Setting up Evolution 2.x or 1.4.6 for use with Thoughtbus

 

Introduction

Evolution provides an Outlook-like email client for Linux desktops. When used with the Exchange Connector, Evolution provides good connectivity to the Thoughtbus servers. (Note that it uses different protocols to communicate with the Thoughtbus servers; while Outlook uses RPC, Evolution uses WebDAV, SMTP, and LDAP instead.)  Evolution understands the Mail, Calendar, Contact, and Task items used in an Exchange environment, and it works well with Public Folders.  Well, it works with Public Folders.

 

Note: in our testing, we found the Evolution environment to be noticeably less stable and robust than Microsoft Outlook. Fortunately, any communication errors that Evolution has can be easily cleared up by exiting and re-starting the program.  However, it is possible that by using Evolution, some email items could get corrupted due to communication issues.  Furthermore, we have found the following limitations:

 

-          Public Folders can only be of type “Mail”.  That is, you cannot create public calendars, contact lists, or task lists within Evolution.

-          The shared calendar/contact function does not seem to work very well, but if you would like to try it, please let us know, as we need to make a minor change to the account that will be sharing the calendar.

-          If you are having trouble shutting down Evolution and need to do it manually, the pkill command may not be adequate.  In addition to the “Evolution” process, the “Evolution Data Server” and “Evolution Exchange” processes may still be in memory.  Grep for the string “evol” in the process list and you will see them.

 

We have tested the following software versions:

 

-          Ximian/Novell Evolution 1.4.6, 2.4.1

-          Exchange Connector 1.4.6, 2.4.1

 

Due to the many variables involved, we cannot offer “official” support for Ximian/Novell Evolution.  However, if you are trying to set up a Linux/Evolution environment for use with Thoughtbus’s Hosted Exchange service and are having trouble, please give us a call and we will work with you until we find a suitable resolution to any problem you might be having.

 

Installation of Evolution varies from distribution to distribution.  Certain distributions, such as the latest versions of Ubuntu, Novell, and SuSE, have Evolution preloaded.  You may have to download or install the Exchange Connector if it is not included.  For some versions, you may have compile Evolution from source.  This is too broad a topic to be covered here, so for our purposes we will assume that you have a properly-installed version of Evolution, and the corresponding Exchange Connector.

 

 

 

Setup of your Thoughtbus mailbox within Evolution 2.2 or higher

 

 

1.   In setting up Evolution 2.2 and higher, when you first start Evolution up, the Setup Assistant will run automatically.  For subsequent account setups, the Setup Assistant can be accessed through the “Edit / Preferences” menu.

     

      The first page of the Setup Assistant is:

 

 

2. Click “Forward”

 

 

3. Fill out the fields as shown above and click “Forward”

 

 

4. Here, select as the Server Type “Microsoft Exchange”.  Enter your Thoughtbus Username (for example, if your primary SMTP address is AlexY@mumu.org, you'll most likely enter 'AlexY' here), and type in the OWA Url as shown above.  Click Authenticate to verify the proper connection.  You will be prompted for your password.  Enter the password and check the “Remember password” box.

 

 

5. Here, for the Global Catalog Server name, type in “imail.Thoughtbus.com” and click “Forward”.  Your account is now set up.

 

 Logon to Thoughtbus Mailbox

 

1.       In order to view your Thoughtbus mailbox, verify the ‘Folders’ pane is displayed – if it is not, select the ‘View / Folder Bar’ menu option. Then press the 'plus' symbol to the left of the account name you chose (for example 'My Thoughtbus Mailbox'). You will then be prompted for your password:

 

2.       Enter your Thoughtbus password and press 'OK'.   You should now see 3 additional folders within the main Evolution window:

 

3.       Your Thoughtbus Mailbox is contained in the 'Personal Folders' folder. (Please don't be confused – Microsoft Outlook refers to a .PST file as a 'Personal Folders' file, while here the 'Personal Folders' file is your mailbox on the Thoughtbus server.)

4.       Your Thoughtbus account is now setup on Evolution. You can expand your mailbox or the 'Public Folders' to view the folders and items within.  You can select the 'Global Address List' and search for mailboxes based on their ‘display names’.   You can send and receive email. You can work with contact, task, calendar, and email items. Enjoy!

 

 

Setup of Thoughtbus Mailbox within Evolution 1.4.6

 

Option A – if this is the first email account you set up within Evolution

 

1.       Start the Evolution program.  If it is not in your desktop environment's menu system, you can start the program by running 'evolution' from a shell.

2.       When you start Evolution with no email accounts configured, the 'Evolution Setup Assistant appears:

 

3.       Press the 'Forward' button to display the 'Identity' window:

 

4.       Enter the information as described above. The Email address you enter should be the primary SMTP address for your mailbox.  Then press 'Forward'.

5.       In the first 'Receiving Mail' window, change the 'Server Type' from 'None' to 'Microsoft Exchange':

 

6.       Enter the following information, then press 'Forward':

a.       Exchange Server: imail.Thoughtbus.com

b.      Windows Username: Enter 'ENOMIA\' followed by your username – for example, if your primary SMTP address is AlexY@mumu.org, you'll enter 'ENOMIA\AlexY' here.

c.       Change the 'Authentication Type' from 'Secure Password' to 'Plaintext Password'.

7.       In the second 'Receiving Mail' window, check the check-box to 'automatically check for new mail every 10 minutes':

 

8.       Also make the following entries, then press 'Forward':

a.       Global Catalog server name: imail.Thoughtbus.com

b.      Mailbox name: concatenate your Thoughtbus username with your organization's domain name – for example, if your primary SMTP address is AlexY@mumu.org, you'll enter 'AlexYmumu.org' here.

c.       Public Folder server: imail.Thoughtbus.com

9.       In the 'Sending Mail' window, accept the default 'Server Type' of 'Microsoft Exchange':

 

10.   Press the 'Forward' button to view the 'Account Management' window:

 

11.   Select a name and enter it here. We recommend leaving the 'Make this my default account' check-box checked so that email that you send in Evolution will originate from this mailbox.

12.   Press 'Forward' again to view the 'Timezone' window. Select your time zone and press 'Forward'.

13.   This brings you to the 'Done' window. Press 'Apply' to save your settings:

 

14.   When you press 'Apply', Evolution starts with the 'Summary' view.

 

Option B – if you have other email account(s) set up within Evolution

 

1.       From the main window of Evolution, select the ‘Tools / Settings…’ menu option. This displays the ‘Evolution Settings’ window. By default, the ‘Summary Settings’ tab may display. Scroll up the list to the ‘Mail Accounts’ tab:

 

2.       Press the ‘Add’ button. This displays the ‘Evolution Account Assistant’ window:

 

3.       The ‘Evolution Account Assistant’ is identical in function to the ‘Evolution Setup Assistant’.  Therefore, continue with Step #3 in the above ‘Option A’.

 

(end of procedure)