Last Updated: September 10, 2008  

Enhanced Features in the ITCS Exchange Service

ITCS listens to the campus community and has added the following enhancements to its Exchange Service.

Anonymous Calendar

Display Name

Exchange Active Sync for Mobile Clients

Calendar-Only User Mailbox

WANT A FEATURE? If there's a feature you would like us to consider, please contact the Exchange Support Team.

Anonymous Calendar

Publish web calendars that anyone can view without having to log in, such as an events calendar and conference room schedules.

Request the Anonymous Calendar feature by completing this online form. Setup information is available in Publishing a Calendar to the Web for Anonymous Access (Acrobat file).

END USER SETUP REQUIRED: To make the calendar viewable, the calendar owner must set the appropriate permissions as detailed in Publishing a Calendar to the Web for Anonymous Access (Acrobat file).

It's now possible to provide users with display names that identify them the way they prefer.

A User Display Name is an Active Directory attribute in the form "last_name, first_name" — "Jensen, Barbara." Because it's used as the primary lookup field in the Exchange Global Address List (GAL), the last name is placed before the first name. The Display Name comes from the official name information in the U-M Online Directory (UMOD).

The Display Name is also the user's e-mail name, and some users prefer their names to be a variant of their official name. With very few exceptions, this means changing the user's first name, but leaving the last name intact. For example, Barbara Jensen may prefer to be known as Barb Jensen.

Through Wolverine Access, most users can set their preferred name by themselves. However, in a few rare cases, this may not be possible.

Self Serve Departmental Systems Administrators are able to make the change (Acrobat file). Full Serve Admins, however, need to request the change through the normal order process.

For more information on changing the Display Name, including considerations for private users, see Changing the Display Name for Exchange Users (Acrobat file).

Some handheld devices — such as smartphones — can download e-mail, calendar and other data from the Exchange server. We provide this service at no additional charge.

The device must support the Exchange Active Sync protocol. Windows Pocket PC, Windows Mobile devices, and Palm devices running Versamail software can access Exchange. Blackberry and Goodlink services do not currently support Exchange Active Sync, but provide access to Exchange data through proprietary systems.

Devices using Windows Mobile 5.0 with the Messaging Security and Feature Pack have mandatory security settings imposed by the Exchange service.

END USER SETUP REQUIRED: Although end users need make no changes to their Exchange account, they do have to set up their mobile device (Acrobat file).

Some users may prefer to continue using their existing e-mail service but want to use an Exchange calendar. A Calendar-Only User Mailbox allows this.

This is an Exchange mailbox that has had some of its functionality removed through a combination of server- and client-side actions. Using a rule, e-mail messages are forwarded to the user's U-M e-mail service. Sys admins must show users how to recognize and properly respond to meeting requests; see End User Setup Required.

Self Serve Departmental Systems Administrators can create these mailboxes (Acrobat file). Full Serve Admins, however, need to request them through the normal order process.

Download the calendar-only-forms.rwz file to automatically insert the required rule.

NOTE: A Calendar-Only User Mailbox can be easily converted later into a full Exchange mailbox without data loss. Self Serve Departmental Systems Administrators can make the change themselves (Acrobat file). Full Serve Admins should request that the mailbox be upgraded to a User Mailbox.

END USER SETUP REQUIRED: Two very important aspects of the Calendar-Only User Mailbox must be handled by the user's department: client-side configuration of rules and training the user. Both are covered in Exchange Calendar-Only User Mailbox Configuration for System Administrators (Acrobat file), which is required reading for both Full Serve and Self Serve Admins. The same applies when converting a Calendar-Only User Mailbox to a full Exchange Mailbox.

For more information about our service or feedback about this site, send email to exchange.info@umich.edu.

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