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I see other questions about this, no answers and no one with a completely similar question.

I work for a place with an Exchange 2007 server. There is an http://owa.ourserver.com that is accessible from anywhere. I've tried every combo I can think of for Evolution -> Microsoft Exchange, including the MAPI plugin, but then I read that, that doesn't work on OWA Exchange email servers and I can't get it to connect at all that way.

If there is no way to connect via Evolution, is there another mail client? I tried Thunderbird, but I couldn't get it to work with Exchange either...

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5 Answers 5

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You should try DavMail Exchange Gateway.

You can use it "standalone" on your own computer, or on a server so you can share it with other colleagues.

Basically, this application connects to the Exchange server (you can use the web address you gave) and translates all Exchange specific stuff into standards protocols: POP, IMAP, Caldav, SMTP, Carddav or LDAP. So you can access e-mails, calendar and contacts (included corporate ones) from this application.

Then, you just have to configure Thunderbird or Evolution, etc. to connect to this application instead of Exchange.

It works like a charm on Windows, Linux and Mac OS. There is a 'deb' package in the download section of the project web-site, so you can easily install it on Ubuntu.

Then, you can launch it from the Applications->Internet menu.

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  • +1 for davmail. Have been using it for almost a year now without any trouble on ubuntu lucid + thunderbird + Exchange 2007 for email, calendar & address book. Even when I had some issues, I always find the mailing list very responsive and helpful.
    – koushik
    Oct 14, 2010 at 8:10
  • I am getting the feeling that DavMail will handle encryption on it's own but might not handle encrypted communication between itself and your mail client. Dec 1, 2010 at 19:34
  • You can configure SSL (you can create a certificate of your own, but it won't be "authenticated" by a known authority I presume) so that you have encryption between Davmail and your e-mail client. See davmail.sourceforge.net/sslsetup.html
    – Huygens
    Dec 5, 2010 at 15:10
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Had the same problem in my company.

The solution is installation of evolution-mapi (apt-get install evolution-mapi). Then go to Evolution and add an account, select Exchange from the drop-down menu and enter your server details and credentials. In the server address box type the server's IP address, as the mapi seems to have a bug using FQDMs.

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  • Is it stable ? Last time I tried this plugin in evolution, I had disconnections and freezes which made the day to day use close to impossible... But that was a long time ago. Did it improve ? Oct 17, 2010 at 7:05
  • I think mapi does not correctly handle domain names... Won't let me log in. Looks like it keeps checking without domain names. Dec 1, 2010 at 19:29
  • yes, evolution-mapi is the correct plugin. I am accessing exchange 2007 using that for my work. But I would like to give you a word of caution. It is damn slow in retrieving mails . Not good if you get 50 mails an hour! :)
    – Ubuntuser
    May 2, 2011 at 10:23
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OWA is Outlook Web Access for Exchange. To setup up Evolution to work with exchange you will need the Exchange server addresses not the Web Access front end.

My suggestion is to check with your IT/SysAdmin for the Exchange addresses. Some companies have Exchanged lock to be only accessed through the OWA or select users on desktop clients (my former employer was that way). Permissions may need to be set for you.

The configuration process can be checked out here:
gnome documentation library - adding exchange account to evolution

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  • Well, i can access it with Mail.app on Max OS X 10.6 and on Windows 7, and Windows XP... just not Ubuntu. :\ So, they aren't restricting it that way unless I guess they explicitly blocked Evolution which I doubt because I think I'm the only one here out of these few thousand people with Linux (and one of the only couple dozen with Mac OS X) haha. Oct 13, 2010 at 19:43
  • I guess, could you tell me what my login stuff should look like and where to get the right server? Oct 13, 2010 at 19:44
  • It has been a little since I have configured Exchange. Your IT department should be able to give you the correct server information. I have added a link for configuation to my answer. Oct 13, 2010 at 22:37
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    The Exchange plugin for Evolution uses OWA as its way in. It doesn't work with Exchange 2007, though. Dec 4, 2010 at 17:37
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I have evolution working in the past connecting evolution using the EWS plug in for evolution our address was https://owa.companyname.com/owa/EWS/Exchange.asmx

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I tried DavMail Gateway and wasn't super impressed:

  • It has to run constantly in the background
  • It uses over 100 MB of memory
  • It was buggy; for instance, it would duplicate calendar events if the event was moved to a different time

If IMAP isn't enabled on your Exchange server, DavMail Gateway is probably your best bet. But if IMAP Is enabled, I recently came across a much better solution. It's a Thunderbird add-on called Exchange EWS Provider that's currently being maintained by Ericsson and handles Exchange calendar, tasks, and contact synchronization. It supports Exchange 2007, 2010, 2013, and even Exchange Online/Office 365.

Exchange EWS Provider doesn't have the bugs that I ran into with DavMail, it only runs when Thunderbird is open, and it uses far less memory, less than 9 MB (according to Thunderbird's about:memory):

13.27 MB (05.33%) -- add-ons
│   ├───8.63 MB (03.47%) -- [email protected]/js-non-window/zones/zone(0x7fced7ddb800)

Installation is easy. I've documented it in detail here:

Using Exchange without Outlook

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