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How To Set Up iPhone Exchange ActiveSync

Started by sfoskett · 7 months ago

It’s finally here!  The iPhone now has most of the functions of the BlackBerry - over-the-air push and sync of Exchange email, contacts, and calendars!  Apple let the 2.0 OS out of the bag earlier today, and intrepid souls (and me) have taken the plunge and instal ... Continue reading »

25 comments

  • Mindy McAdams

    11 months ago

    Thanks so much for this, Stephen. It was a big help!

    One thing that did confuse me -- I did get the message from the iPhone that it could not verify my Exchange server. Now, a lot of Exchange servers have a domain like this:

    exchange.domainname.com

    However, many DO NOT. In my case, I thought I knew what the subdomain was, but it did not work in the iPhone.

    An e-mail to our IT folks got me the answer -- there is a re-direct from the subdomain I knew, and THAT didn't work.

    Just to be very clear ... I thought it was:

    abc.domainname.com

    But the real one was one letter different:

    abcd.domainname.com

    So if it's not working, just e-mail your IT guys and ask!
    reply
  • Pankaj Taneja

    11 months ago

    thanks for the very informative article. but the complications and limitations tempt me to stick with HyperOffice . it simply lets me access and organize my official and personal info (mail, contacts, calendars, tasks, docs) using the safari browser.
    reply
  • ebony90

    11 months ago

    I can't seem to get my exchange setup on my iPhone. I read through the post and nothing works. I tried the OWA url, the exchange server name, and several other options that I thought would be the activesync server name. Where exactly would I find the activesync server name? I looked through the settings on IIS server but still no success. Thanks for you help.

    ebony
    reply
  • Gui Ambros

    11 months ago

    wow, big thank you for this! Your description of how to find the Active Server was absolutely accurate: oma.company.com did the trick!

    now I'm happy exchange user :) Just not clear why AT&T wants to charge 15 bucks more for "exchange support".. are they going to charge me automatically?
    reply
  • rlcohen70

    11 months ago

    Great post.
    I have run into something wierd. I can send an email through the exchange set up, but I can't recieve any emails or sync anything up.
    Anyone have any ideas?
    I ahve also found it mattered what email address I entered into the email field. I have a number of alias and only one works to send email.

    my exchange when I log in via Pop is
    https://exchange2003.mycompany.com/exchange/
    In the iPhone (Ver 1) I enter
    exchange2003.mycompany.com

    I know I am talking with the server because I entered the password incorrectly and it accepts the right password.
    No calendar or contacts either..

    Thoughts?
    reply
  • cybbra@2k8

    11 months ago

    Wow, great description!

    Is it right, that I use the same email address as for my exchange mailbox (e. g. my company address)?

    Do my company need a extra server for ActiveSync or could they use only one exchange server to install ActiveSync on it? What is the best way for this (1 or 2 server(s)?

    How you can read, I don't have any know how of the ActiveSync funktion on Exchange, do you know a good website, where I can short but good infos?
    reply
  • sfoskett

    11 months ago

    rlcohen70,

    Sounds to me like you have the wrong server name set up, or the right name but the server isn't working. I think sending still uses SMTP - only receiving uses ActiveSync. But I could be wrong about this... Anyone know?
    reply
  • sfoskett

    11 months ago

    cybbra,

    Yes, you use your official company email address.

    I think they can use a single server for everything, and I know that some folks use the same server for OWA and ActiveSync. I'd say it depends on load - if your server can handle everything, why not use it?

    I found some information on TechNet (I'm a MS TechNet subscriber thanks to my MVP status) but information is rare. ActiveSync is a proprietary protocol - Apple had to license it from Microsoft. I'd start at Wikipedia and Google, I suppose...
    reply
  • roncan

    11 months ago

    Hello, I am in serious need of help setting up my Ipone 2.0 with my Exchange Server. My IT support guy doesn't seem to want to try to help either. I have 2003 Exchange Server. there are no other users that use a handheld, and I am using a Verizon Blackberry Worldphone and use Desktop Manager. It seems to get similar results on the iPhone i need to install activesync 2.5. What is that and is this really needed? My IT guru says "no way, don't install anything on My Server." (Of course it is not his, but he takes pride in authorship and of setting it up for me 4 years ago.)

    The settings I used work for the BlackBerry, (user name, password, exchange address,)but dont work with the iPhone.

    Can you add anything about inserting the user name in front of the server name with two \\between the 2 names?

    SMTP SERVER question.
    I am not sure if you allow two questions in one post and apologize for not knowing the rules, but....

    I set up my @comcast.net mail account a number of times. I now have 5 SMTP Comcast Servers that i cannot shut off or delete. last night Apple suggested i reset and delete all content. Two hours later it was done and i set up one comcast account and had one comcast SMTP server showing.

    Then I synced with the mac and all the smtp servers came back. How do I get rid of them.

    Thank you,
    roncan
    reply
  • http://chowyungfatso.blogspot.

    11 months ago

    Do you know if you can set up multiple Exchange Server accounts?
    reply
  • nesteban08

    10 months ago

    Where do I find the ActiveSync server name & the domain/user name on my computer?
    reply
  • sfoskett

    10 months ago

    I wrote a follow-up piece about guessing your ActiveSync server name (linked above), but it's not specified anywhere in particular.

    Sadly, the domain\username combo isn't listed in Outlook once you set it up initially - it just shows your long Exchange name, which is normally just your real name.

    You should be able to find both by calling your IT guy or checking whatever configuration docs might be available on your intranet...
    reply
  • charlie

    10 months ago

    Our hosted exchange setup is interesting, may be helpful to others. My username is different than my email address: un: charlie_blahblah.com vs charlie@blahblah.com. My domain address is different than my 'server address': mail07b.mailtrust.com vs. mail07b.mlsrvr.com. So in my domain\username setting on the iphone: mail07b.mlsrvr.com\charlie_blahblah.com
    reply
  • MikeS

    10 months ago

    Stephen,

    I can't thank you enough for the fabulous explanation on how to setup Exchange Server on the iPhone. After realizing that the exchange server was the http address everything worked great and I am now the proud owner of an iPhone with an Exchange account, which I desperately needed on my phone.
    reply
  • omegabk

    9 months ago

    Hello,

    I just followed your tuto, and I don't know how to retrieve My ActiveSync Server Name.
    I access owa like via IE this: https://IpServer/exchange but not works on Iphone.
    I've tried IpServer/Microsoft-Server-ActiveSync/ no way
    I'm mad!!
    Could you help me please?
    I can connect OWA on my safari's Iphone.

    Thank u
    reply
  • sfoskett

    9 months ago

    Omegabk,

    The fact that your server name doesn't have a fully-qualified domain name suggests that it only works inside your network or via a VPN. Can you, say, access that exchange server from IE while sitting in Starbucks without starting a VPN client? Probably not, and this is your problem. You need to either figure out your fully qualified OWA server name (and you might not have one) or use the iPhone's VPN support, which can be hit or miss and I don't have documented.

    Sorry!
    Stephen
    reply
  • sddjd

    8 months ago

    Stephen,
    I appreciate the consolidated info available via your pages on this issue. However, I'm beginning to suspect I/we have an iphone problem here.

    mail.company.com/exchange
    No access with domain\user or user
    No access with domain entered or not.
    No access using SSL or not.

    We've tried all possible variations of the above, attempting to connect to two different Exch servers (2003, one w/sp2, one w/sp1). Our iphones will not connect using exact same settings used by our WinMo devices (all iphones are 3G 2.1). The iphones sometimes fail, sometimes lock up when attempting to connect via wifi or 3G.

    Is there anything we haven't tried before we relegate the iphone to an "also ran" mobile device for our office? Thanks.
    reply
  • William Gill

    7 months ago

    I have just gone from O2 XDA 11 to and Iphone. How do I simply connect all my old contact etc. I do not want to use email I only wish to use phone, calender an contacts.

    Can someone help me?

    William Gill
    Sydney Australia
    reply
  • Tony C

    7 months ago

    Thanks man. Great article, it helped a lot!
    reply
  • John Ridge

    7 months ago

    Hi, Stephen. Do you know of any problems with push notification after the 2.2 update? The ActiveSync had been working great until then. Now, I can only get my email if I go into the account; mail is no longer pushed. I have read in various blogs that others are having the same problem, but their apparent solutions (deleting and reinstalling the account, soft/hard resets, etc) have not worked for me.

    Thanks in advance.

    J
    reply
  • sfoskett

    6 months ago

    I've had weird/intermittent problems with push, and especially calendar, ever since 2.0. Some have suggested that re-adding the Exchange server after an upgrade is a good idea, and that did seem to fix my issues after 2.1. So maybe this might help?
    reply
  • Albe

    3 months ago

    If you need to synchronize exchange server tasks and notes there is a new application available on AppStore. It's named Tasks'n Notes and you can find it here :

    http://www.itunes.com/app/tasksnnotes

    This is the application support page :

    http://www.basisinformationtechnology.com/tasks...
    reply
  • Monish

    2 months ago

    Awesome! The Exchange server setting had me stumped; this is a very clear explanation.

    Thanks
    reply
  • georgina

    1 month ago

    I have 2 iphone running 2.2 o/s and I have followed the instructions mention but still to no avail it will not work... Does the software on the iphone need to be 2.0 or can it be a more recent version.
    Where it falls over is once the mail account has been created it goes to verify and keeps comming back that the password is incorrect?....
    reply
  • Rutherford jr

    1 month ago

    If you want to access exchange server appointments, calendar, contacts and email on your ordinary mobile you can use a cool software called remosync...... i am using it on my regular phone from a year or so no problems with it.. you can download it here

    http://www.remoba.com/remosync.html
    reply

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