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Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Exchange Server is a Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Tasks and Notes server developed by Microsoft. It is a centralised database that enables you to connect from multiple devices in multiple locations to see a complete synchronised view of your mailbox. On this page we will explain how to connect your Email Client to your mailbox. Note that ‘Email Client’ is the general term for any software program, application or app that connects to an email mailbox.

Access your Mailbox from anywhere with OWA

OWA (Outlook Web Access) is the web client for Microsoft Exchange. It enables you to access your mailbox from any browser (e.g. Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer) on any device with an internet connection (e.g. PC, Mac, laptop, tablet, smartphone), wherever you are. As such it is the quickest and easiest way to access your mailbox and so is the ‘go to’ client for when you are on the road or just away from your desk or if your usual email client is not working.

To connect, simply enter the Exchange Server URL in your browser’s address bar, (https://exchange.appsservers.net/owa). Click the address bar image to open a new browser tab with our OWA.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Enter the username and password you were provided and click sign in:

OWA sign-in page

When you use OWA for the first time you will be presented with the following regional settings page. Select your preferred settings and press Save. You can change these settings any time in your profile options.

OWA sign-in regional settings

The OWA user interface might be unfamiliar at first, but basic tasks such as sending and replying to emails are simple. To compose a new email, click New mail and type the email address of the recipient etc. When complete, click Send. The best way to get to know OWA is to play with it.

Although you can use many browsers (e.g. Chrome, Firefox), at the time of writing only Internet Explorer-based browsers support all the features such as searching your mailbox and notification of new emails.

Connect to your Mailbox with Outlook

The method will be different depending on the version of Outlook you are using (e.g. 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010, 2007, 2003). Read this section then follow the instructions for the version of Outlook that you are using. You should consider updating from versions earlier than 2019.

How the process starts will be different depending on whether Outlook is being used for the first time on the device or, if not being used for the first time, whether the new connection is to be added to an existing Mail profile or as a new Mail profile.

How the process proceeds will be different depending on whether the Autodiscover service is enabled on the hosting Exchange Server. It is enabled on our Exchange Server.

You may wish to print some sections of this document as the following instructions may require that you use your internet browser to visit other web pages to collect information or review other instructions.

If Outlook is being used for the first time on the device

If Outlook is being used for the first time, when it is launched it should automatically start the Account setup wizard. If this is the case, click 2003, 2007 or 2010 onwards to go to the section below for your version of Outlook.

If Outlook is already in use on the device

If Outlook is already in use on the device, there will already be at least one Mail profile in place. If this is the case you can either add your Mailbox to an existing Mail profile or create a new Mail profile for it.

Outlook versions earlier than 2010 allow only one Exchange account in each Mail profile, so if your existing Mail profile already includes an Exchange account, e.g. to a different Exchange server or to a different mailbox on the same Exchange server, you must either create a new Mail profile for your Mailbox or delete the existing Exchange account from your Mail profile before you can add your Mailbox to it. If you want to transfer some or all of the contents from the existing Exchange account (emails, calendar, tasks etc.) to your Mailbox, e.g. if you are changing your Exchange hosting provider, you must first export the contents of the existing Exchange account before you delete it, then you can import the contents into your Mailbox. If you want to transfer content from a non-Exchange mailbox, add your Mailbox to the same Mail profile as the mailbox from which you want to transfer content, then you can simply move items between folders in Outlook. Depending on your preference, go to these sections in order:

  1. Exporting data from existing email accounts
  2. Adding your Mailbox to an existing Mail profile or Creating a new Mail profile for your Mailbox
  3. Connect to your Mailbox with Outlook 2003 or Connect to your Mailbox with Outlook 2007
  4. Importing data to your Mailbox

Outlook versions 2010 onwards allow multiple Exchange accounts in a Mail profile, which makes things easy. Go to Adding your Mailbox to an existing Mail profile or Creating a new Mail profile for your Mailbox, followed by Connect to your Mailbox with Outlook 2010 onwards. To transfer content to your Mailbox, add the Mailbox to the same Mail profile as the mailbox from which you want to transfer content, then you can simply move items between folders in Outlook. Otherwise you will have to export/import the contents as above.

After you have added your Mailbox and transferred any data to it, you can delete any empty/obsolete mailboxes and data files. This is straightforward and is not covered in this article.

Exporting data from existing email accounts

To do this, log in to your original Mail profile (if you had one) and do the following from the main menu.

Click File, then Import and Export. Select “Export to a file” and click Next.

Select “Personal Folder File (.pst)” and click Next.

Select the branch of the tree that is highest up the list (usually but not always entitled Personal Folders), make sure there is a tick in the box marked “Include subfolders” and click Next.

In the “Save exported file as” box type in the filename, e.g. oldmail.pst and, using the browse button, select the desktop as the location to save the file to. Leave the options set as default and click Finish.

Outlook will then ask if you want to password protect this new file. Leave the password fields empty and click OK.

When the export is complete you will have created a file called oldmail.pst on your desktop.

Then close Outlook.

Adding your Mailbox to an existing Mail profile

Outlook allows only one Exchange connection per Mail profile, so you must first delete the existing Exchange connection if there is one. If you don’t want to delete it you must create a new Mail profile.

To add to an existing Mail profile, close Outlook and modify your Mail settings as follows:

Start > Control Panel > Mail

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

You might need to switch to classic view in Control Panel to see the Mail icon. Press Show Profiles:

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Choose your Profile Name and click Properties, click E-mail Accounts, remove the existing Exchange account and any POP3/IMAP accounts that you no longer wish to use.

You must remove the existing Exchange account but you do not have to delete existing POP3 or IMAP accounts if you intend to keep using them. Click New or Add a new e-mail account. Then, to continue, go to the section below for your version of Outlook.

Creating a new Mail profile for your Mailbox

You must add a new Mail profile if any of the following apply:

  • there is no existing Mail profile;
  • you wish to keep an existing connection to another Exchange server;
  • you wish to keep an existing connection to another mailbox on the same Exchange server;
  • you wish to keep any existing POP3/IMAP accounts separate from your new Exchange mailbox.

If you keep multiple Mail profiles, you must select the appropriate Mail profile each time you start Outlook. You can choose to be always prompted to select a Mail profile each time Outlook starts or always use one specified default Mail profile every time Outlook starts. This is controlled by using the radio buttons and selection list at the bottom of the Mail form.

After the new Mail profile is created, you can configure Outlook to always start with one of the Mail profiles or to prompt to select a Mail profile each time Outlook starts.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

To create a new Mail profile, click Add… and enter a new unique name in the New Profile form.

When you click OK, the new account wizard will start. Go to the section for your version of Outlook to continue.

Importing data to your Mailbox

Data (mail, contact records, calendar entries) for your previous email accounts should be stored on your PC in a .PST file. You can import this data into your new Mail profile, after which Outlook will synchronise it with the Exchange server making it available for use in Outlook Web Access (OWA), another PC also running Outlook, or a hand-held device running appropriate sync software.

To do this, locate the .PST file – e.g. oldmail.pst – on your PC which contains your old data.

Open Outlook, selecting your new profile.

Click File, then Import and Export.

Select “Import from another program or file” and click Next.

Using the scroll bar if needed, select “Personal Folder File (.pst)” and click Next.

Use the browse button to navigate to the desktop and select the .PST file – e.g. oldmail.pst – you created above. Leave the options set as default and click Next.

Select the branch of the tree that is highest up the list (usually entitled Personal Folders) and ensure there is a tick in the box marked “Include subfolders”. Also ensure that the Import items into the same folder in drop down box says “Mailbox – [Your Name]”. Then click Finish.

Outlook will then import the data from the .PST file into a new .OST file on your PC and, when complete, will start to synchronise the data with Exchange server. How long this takes to complete will depend on the size of your data and the speed of your Internet connection.

Leave Outlook open and running until the status bar at the bottom says “All folders are up to date.” Only then should you start to use Outlook. In the meantime, you can read and reply to new mail using Outlook Web Access in your web browser. Alternatively you could run the import of the old data as an overnight task making sure your PC can be left on overnight.

When the synchronisation has completed, you can remove the oldmail.pst file from your desktop.

Connect to your Mailbox with Outlook 2003

In the Add New E-mail Account form, select Microsoft Exchange Server and click Next.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

In the Microsoft Exchange Server box type exchange.appsservers.net, tick Use Cached Exchange Mode and in the User Name box, type the username that we will have provided you. N.B. you cannot use Cached Exchange Mode from a remote desktop – e.g. if we host your Outlook on our Cloud Desktop.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Ensure you enter the correct details as any mistakes here could cause Outlook to not work properly. DO NOT CLICK Check Name at this point.

Click More settings. You may see an egg-timer at this point for a little while. Don’t worry or click anything else. You may also see an error “The action could not be completed. Outlook must be online or connected”. Click OK then Cancel on the next pop-up box.

The Microsoft Exchange form should now appear. Click the Connection tab.

In the Connection tab, tick Connect to Microsoft Exchange using HTTP then click the Exchange Proxy Settings button and configure exactly as shown below:

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Enter the proxy server name in the box https://exchange.appsservers.net

Enter msstd:exchange.appsservers.net in the principal name box.

Tick in On fast networks, connect using…and in On slow networks, connect using…
In Proxy authentication settings, set to NTLM Authentication.

Click OK then OK again to exit More Settings.

You can now click Check Name.

After a pause you should see a form asking for your username and password. Ensure that you type the username that we will have provided you and the correct password even if the box is pre-populated with something different to begin with.

Outlook will underline the Exchange server name and the username. If it doesn’t do this or you get an error message or are prompted for your username and password again either you entered them incorrectly or there is a problem with your PC connecting via RPC over HTTP. Contact our technical support team for assistance with this if you cannot resolve the issue yourself.

If all went well (which it usually does) you can now click Next.

Keep clicking Next or OK until you return to the Windows Control Panel.

You might be prompted for your Exchange mailbox password each time you start Outlook 2003. This is a Microsoft security feature and cannot be changed.

You will see a message box saying “Setting up Outlook 2003 for the first time …” at which point the connection will have been made and a copy of your Exchange mailbox will be synchronised to your PC.

Connect to your Mailbox with Outlook 2007

The process for setting up Outlook 2007 is virtually identical to that given for Outlook 2003 with the exception that Outlook 2007 will automatically try to work out how to connect to Exchange server based on your Windows username and/or any e-mail addresses already registered on the PC. This will cause problems if you don’t specify that you wish to configure your settings manually. To do this, tick the Manually configure server settings or additional server types box highlighted in red below. Then click Next.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Select Microsoft Exchange in the next dialog box and click Next.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Complete the remaining setup exactly as described in the Outlook 2003 section above.

Connect to your Mailbox with Outlook 2010 onwards

If you use our hosted Microsoft Exchange service and we have helped you set up your DNS and MX records on your domain, configuring your Outlook (whether on your Prelude Desktop or remotely) couldn’t be easier.

Start Outlook and press Next on the first Startup wizard form:

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

On the next form, Yes should be selected by default, so just press Next:

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

The form that appears next will be different depending on whether or not your Outlook is on our Desktop platform.

Outlook on our Desktop platform

Outlook will automatically recognise your user account and should present the following form with Your Name and E-mail Address fields pre-populated.

DO NOT check the Manually configure… checkbox. Press Next.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Outlook not on our Desktop platform

Outlook will present the following form, with E-mail Account selected by default, which you must populate as follows:

  • Your Name: Enter your preferred name, which will be displayed in messages
  • E-mail Address: Enter the email address that will have been provided to you
  • Password: Enter the password that will have been provided to you
  • Retype Password: Enter the password that will have been provided to you
Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

DO NOT check the Text Messaging (SMS) or Manually configure… checkboxes. Press Next.

If all is well, e.g. your domain’s DNS and MX records have been configured correctly, the following form should appear and process automatically to eventually display the three green ticks to indicate that the account configuration has been successful. If you are connecting Outlook remotely this could take several minutes. DO NOT check the Manually configure… checkbox. Press Finish.

If this form does not process successfully, check Manually configure… and follow the instructions to connect your Exchange mailbox with Outlook 2007.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Before this form completes you may be presented with the following form. Simply check the Don’t ask box then press Allow.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

If this form does process successfully, you will then be asked to confirm your credentials in the following form. The first box is for your username in the form appsservers\<username>, without the chevrons, and the second box is for your password. Check the Remember my credentials box and Outlook should save these details and not prompt you for them again.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

In newer versions of Outlook, you will be presented with a different form to confirm your credentials. The form displays ‘Connecting to’ your email address and a Password box. DO NOT enter your password or press OK.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Instead press ‘More choices’ followed by ‘Use a different account’, after which the form display changes to:

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

As above, the first box is for your username in the form appsservers\<username>, without the chevrons, and the second box is for your password. Check the Remember my credentials box and Outlook should save these details and not prompt you for them again.

This must be done because your email address is not your username on our platform.

You may then be asked to confirm your Name and Initials in the next form. Press OK.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Finally, you may be asked to set your preferred Privacy and RSS Feeds settings. Remember that the latter will accumulate data in your mailbox that you should manage against your disk space quota.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox
Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

When this is done Outlook should open your mailbox ready for use.

Connect to your Mailbox with the Outlook App for mobile devices

Outlook App for Android

Note: If you have a work account that requires the Intune Company Portal app, install it from the Google Play Store before setting up Outlook for Android. Your IT admin may or may not also require you to Enroll your Android device in Intune.

Install the Outlook App for Android from the Google Play Store and then open it. The icon look ssomething like this:

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

If this is your first use of the app, it should open with GET STARTED followed by an Add Account page. Otherwise, if you have already connected the app to other mailboxes (accounts), from the menu, select Settings > ADD MAIL ACCOUNT. Then enter your email address using the on-screen keyboard and click CONTINUE:

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox
Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox
Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

If you are asked to choose your account type, click Exchange:

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Enter your account details as provided by us. You might have to enter your email address again.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Description is your choice but take care to enter Email Address, Server, Domain\Username, Password correctly, with your specific details in place of the obscured text (i.e. Email Address, Username and Password). Server and Domain\Username must be exactly as in the screenshot below. Particularly, note the double ‘s’ in appsservers and backslash ‘\’ in Domain\Username. The previous sections provide more information as to why this is important.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Click the tick at the top right of the screen, after which you will see Attempting to log-in … if you have entered yoru details correctly.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Then either click ADD to add another account or MAYBE LATER to go to the Inbox display, which will start populating with your messages.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox
Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Outlook App for iOS

Note: If you have a work account that requires the Intune Company Portal app, install it from the App Store before setting up Outlook for iOS. Your IT admin may or may not also require you to Enroll your iOS device in Intune.

Install the Outlook App for iOS from the iOS App Store and then open it. The icon looks something like this:

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

If this is your first use of the app, it should open with an Add Account page. Otherwise, if you have already connected the app to other mailboxes (accounts), from the menu, select Settings > Add Email Account. Then enter your email address using the on-screen keyboard and click Add Account:

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox
Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox
Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

If you are asked to select your email provider, click Exchange:

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

Enter your account details as provided by us. You will probably have to enter your email address again. Description is your choice but take care to enter Email Address, Server, Domain, Username and Password correctly, with your specific details in place of the obscured text (i.e. Email Address, Username and Password). Server, Domain and Username must be exactly as in the screenshot below. Particularly, note the double ‘s’ in appsservers. The previous sections provide more information as to why this is important. Click Sign In.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

You may get a Connection Warning, which is incorrect and is nothing to worry about – just Microsoft being paranoid. Click Log-in.

Connect Your Email Client To Your Exchange Mailbox

If you have entered your account details correctly, the app will soon return to the Inbox display and start populating it with your messages.

Connect to your Mailbox with other email clients

Windows Mail, Thunderbird, Outlook Express, Eudora, Outlook versions lower than 2003, MAC Mail, mobile devices etc.

These email clients can only connect to your Exchange mailbox using either the POP3 or IMAP protocol and can therefore only be used for email. All other data types (Calendar, Contacts, Tasks) are not available to these email clients. The following table summarises the main differences between POP3 and IMAP.

POP3IMAP
Post Office Protocol version 3Internet Messaging Access Protocol
This is better if you use only one device to check your email.This is better if you use more than one device to check your email.
Your emails are downloaded from the mail server to the particluar device you are checking it on. Your mail always remains on the mail server.
Allows you to keep a large history of email messages, limited only by the disk capacity of your device.The history of email messages you can keep is limited by your mailbox quota size on the mail server, although you can archive old messages and save them onto your local device manually.
Does not have a web interface, although some webmail providers, such as Yahoo, will let you check POP mail.Has a web interface. If you are using NCF Webmail, for example, you are using IMAP.
New messages are downloaded in their entirety. You cannot view your messages until they have been downloaded.Only the headers of new messages are displayed initially, so you can see all your mail faster. The full message, including attachments, is displayed only when you click on it.

Choose your preferred protocol accordingly. We recommend using IMAP as this leaves the data on the server and any deletions you make on your computer will also be synchronised to the server. You will need the following settings:

  • POP3/IMAP server name exchange.appsservers.net
  • SMTP server name exchange.appsservers.net
  • Username appsservers\ e.g. appsservers\joe.user
  • Password your username password as provided to you

Other important settings are detailed below:

  • The outgoing (SMTP) server requires authentication and uses the same settings as the incoming (POP3/IMAP) server.
  • The incoming mail server (IMAP/POP3) requires an encrypted connection
  • TLS: IMAP port 143; POP3 port 110
  • SSL: IMAP port 993; POP3 port 995
  • The outgoing (SMTP) server allows for unencrypted (None) or encrypted (TLS) connections. The default SMTP port is 25 but some ISPs (Internet Service Providers) block email on this port. Therefore we also allow connections on port 587.
  • None or TLS: SMTP port 25 or 587
  • Port numbers to use: Webmail Port numbers 80, 443

Depending on your particular email client (e.g. Outlook Express, Outlook, Windows Mail) mobile device (e.g. iOS, Android, Windows), these settings will be presented in different places in the email configuration. Your connection will fail unless you apply all the relevant settings as detailed above.

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