Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with exchange and Microsoft

Help me sync contacts from one user to another over exchange?

vrdx — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 22:18:00 -0800

Help me figure out a CRM/Sync solution! I'm going crazy trying to figure out a good solution for a small firm; need to sync contacts, more inside... So, I've googled myself to pieces and need your guidance. I've got a small group of folks in a firm I am the go-to solutions consultant for their newer IT services. I've got a few users spread throughout the country, and we're using a hosted exchange solution. One of the exec's assistants is not local, but has a 'master' contact database - this is a master list, within outlook, and is several hundred MB's large, containing many pieces of information w/in each contact's entry (some sensitive). I can set up the 'shared contacts' functionality from w/in exchange+outlook, but I need to sync those contacts TO users databases (for some to use w/ BlackBerry's / iPhones) (They've been using Outlook as a CRM solution...)

So, what is one way (preferably free) to sync this 'master list' of contacts to multiple users? It can run over Exchange, if that helps.

Possible issues: It needs to be pretty simple and easy to use, I can only remote-assist so much, but, it can't require a ton of learning curve on the users part, so things like Act, FileMaker, etc. are out... They are also somewhat averse to paying for another service (getting hosted exchange going was a huge step but still took a ton of work) so things like salesforce are out too.

Additionally, assume the users have a basic level of comfort/knowledge with things like outlook, but still experience general pc issues that perplex them ("why won't my outlook open...?") so I'd like to be as easy as possible.

So, mefi masters, help me! I'm open to trying tons of stuff, and we have online storage available to use as an intermediary place to store a database (to get from one remote user to the next), but I'm out of ideas.

Will a LG Env2 handle my email load?

bigcheesegump — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 14:23:53 -0800

Will my LG Env2 (LG VX 9100) be able to handle my e-mail needs? I have come upon a situation where my job requires me to be accessible via email essentially 24/7. I have looked at Blackberry and other smart phone options but am pretty happy with my LG Env2 with Verizon Wireless.

I have looked into the mobile email and have been looking at the RemoSync application which promises to enable Microsoft Exchange email access on certain Verizon phones (mine included).

Does anyone have any experience (positive/negative) with using the Env2 with an Exchange server with RemoSync?

Web-based appointment scheduler for Exchange?

CrazyGabby — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 07:47:02 -0800

Does anyone know of a web-based appointment scheduler that integrates with Exchange? I have several advisors who see students, and I would like to add a feature to our website to allow students to see available times and schedule an appointment with his/her advisor. We use Exchange, and to really meet my requirements the system would need to integrate directly with an advisor's calendar, or at the very least allow an appointment to come through as a "proposal" that the advisor could then save directly to his/her calendar.

The closest I have found so far is this. Overall it looks ideal, but it only does RSS feeds and/or import of calendar data. However, it should give a good overview of what I'm looking for.

If a solution doesn't already exist, does anyone know if it's even possible to build something like this? Or is Exchange too locked down?

Thanks in advance!

How much for Exchange for 500-800 users?

jimjam — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:29:12 -0800

MS Exchange railroad: How much does it really cost for an in-house Microsoft Exchange system? The linux/imap/smtp email system at our company sucks (500-800 users) and one of our systems admins wants to deploy Microsoft Exchange (2003 probably) to solve this.

The problem is, the costs and complexity of the proposed Exchange system are spiraling out of control. It went from one physical server hosting Exchange to now 5 or 6 physical servers, each running various components, and talk of server CALs and client CALs. Exchange 2007 will be even more expensive apparently, if/when we upgrade to that.

We're now talking $100k of hardware, and $200-300k of cash thrown at Microsoft, just to get email for several hundred people. (the previous system running on linux was 'cheap', as-in no software license fees, and just a couple servers)

Looking at Microsoft's site, I can't make heads or tails of how this system -really- should be built out (server-wise), and what the actual license costs will be. Scanning the web, I can't find any 'I built Exchange this way for this many people and it cost this much' type of info.

Unfortunately the company brass has already tanked the idea of Google Apps or hosted Exchange, due to security concerns, so I'm actually just looking to find out how much $$ and how complex this Exchange system will be.

I know admin in question is a serious Microsoft zealot, and will just keep on piling on the hardware/software expenses, in order to build a small empire of systems under her control. Plus $500k for email seems pretty extravagant to me personally, and the proposed system is -incredibly- complex. If this admin leaves after setting this all up, we're screwed.

Anyone have any ideas on or pointers on this?

User stats on Exchange 2000?

starscream — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:50:12 -0800

Microsoft Exchange 2000 : is there a built in function or any 3rd party utility that would allow me to export a list of all mailboxes and would include info like User Logon Name and mailbox size? The company I work for was purchased by a megacorp and we'll be migrating all of our users from our Exchange server to theirs. While we have a 150mb limit, they impose a 100mb restriction on mailbox size. There are, of course, 'special' users that have anywhere from 200 to 500mb or more; therefore management is looking for a spreadsheet with basic statistics of our Exchange server users.

I'd love to be able to export some kind of list into csv (or anything else that I could open in Excel and work with) that details usernames, mailbox size/limit, and any other info that might be useful for pre migration planning. If there's any Exchange built-in function or a third party utility that could do this for me, I'd love to know about it!

Microsoft Exchange Server for Epsilon Semi-Morons?

loquacious — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:39:04 -0800

How do I set up Microsoft Exchange (or Outlook) Server for a small office? I'm providing basic knuckle-dragger tech support for a small office, and one of the things they want to implement and that I want to provide eventually is an Exchange or Outlook server.

Where do I begin? What should I watch out for? What about security issues?

I will be using Server 2003 and a primarily XP client base.

Outlook/exchange - Pst problem

flipmiester99 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:46:51 -0800

Outlook/Exchange Filter:: I have a user that has all his mail being delivered to a .pst file. How do i change it so that it keeps all the mail on the exchange server? Also, how do i get all his mail from the .pst file back on the server. He is using outlook 2007 and the exchange server is 2003.

How can I get full functionality out of MMC?

odinsdream — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:42:13 -0800

Help me better use MMC (Microsoft Management Console) for server maintenance tasks. I manage several servers. Each server has a bunch of stuff available under Administrative Tools. I can open these locally on each machine to maintain the various items, or, I can use one machine and add these snap-ins to one master MMC.

This is what I currently do. I have the Active Directory snap-in for our domain, I have several DHCP snap-ins, and a couple Event Viewers.

However, with the Active Directory snap-in, I cannot access some property pages on the master console that I would be able to access if I were directly working on the server.

For instance, I cannot see a user's Dial-In tab on my master console, but I can see it if I use the same area on the domain controller. Likewise, I don't have any of the user's Exchange tabs on the master console, but these are available if I'm working directly on the Exchange server.

What accounts for these differences, and how can I reconcile them?

Is there a way to use a google calendar and outlook exchange without completely mixing the two and can they be synced differently on different computers?

D Wiz — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 07:12:43 -0800

Is there a way to use a google calendar and outlook exchange without completely mixing the two and can they be synced differently on different computers? I have a work computer and a home computer (both Windows XP). At home I use google calendar. At work they use outlook exchange. I am now in the market for a PDA phone. I am looking at both WM6 Pro and Palm. I will probably end up with the palm but I am not sure at the moment. (I have unlimited data on my phone if that makes a difference.) Ok... those are all the background details.

Here is the question: I want the PDA to only partially sync with my work computer and completely sync with my home computer. Meaning I want my calendar/schedule from work to upload to the PDA but I don't want my personal address book or other information to be saved to the work computer. At the same time, when I sync at home, I want my personal calendar on the PDA also. I want both calendars to be visible on the PDA but when I go back and sync it at work, I don't want my personal calendar to be synced with my office computer. Is there a way to do this? Can calendars be kept separately? Also, to do this, is it preferable to use WM over Palm OS or vice versa?

Why won't they let me use Outlook?

thinktwice — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 11:17:04 -0800

Any particular reason a company would not allow access to MS Exchange via Outlook and/or cell phone only allow access via Outlook Web Mail? I am working for a small company and they are forcing me to use Outlook Web Mail. I want to use Outlook 2007 to manage my contacts, calendar, etc. I asked he IT guy and he says no way.
What is the point of having MS Exchange server if you can only access via IE? Moreover, I can't even change column widths in Web Mail. Or add contacts. This seems totally weird to me?

So I'll ask to community, is there any legit reason NOT to allow any employee to access Exchange via Outlook and/or phone (Blackberry/Treo)?

MacBook + Exchange + Air Force = trouble?

wheat — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 14:09:03 -0800

MacBook + Exchange + Air Force = trouble? A friend of mine is a pilot in the Air Force. He has an HP/WinXP laptop that's dying and wants to replace it. He uses Microsoft Outlook at home and for work and has, I believe, some Windows-based, Air Force-specific apps that could be problematic. I know enough about Macs to know about Boot Camp and Parallels, but I've never used Entourage or tried to make a Mac play friendly with a Windows-centric office. Will he be in a world of hurt if he goes against the grain and gets a MacBook?

Dual boot seems an easy fix for most things. But, if he hates Entourage or can't get it to play friendly with the local IT department's Exchange server, is running Outlook via Parallels all the time an option? Or would that just be too much trouble?

How Do I get Outlooks out of office assistant to work for e-mails received from the internet?

ijoyner — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 13:00:55 -0800

Our organization's MS Outlook out of office assistant is not working for e-mails received from outside the organization. Why is this and is there a way to fix it? We use Exchange Server 03 on Server 03 with clients using Outlook 03. I can turn the out of office assistant on, and it works for inter-office e-mail just not e-mails coming in from the outside internet.

How to get back an Outlook 2003 Profile?

ruwan — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 12:49:21 -0800

I just changed universities and my new IT Department's instructions to enable me to access my new e-mail address (via Outlook 2003) caused me to delete old my old e-mail. Their instructions, which I blindly followed, instructed me to delete the "outlook" profile in Control Panel --> Mail. I did so, and installed their Microsoft Exchange e-mail. I assumed it would just add to my other POP e-mail accounds that were already configured and working in Outlook. I assumed wrong. So now I have none of my old e-mail, or my old contacts anymore. Is there anyway to get this invaluable stuff back? Their instructions were to go to Control Panel --> Mail and delete any other profiles that were there before setting up their MS Exchange e-mail service. Now my entire Outlook is different (looking) and I have none of my old e-mail. Help please.