MAPI? What the heck is that?

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Level 1

17 points

MAPI? What the heck is that?

At work I was just upgraded to Windows 7. Also, we're using a different email system, and so someone set up my computer for that. Now I want to be able to read my work email on my home computer (Mac) with Mail, as I have in the past. So when I go to the account settings in Outlook, it tells me that the account type is MAPI, which I've never heard of before (only a mild surprise there) and which doesn't seem to be an option in Mail (much more disturbing surprise).

So, I think my question is, what do I do?

--Dave

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Jul 15, 2010 2:16 PM

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Answer 1

Asatoran

Level 4

2,532 points

Jul 15, 2010 2:53 PM in response to Dave Slaven

MAPI is the protocol normally used for Microsoft Exchange email servers. OSX Mail, iCal and Address Book can all connect to Exchange 2007 servers. So choose Exchange when configuring your OSX apps.

That said, it has to be Exchange 2007. I've had limited success with connecting the OSX apps to Exchange 2003. (Mail will be received, but I can't send.) So if you office is not using Exchange 2007, you may have to get Microsoft Entourage. Entourage is MS' Outlook equivalent for Mac, although it doesn't seem to have all the capabilities of Outlook. I'm not sure if you can get Entourage separately from MS Office. And the version of Entourage that's included in the cheaper versions of Office can NOT connect to an Exchange server. (I think you need to get [Business Edition|http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/office2008/shop-now.mspx] to get Exchange connectivity. Correct me if I'm wrong.)

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Answer 2

Dave Slaven Author

Level 1

17 points

Jul 15, 2010 4:17 PM in response to Asatoran

So far, so good. The next problem was finding the mail server names (since that doesn't seem to actually appear anywhere in Outlook) but I managed to track it down. Thanks.

--Dave

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