Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync

Overview of Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync

Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync is a Microsoft Exchange synchronization protocol that's optimized to work together with high-latency and low-bandwidth networks. The protocol, based on HTTP and XML, lets mobile phones access an organization's information on a server that's running Microsoft Exchange.

Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync enables mobile phone users to access their email, calendar, contacts, and tasks, and to continue to access this information while they're working offline.

This guide will help you configure mail, contacts, and calendars offered by Qboxmail through different clients by using the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol.

This way, you will be able to always synchronize the email, address book and calendars in Webmail with all your computers, smartphones, and tablets compatible with the service.

The Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync service is only available for domains with Enterprise plan.

The advantage of using Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync is the simple configuration procedure on mobile devices and the Push notifications in real time for new emails and events in the calendar.

Essentials

• An active mailbox on Qboxmail;
• A domain with an Enterprise plan to access the Email Address Book and Calendar Sharing services;
• A client compatible with the EMicrosoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol.

To make the configuration of the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync service on your devices easier, we recommend activating Autodiscover on your domain following our guide.

Compatibility

• Microsoft Outlook (version 2013 or later);
• Microsoft app Mail/Contacts/Calendar included in Windows 10;
• Mozilla Thunderbird 68 (with downloadable TBSync plugin here and plug-in Provider for Exchange ActiveSync downloadable here);
• Android device;
• iPhone/iPad.

The creation of new calendars and address books is possible on compatible devices. If you wish to share them with other users, however, you must first set it up from Webmail. At that point, an event added via a compatible device will also appear on Webmail and vice versa.

Microsoft Outlook

Configuring an account in Microsoft Outlook using the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol to synchronize the emails, contacts and calendar with those present on Qboxmail is easy and fast.

To add an account using the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol, just follow the steps below:

• Open Control Panel;
• Click or search Mail;
• Click on the E-mail account ... button;
• A window will pop up on the screen. In the E-mail tab, choose New ...;
• Select Manual configuration or additional server types and confirm by clicking on Next;
• Choose Exchange ActiveSync and click Next.

A window will pop up on the screen. Fill in the fields to configure the connection to the server as indicated below:

• Name: Name of the account's user;
• Email address: account email address;
• Mail server: eas.qboxmail.com;
• Username: account email address;
• Password: the account password;
• Remember password: yes;
• Mail to keep offline: All.

Confirm by clicking on Next and close the connection test that will open automatically once the checks are completed. Finally, conclude the configuration by clicking on Finish.

If Outlook is open, conduct a first synchronization by closing Outlook and reopening it.

Microsoft Outlook support for Exchange ActiveSync does not include the Company Address Book (GAL) and Free-Busy. Besides, the contact synchronization is limited to the Personal Address Book only.

Microsoft Mail Contacts Calendar

You can configure an account in Microsoft Windows 10 using the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol to easily synchronize emails, contacts, and calendar with Qboxmail.

To add an account using the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol, follow the steps below:

• Open Microsoft Mail;
• Click on Account in the sidebar;
• Click on Add account;
• Choose Exchange from the list proposed;
• Enter the email address to configure and click Next;
• Enter the password and click Sign in;
• Enter the username and click Sign in;
• If an error popup is displayed, select Advanced.

In the window that will appear on the screen, fill in the necessary fields to set up the connection, as shown below:

• Username: the email address to add;
• Domain: empty;
• Server: eas.qboxmail.com;
• Check the option Server requires encrypted (SSL) connection.

Finally, confirm the data by clicking Sign in.

After adding the account, the first synchronization will begin automatically and the account just configured will also become available in the Contacts and Calendar Apps of your device.

Mozilla Thunderbird

You can configure an account in Mozilla Thunderbird using the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol in order to easily synchronize the contacts and the calendars from Qboxmail on your device.

To make Thunderbird compatible with the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol, you need to install the TbSync plugin and the Provider for Exchange ActiveSync. This will make the address books and calendars only available. However, POP/IMAP protocols must be used for the email. Once installed, follow the steps below to configure the account:

• Click on the TbSync: Idle item available in the Thunderbird window at the bottom-right side;
• Click on the Account actions button. Select Add new account and click on the item Exchange ActiveSync.

A window will pop up. Select Custom configuration and fill in the fields to connect to the server as shown below:

• Account name: provide a description for the connection;
• User name: email address of the account to configure;
• Password: the account password;
• Server address: eas.qboxmail.com.

Confirm the data entered by clicking on Add account. Once the account configuration window is closed, tick the box corresponding to the Enable and synchronize this account option.

Once the account is synchronized, you will see a summary of the resources that can be added to Thunderbird. Tick as many address books and calendars as you wish and synchronize them by clicking on the Synchronize now button.

By doing so, the selected address books and calendars will be visible in the respective sections of the client.

Android devices

It is possible to configure an account in Android using the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol in order to easily synchronize the contacts and the calendars from Qboxmail on your device.

To add an account using the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol, follow the steps below:

• Open Settings;
• Open Accounts and backups;
• Open Accounts;
• Select Add account from the list;
• Select Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync;
• Enter the email address to configure;
• Enter the account password;
• Click on Manual setup;
• Enter in Server Exchange: eas.qboxmail.com.

Confirm the settings by clicking on Sign in.

iPhone and iPad

It is possible to configure an account on iPhone or iPad using the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol in order to easily synchronize the contacts and the calendars from Qboxmail on your device.

To add an account using the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol, follow the steps below:

• Open Settings;
• Click on Mail;
• Click on Accounts and then on Add account;
• Select Microsoft Exchange.

A window will pop up on the screen. Enter the fields necessary for the connection as shown below.

• E-mail: the email address of the account to configure;
• Description: a description of the profile.

Confirm these fields by clicking on the Next button and then on Configure manually. Proceed by entering the password of the account to configure and clicking on Next.

In the next window, complete the configuration as shown below.

• Server: eas.qboxmail.com;
• Domain: empty;
• Username: email address.

To conclude, confirm the data by clicking on Next. After checking the resources to synchronize, finalize the account configuration by clicking on Save.

Limits of Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync

For your desktop, if you have a large mailbox, over 5,000 messages or 1GB of space used, IMAP is the protocol you should use for your email. For your calendars or contacts you can use any other of the sync protocols (such as CalDAV and CardDAV) but for your email, you should use IMAP. IMAP has push-like support with the IMAP IDLE process, which pushes new messages to your desktop client at a set interval.

If you are on a mobile device, EAS can be used, even with large mailboxes. The reason it works well on mobile devices, but not desktop clients like Outlook for Windows, is because mobile clients only ask for a set timeframe for synchronization, like a month of mail or less. It will not pull back all mail in your mailbox unlike Microsoft Outlook for Windows.