Outlook Web Access (FAQ)
From ctowiki
Outlook Web Access is a website made for accessing your WSU Connect! account from any web browser. There are two views to Outlook Web Access, Premium (for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 and 7) and Basic (for browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari).
General
What are the differences between OWA and the Outlook 2003 client?
A feature comparison between the Outlook Web Access (OWA) interface and Outlook 2003 client can be found at the Microsoft Exchange Server site. The Internet Explorer browser versions 5.01 and above for Windows will use OWA Premium while all other browsers will use OWA Basic.
What is the default timeout for inactivity in OWA?
The default timeout for the "Public or Shared Computer" security setting is 15 minutes. The default timeout for the "Private Computer" setting is 24 hours.
I receive the error "HTTP/1.1 500 Internal Server Error" when I try to login to OWA.
You will receive this error if you do not have an account on the Exchange server. For more information on creating an account, please read the Creating a Connect! Account tutorial.
How do I check my shared/departmental account using OWA?
You will need to log directly into your own personal account by typing your Domain\user name (e.g NID) and your Password (e.,g NID password) then click on the Log On button.
Once you are logged in, position the cursor at the end of the URL at the top of the screen (e.g., https://email.wsu.edu/exchange/ ) and type the 'Reply To' address for your shared/departmental account if there is one (e.g., https://connect.wsu.edu/exchange/clas-history) and press enter. If there is not a 'Reply To' address associated with the account, then type the account name (e.g., https://connect.wsu.edu/exchange/history) and press enter. You are now logged into your shared/departmental account.
Note: If you are not sure if you have a 'Reply To' address, look for your account in the GAL (Global Address List). Double-click to view the properties and choose the 'Email Addresses' tab. Check the 'SMTP:' address and whatever is displayed before the @ symbol is the name that you should use to access your shared account. (e.g., SMTP:clas-history@wsu.edu or SMTP:history@wsu.edu).
Can I act as a delegate using OWA?
Note: To take advantage of "full" delegate rights, a delegate should use the Outlook 2003 client.
A delegate may respond to meeting requests (accept, decline, etc.) on behalf of someone-meeting notifications will arrive in the OWA Inbox .
A delegate can also view (with permissions) another person's calendar, but cannot make any changes to the calendar. As a delegate, you need to first login to OWA with your own account and then add the following to the end of the URL: Name/calendar (e.g., email.wsu.edu/exchange/Name/calendar), where "Name" is either the person's alias or NID. You can use Outlook to locate the person in the Global Address List, select "Properties", and click on the "Email Addresses" tab. Then verify the "Name" in front of @wsu.edu (e.g., smtp:jane-doe@wsu.edu OR smtp:jdoe@wsu.edu) and use it in place of "Name".
Does OWA (Outlook Web Access) use the same Contacts list as the desktop client?
Yes, both the personal contacts and Global Address List are accessible.
How do I send to a distribution list that is in a Public Folder using OWA?
There is no way to do this using OWA. Microsoft has acknowledged that it is a problem and recommends using an Outlook client as a work-around. See http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;192775&Product=out2003 for more information.
Is there a limit to the number of addresses that I can add to the blocked senders list?
Yes, the maximum number of blocked senders in OWA is set to 1024 addresses. Blocked sender addresses are added using the Manage Junk Email Lists option. If you exceed the size limit you will receive the message "An error occurred processing your Junk Email list. You are over the size limit allowed at the server. Contact your server administrator."
Note: The Outlook 2003 client is not restricted by this size limit.
When I start a new message in OWA and click 'To...' to select a Distribution List from my Contacts, OWA can't find the Distribution List. Why?
Cannot use Find Names in OWA to locate a Distribution List
Issue: If you start a new message, click the To... button, and select your Contacts folder-if you enter the name of a Distribution List in the "Display name" field and click the Find button, OWA returns "No entries were found."
Contact List Recipients Are Not Listed When You Use the Find Names Dialog Box in OWA (Microsoft Knowledge Base article 820280)
Workarounds: Start a new message, enter the name of the distribution list, and click the Check Names button. Or you can select Contacts, open the distribution list you want to send to, and then click the Send mail to list button.
When I try to send a message to multiple recipients, I get this message: Microsoft Outlook Web Access does not recognize "address,address". Why?
If you are typing more than one address in the To:, Cc:, or Bcc: fields, you must separate each address with a semicolon. If you use a comma to separate addresses, you will receive an error message.
When I try to send a message to multiple recipients, I get this message: One of the recipients can't be resolved. Why?
If you are typing more than one address in the To:, Cc:, or Bcc: fields, you must separate each address with a semicolon. If you use a comma to separate addresses, you will receive an error message.
Calendar
Can I set my calendar to display in other than 30 minute increments?
You can manually enter any time in OWA Premium, but there is not a way in OWA Basic.
Can I delete one meeting in a group of recurring meetings?
Open the event that you want to delete, select Open the occurrence and click OK. Click the Delete (X) button.
What happens if I have a "tentative" appointment on my calendar and then I delete the email notification without accepting the appointment?
If you delete the email notification before you accept the "tentative" appointment, it will also delete the appointment from your calendar.
How do I create an activity to block the entire day?
When you create a New Appointment, you can click the All Day Event box, enter a "Subject" (text of your "note"), and then save it. It appears in the grey area at the TOP of the Calendar window. By default, an All Day Event does not show your calendar as busy. However, you can change the Show Time As option to Busy and then your entire day will display as busy.
I have set my free/busy options in Outlook 2003 to publish 36 months of calendar information but only three months are displayed. Why?
Even though you have set free/busy publishing to 36 months using Outlook 2003, the amount of calendar information published to the free/busy public folder is three months when using OWA. The amount for OWA is set on the server and cannot be changed. Be aware that your calendar information is published to the free/busy public folder whenever you create, delete or accept a calendar appointment request or change the begin or end time of a calendar appointment.. If you use OWA to view your calendar and do not make any changes that affect appointment times then your free/busy information will not be affected.
In order to resolve this situation, it is necessary to re-publish your calendar information using Outlook 2003. This can be done by creating an appointment for yourself on the calendar as soon as you return to the office.
Can a delegate force the free/busy information to update after the user has used OWA?
No. Access has to be from the user's Outlook client.
When I view my calendar with OWA, I don't see my appointments, but they are visible with the Outlook client. Why?
If your Exchange account is configured to store messages, calendar items, contacts, etc. in a Personal Folder (.pst file), then you will only be able to view your appointments when using the Outlook client, since Personal Folder data is stored on either your hard drive or on a network drive (H:\exchange). In order to view your calendar data from both Outlook and OWA, you need to store your data (calendar items, messages, etc.) on the Exchange server. To change your account configuration to the Exchange server, launch Outlook, select Tools/Email Accounts , click Next , in the "Deliver new email to the following location:" pull-down menu, select Mailbox - username (NID) and click Finish.
My resource is set to Automatically accept meeting requests... yet I find some meeting requests in the resource Inbox - Why?
If someone schedules a resource using OWA, the meeting request will "sit" in the Resource Inbox until the Resource Owner accepts it. OWA does not support direct booking of resources.
When I travel to another time zone (e.g., Mountain time) all my appointments display in that time zone rather than Washington time?
The OWA Premium client will convert times to reflect the local time zone. To see meeting times based on a different time zone, change the current time zone setting under the OWA 'Options' page.
Do I have to accept a meeting for it to appear on my calendar?
You need to select either "Accept" or "Tentative" in the notification in order for the meeting to appear on your calendar.
How do I view someone else' calendar via OWA?
When you schedule a meeting in OWA and choose to invite attendees to the meeting, you can display the free/busy information for the attendees.
Contacts
What is the difference between the Personal Address Book and the Contacts folder?
The Personal Address Book was available in previous versions of Outlook. If you upgrade to Outlook 2003 from a previous version and have an existing Personal Address Book, Outlook will prompt to import the entries in the Personal Address Book to the Contacts folder and then remove the Personal Address Book. Note: We recommend that you use the Contacts folder rather than the Personal Address Book.
Where are my Contacts stored?
Your Contacts folder is stored on the Exchange server. You can access your Contacts via the Outlook 2003 client or the OWA (Outlook Web Access).
How can I add an email address in a message to my Contacts folder?
Right-click on the person icon in the "From:" field and select Add to Outlook contacts from the menu. Make any additions or changes to the contact data and then select Save and Close.
Directly from an email, how can I add multiple email addresses to a Distribution List?
While in the email message, copy the names displaying in the To or Cc fields. Then choose File/New/Distribution List. In the ' Name' box, type a name for the distribution list. Click the 'Select Members'. In the 'Add to distribution list' 'Members' box, paste in the names. Click the OK button.
Is there a limit to the number of contacts I can have in a distribution list?
Yes, there is a size limit to distribution lists. It is based on the size of contacts, not the number of contacts. If you use the very basic information for contacts (for example, only the name and the email address), your distribution list limit may be 125 to 130 contacts. So, if you have a lot of information for each of your contacts, you will have fewer addresses per list. For more information see: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;238569&Product=out
Tasks
Portions of this document courtesy of the University of Iowa