manager for a living, so as you'd imagine, I have a plethora of contacts in LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

In the Settings screen, I've added all my various contacts in the Mail, Contacts, and Calendar section. But I'm getting thoroughly confused trying to remember which is sync'd with which, so if I make a change in Google Contacts, I don't remember if it will also be changed in the Exchange/work address book. And with all the different info coming in from LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, I'm getting multiple versions of names or four home addresses for the same person.

Please help me start over and create the Ultimate Contacts Manager solution that doesn't require me to become a sync wizard. I'm willing to pay for an online software solution if it's $5-10/month.

R is for... really cool gift that begins with R?

booksherpa — Wed, 26 Dec 2012 21:18:20 -0800

I need to buy a few small gifts that begin with the letter R for a family gift exchange. My budget is $20, the potential recipients range from an 18 year old college freshman to a 70 year old. My family in general has a wacky sense of humor, are fun and silly, like music, and will be appreciative of cleverness in the execution of the theme even if the gift(s) don't have much function or practical purpose, though I don't want the gifts to be completely useless. One thought I've had is buying 20 "R" things at a dollar store, but I'm not sure I could come up with 20. I don't know why I'm so stumped on what to get. Help!

Last Minute Amazon Gift

starkraven — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 04:54:43 -0800

Your idea for ~$125 gift exchange gift that can be bought using Amazon Prime today for arrival tomorrow? I really did check out the GiftIdeas wiki and the gift and Christmas tags, but saw nothing useful. I'm participating in a gift exchange where the gift value should be near $125. I'd like to order it from Amazon today, using Amazon Prime, and have it arrive tomorrow. The gift should be basically gender neutral -- I consider both kitchen and tools to be gender neutral. Can you help me, hive?

Help Me Come Up with a Quirky Username for VLogging my exchange!

rhythm_queen — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 12:55:20 -0800

I'm going on exchange to Lille, France in January til June. I want to record my experiences on YouTube by V-Logging--can you help me think of a cute and quirky YouTube username? My brain is failing me! Also, looking for general advice and suggestions for students going on exchange. Hello! I'm a 20 year old female business student going on exchange to
Lille, France. Please help me come up with a cute and quirky YouTube username for my v-logging adventures. (the only semi decent one i can think of is FilleALille)
Ill be talking to the camera about what's going on and also taking actual videos of my surroundings. I already have a YouTube channel with a small following so I think a few people will be interested in seeing them :) and it's a good way to log my experiences and encourage others to go on exchange!

It will also help me have an external focus and keep me from brooding in my head a lot. I love making vids so I think it will be a good idea.

Also wondering about any other advice you have for me! I'm traveling for the first time on my own. I'm living alone for the first time, also. I know some French. Any advice? Any at all? :)

Thank you!

Mo' Money

outlandishmarxist — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 07:40:24 -0800

Help me get a good exchange rate and tell me when to exchange. I'm coming back from Europe with a lot of Euros in cash. I want to get the best exchange rate I can. The airport rates are atrocious. Any good tips on how to get a rate that doesn't make me feel like I'm getting robbed blind? Also, any insight into the future of the Euro in relation to the dollar would help. It's currently above where it was when I went to Europe, but the situation with Germany and Greece seems liable to cause trouble. I can wait to change the money, but I wonder if I should.

CLAIR in Japan

sconbie — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 18:22:12 -0800

Have you been hosted by CLAIR on a visit to Japan? Looking for stories and anecdotes. I may have an opportunity to attend the Local Government Exchange and Cooperation Seminar and am looking for anecdotes and stories about the experience. I have travelled to Japan many times before and am a confident speaker. Interested in what the program involves.
Arigatoo Gozaimasu!

Wads of small bills at JFK Airport - how to change?

betsbillabong — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 22:30:55 -0800

This past weekend I had a huge moving sale, and ended up with about $1500 in small bills ($1s, $5s, $10s, $20s). Between cleaning my apartment and packing everything up today, I forgot to go to the bank and deposit the money into my account. Tomorrow morning I fly out of JFK (Terminal 4, specifically) to move to San Francisco, and since my flight is early there's no time to go to a bank. I feel weird traveling with these huge wads of cash, especially as it's all small bills. Right now it's all stuffed into a cigar box in my carry-on. I don't think it will fit in my wallet. Will the currency exchange places give me $100s (or better yet a money order) for my cash, and will I find one before passing through security? Will TSA steal from me, or give me a hard time for carrying these wads of bills? Is there possibly a Bank of America branch in JFK? What should I do? I don't think I'm comfortable depositing this much cash through an ATM, and anyway it would take forever.

Dollars -> shekels in Los Angeles

lewedswiver — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 20:05:33 -0800

Where to get Israeli shekels in Los Angeles? At a non-exploitative rate. (I assume airport exchanges take advantage of you because it's your last chance to change money... am I wrong?)

Thanks!

Los Angeles birthday exchange

lewedswiver — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 10:12:21 -0800

Help me cheat to think of a themed birthday present. The theme is Los Angeles. For a friend's birthday party, we're asked to bring a wrapped gift that is representative of Los Angeles. (It's not necessarily quite a birthday present: I believe people will be exchanging "presents," so you'll leave with something different than you started with. More of an exchange than a gift.)

It should cost less than $15.

This is rather open-ended. I'm at a loss. My only brainstorm I could come up with was some Route 66 trinket from the Santa Monica Pier (when I moved out to LA, I drove along the old Route 66 from the Midwest to Socal), or some other trinket from the gift shop at the La Brea Tar Pits, which is near where the party will be held (though I've never actually been to the La Brea Tar Pits, have no connection to it, and am just assuming here that there is a gift shop).

Any thoughts?

[Previously: a few ideas, but was hoping for more thoughts...]

Exchanging gift cards I don't need for money I do?

jitterbug perfume — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 14:02:41 -0800

Is there a place online where (presumably they would have to be nice, I would guess) people would trade money for gift cards to stores at which they shop anyway? Or something similar? I don't know if this is even possible so I don't know how high the likelihood something like this exists is, but I assume there could be some kind of PayPal money transfer and the numbers on the gift cards could be given to the party trading the money OR some kind of local thing. I can't be the only poor, young person whose parents/godparents/aunts/uncles/older friends/whatever people have give me gift cards to places I don't shop because they "don't trust my spending" or something or to personalize gifts more than cash or etc. I wish the grocery store would accept my Barnes and Noble gift cards, I really do. I would be willing to give a small percentage of the money to the other party in this exchange, but it wouldn't amount to much as these giftcards, as you probably guessed, aren't for thousands or multiple hundreds of dollars.

Subquestion: "Western Union Money Gram Paks" are just a way for people to rip you off, right? I mean to say - do legitimate transactions that don't involve corporate things ever happen on there or is it all people telling you they'll send you artwork/books/gift cards/I would imagine drugs and other things I'm neglecting to even think of/whatever people do on there and then stealing your money super effectively?

Fast Flatbed Scanner with SMTP/Exchange integration

tahirh — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 14:42:40 -0800

I am looking for a Fast Flatbed SMTP/Exchange integrated Scanner. It should work as a stand-alone device i.e. networkable (so not attached to a PC) and email scans ('scan to email' so digital copies of receipts can go into an expense system) and be easy to use. It should have SMTP/Exchange/AD integration completely so it should be possible to Email to multiple email addressess if necessary. Money is not an issue but it should have fast and responsive scan times. I am really looking for recommendations especially from people with experience with enterprise ready Flatbed scanners in SME business environments. Something sturdy and reliable. Thank you.

How do I get email to an outside domain to my Exchange server?

lhauser — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 08:26:47 -0800

How can I redirect all email coming to one domain to an Exchange server in another domain? This should be easy, but isn't proving to be. My employer has an Exchange 2007 server which sends and receives mail under our domain name (say, olddomain.com). We also have a domain under the name of a new product, which we are close to making live for online sales (call it newdomain.com).

The marketing people want to make all correspondence regarding this product to have the newdomain.com address, both incoming and outgoing. So, email addressed to newdomain.com (say, orders@newdomain.com) should be delivered to a mailbox on our Exchange server, orders@olddomain.com. I have set the MX record in our domain manager at GoDaddy to deliver email to the Exchange server (mail.olddomain.com). I have made newdomain.com an accepted domain on the Exchange server, but messages sent to orders@newdomain.com reject, saying "550 550 No such domain at this location."

Much Googling has left me with nothing definitive on how to do this... all I find are hints that it is indeed doable.

Sloppy MicroChips: Can a fair comparison be made between biological and silicon entropy?

0bvious — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 09:05:10 -0800

Was reading about microchips that are designed to allow a few mistakes (known as 'Sloppy Chips'), and pondering equivalent kinds of 'coding' errors and entropy in biological systems. Can a fair comparison be made between the two? OK, to setup my question I probably need to run through my (basic) understanding of biological vs silicon entropy...

In the transistor, error is a bad thing (in getting the required job done as efficiently and cheaply as possible), metered by parity bits that come as standard in every packet of data transmitted. But, in biological systems error is not necessarily bad. Most copying errors are filtered out, but some propogate and some of those might become beneficial to the organism (in thermodynamics sometimes known as "autonomy producing equivocations").

Relating to the article about 'sloppy chips', how does entropy and energy efficiency factor into this? For the silicon chip efficiency leads to heat (a problem), for the string of DNA efficiency leads to fewer mutations, and thus less change within populations, and thus, inevitably, less capacity for organisms to diversify and react to their environments - leading to no evolution, no change, no good. Slightly less efficiency is good for biology, and, it seems, good for some kinds of calculations and computer processes.

What work has been done on these connections I draw between the biological and the silicon?

I'm worried that my analogy is limited, based as it is on a paradigm for living systems that too closely mirrors the digital systems we have built. Can DNA and binary parity bit transistors be understood on their own terms, without resorting to using the other as a metaphor to understanding?

Where do the boundaries lie in comparing the two?

I need a superhero riding a unicorn made of ones and zeros and electrics.

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 11:09:04 -0800

Is there a software solution (not Add2Exchange or CodeTwo, already tried those) that can provide two-way sync between public folders contacts and iPhone/Android devices with consistent success? My boss would like to be able to do the following:
-access and edit any of the 5000 contacts stored in our public folders via his iPhone and iPad
-two-way syncing, so he should be able to edit a contact using either handheld device and have the change push to the public folders for all other users
-two way syncing ability for other users not necessary, but one way at a minimum would be nice

Possibly relevant details:
-We're running Exchange 2010
-Boss and several other users are using outlook 2007, though a few are using Outlook 2010 and one is Outlook 2003
-we use TeamScope CRM to manage the contacts in the public folder we need to access, so any solution would need to play well with that

We've tried Add2Exchange, which stopped working inexplicably. CodeTwo Exchange sync, with multiple users granted two-way sync, began duplicating random contacts spontaneously and then all of them exponentially, so we killed that in a panic before we ended up with dozens of copies of thousands of contacts.

We're now at a loss. Have you found a reasonable solution to the public folders/handheld devices syncing issue that can handle our requirements? If not, what did your company do as a workaround?

throwaway email: superheroonaunicorn@gmail.com

iCal hiding all appointments

peachfuzz — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 09:07:08 -0800

iCal is being a giant jerk. Halp? I am running iCal (5.0.3) on Lion (10.7.4). I believe everything is updated. About a month ago, I noticed that my iCal calendar was completely blank and panicked—but all my stuff still shows up on my phone, so I figured it wasn't lost at least. But I would really like to see it all on my computer again!

When I try to make a new appointment on my computer, the new appointment thing opens up but then closes as soon as I start typing. The event itself disappears. But if I look on my phone, I do indeed have a new event in that slot.

And when I first open up iCal, I see a brief, tantalizing glimpse of all my appointments while it says it is updating, but then everything becomes hidden again. What gives?

I have these kinds of calendars: iCloud, a couple Google Calendar subscriptions, and Exchange appointments from work. I have tried turning each one on and off, and deleting and recreating those accounts through iCal preferences. But nothing seems to work.

I have no idea how to go about troubleshooting this, and can't find an answer on the Apple support communities (though a couple people have seemed to have the same issue). Any ideas?

How do I force Outlook to send/receive on MY schedule?

Smarson — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:35:38 -0800

Outlook - How do I force a send without also refreshing the receive? I'm adopting some GTD practices (or at least trying to) and would love to be able to refresh my Outlook 2007 inbox via manual (F9) control, however have sent email get processed by my outbox immediately (or within <60 seconds). Is this achievable?

I'm hooked to an exchange server and using cache mode. After doing my homework and messing with the groups settings, etc. I have a grudging suspicion that their is no send without receive (Is that an Eagles song?).

Would love to be wrong here. Also open to feedback along the lines of "You're whole approach is misguided. Process like X..." and other GTD/ productivity cult tips.

Alternative systems to current money and currency

HopStopDon'tShop — Tue, 08 May 2012 08:21:12 -0800

Money: who are the current deep thinkers about money, monetary systems, currency, global flow of cash... and alternative systems and options. The only one I know of is Bernard Lietaer, but I'd be interested in reading anyone with alternative theories of how value can be exchanged in modern society.

How to be notified that I didn't receive a scheduled email?

enfa — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:24:32 -0800

How does your computer say that you didn't get an email that you were expecting to get? I receive email notifications every day with varying, automatically generated subject lines that have a timestamp, all from the same internal email address, generally before a certain time every day. Each notification arrives on a separate schedule - some monthly, some twice a week, some on the 1st and 17th of the month, some daily. The email lets me know that some process or another completed on a server somewhere in my company, and is usually to: a client contact, while I'm usually bcc:'ed.

I'd like to be alerted if one doesn't land in my inbox, by a scheduled time. This gives me time to investigate and hopefully resolve before the client notices.

I have a list of the emails I should receive, each with a schedule, charted out in Excel, and I manually compare to what is actually in my inbox. Which is tedious. Assume I would be checking for 20+ emails every weekday. Assume that everyone else in my department does the same thing, and that we all dislike doing this.

I'm on a pc using outlook 2010, exchange server, USA.
I'm technical andwork with programmers, but don't code much.
I can modify anything about the email notifications.
I assume the emails are confidential, can't send to 3rd party service.

I'd love to hear about how this could be solved with an outlook plugin, snip of code, or a network monitoring application (like WhatsUp) that would do this.

iPad Exchange client app

MattD — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 18:16:09 -0800

What is the most full-featured Exchange (ie Outlook) app for the iPad? I reproduce (some of) my Outlook desktop with the built in iPad apps via ActiveSync. I need a more robust solution, particularly with email, but also with contacts and calendar if possible, for better searching, sorting, filing, and display and use of fields beyond those the built-in app synchs. I have Touchdown for my Android phone, which is cool, but there should be something even better given the screen real estate and storage of the iPad.

Help me save my school email!

philosophygeek — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:40:16 -0800

I am finally finishing my graduate degree and need to rescue my email from my school's Exchange servers. The IT department has been singularly unhelpful in their suggestions. * My school runs Microsoft Exchange 2010, with a web interface of Outlook Web Access
* I currently use Mail.app as my Exchange client
* Some indeterminate time after I graduate, my school email account will be deactivated
* I have about 75MB of email on the server that I need to save, preferably by exporting to a Gmail account
* My school's IT department has told me that the only solution is to manually forward each message to a new email address.

I am praying that the hive mind can give me a better solution than the IT department.

Taking control of iPads....

lattiboy — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 09:40:25 -0800

Setting up 20-40 Apple iPads at my company. We'd like to have these "locked down" to some extent. Also, setup standardized logins. Details inside...... I've read a number of articles online about the current situation with iPads and the corporate world. Most of them essentially say "it's a goddamn mess". Regardless, we are moving ahead with a rollout of ipads.

Our situation:

1) We currently have about 15 iPads in the wild. All for sales people. We'll be expanding to possibly 50 in the next few months. Replacing laptops for most.

2) They all have to run this app. Which, of course, doesn't offer volume licensing anymore. Currently, we're simply having people expense the app on their own iTunes account.

3) We're looking at a support/inventory tracker. We already use this company's program for our RF guns, so we're inclined to use this software. Any experience? Alternatives?

4) We're a strictly MS shop, but we're not averse to setting up a Mac if it will help with any of this.

5) We'd LOVE it if there was a way to sync their AD account logins somehow in place of this iTunes BS, but I'm guessing that's impossible.

6) Not horribly worried about security as Dropbox and the emulator both require independent logins. I believe every software offering we've looked at has "remote wipe" functionality.

7) We don't really care if people are running Angry Birds or whatever, but since we are paying for these we feel we should at least have the ABILITY to pick what they can and cannot install.

Extra info:

-No special setups on the iPads. Just VPN, the 5250 Emulator and Dropbox.

-Everybody is currently using the built in email client for Exchange sync. So far we haven't had any need for more powerful apps like Touchdown.

-These are sales people. Almost all consumption/presentation. They don't do much typing or producing of documents.

So, basically, I'm looking for experience IT folks have had integrating iPads into their existing infrastructure.

Thanks in advance.....

How can I swap my house in Spain for a cabin in the States?

maca — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 02:29:31 -0800

Are there any home exchange websites specifically for rustic cabin-type dwellings? Looking to swap my place in Spain for something in the states. So we have a little rustic stone house in a magical corner of Spain that I'd love to swap for something in New England or the Pacific Northwest in late August/September of this summer, but I'm having a hard time wading through the standard home exchange websites. Many of the houses look fancy and huge and not swappable for our 1 bedroom darling but rustic stone house.

Any suggestions for websites more appropriate for our needs?