How to Setup a Mail Access Connection using OWA

Prepare your Mailbox for Remote Access

In order to make your mailbox accessible to your virtual assistant by phone, you have to make sure that your Exchange Server supports Outlook Web Access (OWA) and that you have the permission to access your e-mail account using this OWA protocol.

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Enter your OWA Username and Password

Enter the credentials that you use to access your Exchange Server 2000/2003 mailbox. The requested information should be tested on your mail account using Outlook Web Access from any Web browser.
  • User Name: This is your username to login to your mailbox with Outlook Web Access.
  • Password: This is your password to login to your mailbox with Outlook Web Access.

You may have to provide your Mail Server Name. This is the server host name or URL that you use for your Outlook Web Access sessions. It usually has the form of http://webmail.mycompany.com/exchange. Your service provider or system administrator can give you this information.

Note:Your personal data is treated with the strictest confidentiality. See Our Commitment to Protect your Privacyfor details regarding the privacy and security of your data.

Keep your Contacts on the Exchange Server

The virtual assistant has a special conduit to access and import your personal contacts from the "Contacts" folder of your Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. You can therefore build and update your voice directory using contacts from your Exchange Server 2003 as follows:
  • Click on Contacts to display the Contact Management page.
  • Click Import then choose how you want duplicates handled
  • Choose My Contacts are on my Mail Server (Exchange or Google) then select Exchange
  • Enter your Exchange Server address (URL) and password if needed, then click Import.

You can also import contacts from CSV files to build or update voice directory.  Go to Managing your Contacts on the Webfor more details.
 

FAQs about Exchange 2000/2003 Account Setup using OWA

How can I verify that my Exchange server URL is correct?

Here is a checklist of recommendations to help you validate that you have the correct Exchange server URL:
  1. Ask your network administrator. This is the easiest and fastest way to know your Exchange server URL.
  2. Open a web browser and type the Exchange server URL in the browser's address bar, then press Enter. If the URL is correct, you will see either your OWA account open up or an authentication window asking you to enter your username and password.
  3. If the URL to your inbox contains a username that is different from the one you use to login, then do the following:
    1. Open a web browser and go to your OWA.
    2. In the list of folders (left panel) in your OWA, place your mouse pointer over the Inbox folder.
    3. While your mouse pointer is over the inbox folder, take note of the URL displayed on the status bar of your browser (without the trailing #).
    4. In the Mail Access Connection setup window, enter the URL you noted in step 'c' as the mail server URL.

How can I verify that my mailbox credentials are correct?

Here is a checklist of recommendations to help you validate that you have the correct mailbox credentials. In this section we will use the following fictitious credentials for illustration:

Username: john.smith
Password: myPa$$word
Domain: mydomain
  1. Ask your network administrator. This is the easiest and fastest way to know your mailbox access parameters.
  2. Open a web browser and type the Exchange server URL in the browser's address bar, then press Enter. Once the authentication window is displayed, enter your username (john.smith) and password (myPa$$word). Enter your domain name (mydomain) if required to complete the authentication, and then click OK. If the credentials you entered are correct, then your OWA Account should open up.
  3. If the authentication window does not ask for a domain name, then we suggest that you try the following username combinations:
1. Username: john.smith
2. Username: mydomainjohn.smith
3. Username: john.smith@mydomain

What if the validation of my mailbox info keeps failing?

The mail access connection to your e-mail server will not be established and your assistant will not be able to access your mailbox and read you your e-mails, appointments or contacts. You should ask your mail service provider to give the information required to access your mail account using OWA.

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