Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync

Introduction to Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync

Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync is an Exchange synchronization protocol optimized for compatibility with high-latency and low-bandwidth networks. The protocol, based on HTTP and XML, allows mobile phones to access business information on a server running Microsoft® Exchange.

Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync allows mobile users to access email, calendar, contacts, and tasks, and to continue accessing this information even offline.

In this guide, we will configure several clients to access the email, address book, and calendar services offered by Qboxmail using the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol.

This way, you can keep the email, address book, and calendars in Webmail synchronized with all your devices compatible with the service.

What you need

• An active email mailbox on Qboxmail
• A domain with an Enterprise plan to access Email, Address Book, and Calendar sharing services
• A client compatible with the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol

Compatibility

Although many clients are compatible with the ActiveSync protocol, not all of them can handle it correctly, especially if the mailbox is large, where large is a number that varies depending on the email client.

For ActiveSync to work properly, we recommend using it only on mobile devices.

• Microsoft Outlook from version 2013 onward
• Microsoft Mail Contacts Calendar app included in Windows 10
• Mozilla Thunderbird 68 (with the TBSync plugin downloadable here and the Provider for Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync plugin downloadable here)
• Android devices
• iPhone and iPad with iOS

New calendars and address books can be created directly from compatible devices; to share them with other users, however, you must first set sharing from Webmail. An event added from a compatible device will also be visible in Webmail and vice versa.

Microsoft Outlook

You can configure an account in Microsoft Outlook using the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol to synchronize emails, contacts, and calendar entries with those on Qboxmail quickly and easily.

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

• Open the Control Panel
• Click or search for Mail
• Click the Email Accounts… button
• In the window that opens, in the Email tab, choose New…
• Select Manual setup or additional server types and confirm by clicking Next
• Choose Exchange ActiveSync and click Next

In the window that opens, fill in the fields to configure the connection to the server

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

Confirm by clicking Next and close the connection test that opens automatically once the checks are complete. Finish the configuration by clicking Finish.

If Outlook is open, force an initial synchronization by closing and reopening it.

Microsoft Mail Contacts Calendar

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

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

• Open Microsoft Mail
• Click Accounts in the sidebar
• Click Add account
• In the list shown, choose Exchange
• Enter the email address to configure and click Next
• Enter the password and click Sign in
• Enter the user name and click Sign in
• If an error popup appears, select Advanced

In the window that appears, fill in the fields required for the connection

• User name: the email address to add
• Domain: empty
• Server: eas.qboxmail.com
• Select the option Server requires encrypted (SSL) connection

Confirm the data by clicking Sign in

After adding the account, the first synchronization will start and the configured account will also be available in the Contacts and Calendar apps.

Mozilla Thunderbird

You can configure an account in Mozilla Thunderbird using the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol to synchronize contacts and calendar entries with those on Qboxmail quickly and easily.

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 only address books and calendars available; for mail, you must still use the POP/IMAP protocols. Once installed, follow these steps to configure the account:

• Click TbSync: Idle in the Thunderbird window at the bottom right
• Click the Account actions button, select Add new account, and click Exchange ActiveSync

In the window that opens, select Custom configuration and fill in the fields to connect to the server.

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

Confirm the entered data by clicking Add account. Once the account configuration window is closed, select the checkbox for the Enable and synchronize this account option.

Once the account is synchronized, you will see a summary of the resources you can add to Thunderbird. Select the desired address books and calendars and synchronize them by clicking the Synchronize now button.

By doing so, the selected Address Books and Calendars will be visible in the corresponding sections of the client.

Android devices

You can configure an account on an Android device using the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol to synchronize emails, contacts, and calendar entries with those on Qboxmail quickly and easily.

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

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

Confirm the entered settings by clicking Sign in

iPhone and iPad

You can configure an account on iPhone or iPad using the Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync protocol to synchronize emails, contacts, and calendar entries with those on Qboxmail quickly and easily.

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

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

In the window that appears, enter the fields required for the connection

• Email: the email address of the account to configure
• Description: a description for the profile

Confirm the entered fields by clicking the Next button and clicking Configure Manually. Continue by entering the password of the account to configure and clicking Next.

In the next window, complete the configuration

• Server: eas.qboxmail.com
• Domain: empty
• User name: email address

Confirm the data by clicking Next. After selecting the resources to synchronize, confirm adding the account by clicking Save.

Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync limitations

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

If you use a mobile device, Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync can also be used with large mailboxes. The reason it works well on mobile devices, but not on desktop clients such as Outlook for Windows, is that mobile clients only request a set time range for synchronization, for example one month of mail or less. Your smartphone will not download all the mail in your mailbox, unlike Microsoft Outlook for Windows.