Difference between Exchange and IMAP tabs when setting up a mail account

Question

Difference between Exchange and IMAP tabs when setting up a mail account

I understand that for iPhone to communicate with Exchange, IMAP access is required:

"Exchange email accounts must be configured for IMAP to work with iPhone" (from the iPhone user guide)

My questions is, what (exactly) is the difference between the IMAP and Exchange tabs when setting up a mail account on the iPhone? I have it working with secure IMAP inbound (port 993) and SMTP outbound (port 25) on my Exchange Server 2003 server; however I would like to know the difference between plain "IMAP" and "Exchange" in the iPhone configuration.

Searching the forums has revealed lots of people asking how to set up IMAP on Exchnage (Microsoft documentation would seem a good place to start), but I don't seem to be able to answer this question.

If anybody knows the answer, I'd be most grateful. One post suggested that there is no difference; however I can't imagine Apple cluttering the interface with an option if there is an existing feature that's identical!

Mac Mini Core Duo 1.66GHz, Mac OS X (10.4.10), 2GB RAM, Fujitsu-Siemens S20-1W 20" TFT display, Toshiba 320GB external HDD

Posted on Nov 12, 2007 12:55 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 12, 2007 1:23 PM in response to Mark A Wilson

If you configure an Exchange account as an Exchange type the iPhone will take the settings from the Outlook application on the computer you sync to. If you set it up as IMAP you will have to enter the settings. For me Exchange doesn't work; it only retrieves headers, not message bodies. I don't know why. But if I set it up as IMAP it works fine.

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Answer 2

Nov 12, 2007 1:30 PM in response to Lawrence Finch

Thanks for answering Lawrence. I'm not using Outlook as the computer I sync with is running Mac OS X with Office for Mac 2004, but guess it considers Outlook and Entourage to be the same.

I'm still a little bit confused when you say "takes the settings" as most Outlook clients are not configured for IMAP (MAPI-RPC is the native protocol, although some may use HTTP-RPC) and mine didn't seem to take any settings automatically - I had to set it up manually on the iPhone.

Cheers, Mark

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Answer 3

Nov 12, 2007 1:39 PM in response to Mark A Wilson

You are correct about MAPI-RPC or HTTP. The mail settings (I assume server name and ports) get synced from Outlook (or Entourage), which I think is the problem = the settings I enter for Exchange are modified after a sync. Use whatever works, however. It took a lot of fiddlng to get my 4 email accounts working.

BTW, my Outlook uses HTTP. Get through client firewalls better.

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