. : Looking through the eyes : .

Ever since it was announced that the new OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard will support Microsoft Exchange server out of the box, I was really excited since now, I no longer need to access my company’s email through Outlook Web Access (OWA) using web browser which is not native email client.

However, my excitement did not last forever when in the Apple Support website mentioning that this Exchange supported on Snow Leopard only support the Exchange 2007, not the Exchange 2003 which my company is currently using. I was a bit skeptical at this first since the latest version of iPhone works flawlessly with Exchange 2003; which many of my colleague is currently using.

Apparently after reading forums after forums, I discovered Snow Leopard Mail support Exchange Web Services (EWS) which is the new technology for Exchange 2007, unlike WebDav and IMAP Exchange which was previously supported in Exchange 2003. Apple iPhone on the other hand is using ActiveSync which widely used on mobile phones nowadays to connect and synchronize with Exchange server. This activesync technology is not supported on Snow Leopard Mail; an even on Microsoft Outlook at any Windows machines.

Well then, straight to the point:

What do you need

1. Install the davmail software. Get it from here: http://davmail.sourceforge.net/

2. Apple Mail of course, either on Tiger, Leopard or Snow Leopard.

3. Patient, patient, patient… if all the setting went correctly, the first email arrived might take a few minutes.

Instruction

1. I will not go too much in details. Please read the instruction here:  http://davmail.sourceforge.net/

These are importants

1. You need the OWA address. The format will looks like ‘https://owa.servername/exchange.

2. Click setting of preference on Davmail once you installed it and type in the server adress.

2. Open up you Mail. At preference, click the ‘+’ button and enter the details.

servername: localhost

username: domain\username:

password : xxxxx

Custom port address:

IMAP: 1143 (These are important)

SMTP: 1025

Please click the images below to visualize all the screenshot of all required setting.

If everything went well, take the account online and the mail will arrive within a few minutes.

Additional Info

If you want to further setup the iCal and Address to sync you calendar  and to get the company contacts and the autocompletion of address, please refer the website I mentioned above. If you manage to get the email working, the rest should be easier.

Happy trying !

Update (26/01/2010 9.29 PM)

I tried this method on Microsoft Entourage too. I works. I thinks it will work on any email clients supporting IMAP.