Exchange 2007 FAQ

In order to change you Thoughtbus password, please use the Outlook Web Access interface. (It cannot be done with the standard Outlook client.) Logon to Outlook Web Access by browsing to https://mail.thoughtbus.com. After logging into your Thoughtbus mailbox, choose “Options”, in the upper-right corner of the screen:

Once you click the “Options” button, you’ll see the following screen, on the left side of which is the “Change Password” option. Click this, and you’ll see an area where you’re prompted for your old and new passwords:

Once you’ve filled in these fields, click “Save”, and you should be all set.

How can I tell how much space I’m using in my Thoughtbus Exchange mailbox?

Using Microsoft Outlook, you can see the amount of space that your mailbox is using on the Thoughtbus server by right-clicking on your top-level mailbox (the one that’s marked “Mailbox - <your name>”), choosing “Properties”, clicking the “Mailbox Size” button, and then selecting the ‘Server Data’ tab.

How do I import a .pst file to my Thoughtbus mailbox?

If you have been using Microsoft Outlook before you signed up for Thoughtbus service, and you want to import your mail, Calendar, and Contacts into your Thoughtbus mailbox, you can do this by locating the Personal Folders (.pst) file that contains your information, and import it to your Thoughtbus mailbox using the “File / Import and Export” function within Outlook. This brings up the following window (screenshots are from Outlook 2003 but are the equivalent in Outlook 2007):

Select ‘Import from another program or file’ and press ‘Next’. In the ‘Import a File’ window, scroll down and choose the “Personal Folder File” option and press ‘Next’.

In the ‘Import Personal Folders’ window, specify the location of your .pst file. Choose how you would like duplicates to be handled and press ‘Next’.

Now, choose what you want to import. In order to import everything you have stored in Outlook (Contacts, Calendar, etc.), choose the top-level folder that is (most likely) listed as “Personal Folders”, check the box that says “Include subfolders”, and have the items import into the same folder in your Thoughtbus mailbox.

Click ‘Finish’, and the import process will begin, after which your old mail (and anything else you chose to import) will be in your Thoughtbus mailbox.

NOTE: Before performing the above procedure, please check the size of the .pst file, and the remaining space in your Thoughtbus mailbox, to ensure that importing the .pst file will not result in your mailbox reaching its size limit. For example, if your mailbox limit is 1 GB, and you determine (via FAQ item #2 above) that your mailbox currently uses 600 MB, and when you view the properties of the .pst file, you find it is 700 MB, then the .pst file will likely fill your Thoughtbus mailbox. If this happens you would be unable to send or receive emails, so in this case we recommend paring down the information to be imported – you could move some information to another .pst file before importing the first .pst file to your mailbox, for example.

Why does Outlook Web Access keep prompting me for my username?

When you logon to Outlook Web Access in the default “This is a public or shared computer” mode, the timeout period is very short; approximately 15 to 30 minutes. So, if you do not use Outlook Web Access for this period of time, the next time you use Outlook Web Access, you’ll be prompted for your username and password again. This is a security precaution to prevent unauthorized access to your mailbox if you’re using a computer that is accessed by many people. If you choose the “This is a private computer” option at the Outlook Web Access logon screen, Outlook Web Access will take 24 to 36 hours to timeout.

I deleted something from “Deleted Items” accidentally. Can it be recovered?

If you delete something from your “Deleted Items” folder, you can still restore it for up to 7 days by choosing “Tools – Recover Deleted Items”. Beyond that amount of time, we would need to perform a mailbox restore to recover the item. Please work with your organization’s Thoughtbus administrator to request the restore of a mailbox.

How do I use a shared mailbox folder with Outlook Web Access?

To access the mailbox, you’ll need to use a specific URL, in the following format:

https://mail.thoughtbus.com/exchange/<other user’s full email address>/?cmd=contents&f=<folder>

So, if you work at “company.com” and Mary Smith has assigned you as a delegate for her “Contacts” folder, your URL might look like this:

https://mail.thoughtbus.com/exchange/marysmith@company.com/?cmd=contents&f=Contacts

You will be prompted for your username and password, after which you will be granted access to Mary Smith’s Contacts folder. Please note that you can be logged into your own mailbox as well via Outlook Web Access, in a separate window.

How do I share a mailbox folder to be used in Outlook Web Access?

Once you have shared the folder you want to share (Calendar, Contacts, etc.), and have designated the person with whom it should be shared, you’ll need to set some permissions on the mailbox itself. In the Outlook folder list, right-click on “Mailbox – Name”, and choose “Properties:

Then, choose the “Permissions” tab, add the name of the person with whom the folder is being shared, and check the “Folder Visible” box:

Then click “Ok”, to finish up.

How do I correct the Outlook 2007 error ‘Not downloading Offline address book files. A server (URL) could not be located’?

This error can be fixed by running the Thoughtbus Outlook 2007 Setup Helper.

Click here to run the Thoughtbus Outlook 2007 Setup Helper.

In the Outlook 2007 Setup Helper, enter your primary Thoughtbus email address, and then click the “Add Thoughtbus ‘autodiscover’” button. Close the window and restart Outlook, and you should no longer see the error.

How do I update my ‘hosts’ file for the ‘autodiscover’ service if I’m on a Mac?

The following document from Apple’s support site explains how to modify your “hosts” file:

http://support.apple.com/kb/TA27291?viewlocale=en_US

If not using the NetInfo tool, add this line to the end of your /etc/hosts file:

64.128.160.136 autodiscover.insert_your_domain_name_here.com

How do I upgrade to Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition?

The full procedure for upgrading is on our main support site, at http://www.thoughtbus.com/customer_support/SetupConnection/Procedure-Entourage-2008-EWS.html

I need to increase the storage limits on a mailbox. How?

If you are your organization’s Thoughtbus administrator, you can increase the storage limits on a mailbox from within the Thoughtbus Administration Console, at http://mail.thoughtbus.com/adminconsole. After logging in, you can select the user’s mailbox, click “Edit”, and then click “Packages”, where you’ll be able to modify mailbox settings.

How do I add a new user to my organization?

If you are your company’s Thoughtbus administrator, you can add a new user to your organization through the Thoughtbus Administration Console, by clicking the “New User” button.

How do I send email to Public Folders?

If you want a Public Folder to be able to receive email, please email or call Thoughtbus Support and we will set it up for you. This feature is not enabled by default.

What are all these permissions on my Public Folders?

If you look through the permissions on your Public Folders, you will see a number of Thoughtbus service accounts. Do not remove these, as they are required for maintenance and backup purposes. In addition, please do not change the ‘Default’ group from a role of ‘None’, as this group consists of all users of Thoughtbus hosted Exchange – not just your organization. The ‘…DELADMIN…’ group consists of the administrator(s) of your organization. The ‘…OU_USERS…’ group consists of all the users within your organization’s main container in the Thoughtbus Administration Console.

How can I add a SharePoint user without adding an Exchange mailbox?

If your organization has a Thoughtbus hosted SharePoint site, and you want to add a new person to the site, but you don’t want to create an Exchange mailbox, just add the person in the Thoughtbus Administration Console, but do not subscribe them to a package. (In the Admin Console after you create the User, a window titled ‘Auto-Subscribe a Package’ appears. Press the ‘Cancel’ button in this window to avoid subscribing to a package.) Once you’ve created the User in the Admin Console, you can add the User to the SharePoint site, via the ‘Site Settings / Manage Users’ link.

How do I set up my DNS for the ‘autodiscover’ service?

To do this, you’ll need to be able to modify your organization’s DNS records, or at least the DNS records of the email domain(s) of your primary email addresses. Create a new “CNAME” record for a host called “autodiscover”, and point it to autodiscover.thoughtbus.com.

For example:

Bob Jones works at Company ABC, and his email address is bob@companyabc.com. So Bob logs into his DNS provider’s configuration website (or he contacts his systems administrator to request the change), and creates a new “CNAME” record for autodiscover.companyabc.com and points it to the hostname autodiscover.thoughtbus.com.

By setting up your DNS for the ‘autodiscover’ service, you'll provide organization-wide support for:

Features enabled via AutoDiscover:	Outlook 2007	Entourage 2008 (pre-WSE)	Entourage 2008 WSE	MacMail on Snow Leopard
Free/busy lookup	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Out-of-Office wizard	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Offline Address Book	Yes	No	No	No
Auto account setup	Yes	No	Yes	Yes

An alternative to configuring the DNS entry for ‘autodiscover’ for Outlook 2007 is to run the Thoughtbus Outlook 2007 Setup Helper each time an Outlook Profile is added to another PC. For Entourage 2008 and MacMail on Snow Leopard, an alternative to this is to edit the ‘hosts.’ file on the Macintosh, adding a line reading “64.128.160.136 autodiscover.<your domain name>” – please see the Exchange 2007 FAQ entry on editing Mac hosts files for more information on this.