Exchange Accounts
- Where can I find more information on ITCS Exchange accounts?
- I am having trouble accessing my Exchange account using Microsoft Outlook from my home and off-campus. Why is this?
- How can I access my Exchange account without using Microsoft Outlook or Entourage?
- What is my Exchange quota? How do I determine and manage my quota usage?
- How do I export all of the messages/folders in my Exchange account to a file?
- I accidentally deleted a message/folder in Outlook? How can I get it restored?
- How do I view someone else's Exchange calendar using Outlook Web Access?
- Where can I get information and support on connecting my BlackBerry device to the ITCS Exchange server?
Where can I find more information on ITCS Exchange accounts?
ITCS operates the Exchange server at U-M. They provide instructions for the Exchange service at:
Questions or problems related to Exchange accounts should be sent to: exchange-support@umich.edu
I am having trouble accessing my Exchange account using Microsoft Outlook from my home and off-campus. Why is this?
In most cases, this is due to restrictions put in place by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). The blocking of certain ports is a common tactic used by ISP's to stop the spread of worms/viruses to vulnerable computers on their networks. In addition to blocking these worms, Windows file sharing, Microsoft Exchange email & calendaring, and other U-M services are also blocked.
In order to bypass these restrictions and access your Exchange account, there are several options as described at:
U-M set up a remote VPN connection service. This service provides a secure way for U-M faculty and staff to connect to the U-M network from off-campus, and obtain access to campus resources. See this page for more information:
If you are not able to use the VPN, or you prefer not to, it is possible to configure Microsoft Outlook to access the U-M Exchange server without a VPN connection. ITCS provides documentation on setting up Outlook to use RPC over HTTPS at:
Finally, you can always access your Exchange account using most common web browsers (although Internet Explorer is recommended to access the full features of Exchange's Outlook Web Access). Simply log into your account at the following web page:
How can I access my Exchange account without using Microsoft Outlook or Entourage?
Note: Logging into your Exchange account requires that you know your ITCS Active Directory (UMROOT) password. This password is different from your ITCS Kerberos (UMICH.EDU) password. If you have never set this password before and/or you are having trouble logging in, you should reset your ITCS Active Directory (UMROOT) password on the following ITCS web page:
Contact ITCS at 764-HELP for questions or further help with the password.
Click the link below corresponding to your email client:
- Outlook Web Access
- Outlook Express
- Mozilla Thunderbird
- Mac OS Mail.app
- Eudora (Windows)
- Eudora (Mac OS)
- Pine & PC-Pine
Outlook Web Access
Exchange accounts can be accessed using most web browsers at:
Note: It is recommended that you use Internet Explorer to take advantage of the full functionality of Outlook Web Access.
Outlook Express
Mozilla Thunderbird
- From the Tools menu, select Account Settings...
- In the left menu, click on Server Settings
- Change the Server Name to: imap-exchange.umich.edu
- Ensure that the correct port number is set to: 993
- Change the User Name to: umroot\uniqname
- Under Use secure connection, select: SSL
- In the left menu, click on: Outgoing Server (SMTP)
- Highlight your default SMTP server entry, and click the Edit... button
- For the Server Name enter: smtp-exchange.umich.edu
- For the Port enter: 587
- For Use secure connection, select: TLS
- Click OK to close the SMTP Server window
- Click OK to close the Account Settings window
Mac OS Mail.app
- From the Mail menu, select Preferences
- Click the Accounts button at the top of the window
- In the list of accounts on the left side of the window, select your current account
- Click the Account Information tab
- From the Account Type menu select: IMAP
- Change the Incoming Mail Server to: imap-exchange.umich.edu
- Change the User Name to: umroot\uniqname
- Click the Server Settings... button at the bottom of the window
- For Outgoing Mail Server enter: smtp-exchange.umich.edu
- For the Server port enter: 587
- Check the box for: Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
- From the Authentication menu select: Password
- Click OK to close the SMTP server settings window
- Click the Advanced tab in the Accounts window
- Make sure to check the Use SSL box
- From the Authentication pull-down menu, select Password
- Close the Accounts window
Eudora (Windows)
- From the Tools menu, select Options
- Select the Checking Mail button in the left menu
- Change the Mail Server to: imap-exchange.umich.edu
- Change the User Name to: umroot\uniqname
- In the Secure Sockets when Receiving section, select Required, Alternate Port from the pull-down menu
- Select the Incoming Mail button in the left menu
- Make certain that the IMAP Mailbox Location Prefix field is empty
- Under Authentication style, select Passwords
- Select the Sending Mail button in the left menu
- Set the SMTP server to: smtp-exchange.umich.edu
- Make sure the check the boxes next to Allow authentication, Immediate send, Send on check, and Use submission port (587)
- For the Secure Sockets when Sending drop-down menu, select: Required, STARTTLS
- Click OK
Eudora (Mac OS)
- From the Eudora menu, select Preferences...
- Select the Checking Mail button in the left menu
- Change the User Name to: umroot\uniqname
- Change the Mail Host to: imap-exchange.umich.edu
- Ensure that IMAP is checked under Mail Protocol
- Select the Sending Mail button in the left menu
- Change the SMTP Server to: smtp-exchange.umich.edu
- Make sure the check the boxes next to Allow authorization, Immediate send, Send on check, and Use submission port (587)
- Scroll down the left menu until you see the option for SSL and click to select it
- For SSL for IMAP, change the setting to Required (Alternate Port)
- For SSL for SMTP, change the setting to Required (TLS)
- Under Standard Port SSL Negotiation select: TLS 1.0 (Cyrus)
- Under Alternate Port SSL Negotiation select: Maximum Compatibility
- Click OK
Pine & PC-Pine
What is my Exchange quota? How do I determine and manage my quota usage?
All College of Engineering regular faculty and staff receive accounts on the ITCS Exchange server (exchange.umich.edu) with a 2 GB quota (temporary employees receive 500 MB quotas). This is the largest quota available to individuals, and it cannot be increased. If you reach 90% of your quota usage (1.8 GB), you'll receive daily warning messages until you reduce your mailbox size below this threshold. If you exceed your 2 GB quota, you will not be able to send messages until you go back below your quota.
To determine your current quota usage, Outlook users should select Mailbox Cleanup from the Tools menu, then click the View Mailbox Size... button. Entourage users should select Folder Properties from the Edit menu, and click the Storage tab.
Managing Your Quota
An easy way to reduce your quota usage is to remove messages with large attachments from your account; a build-up of these messages is often what causes accounts to go over quota. Simply go into each folder in your account and sort the messages by size, looking for the largest messages. If the messages contain attachments that you'd like to keep, save them to a folder in your NAS space so they'll be backed up and accessible from anywhere. You could also export entire folders to your NAS space as a Personal Folders File (.pst) which can easliy be read remotely by Outlook, or imported into other email clients.
Another method to reduce your Exchange quota is to take advantage of the extra 2 GB of email space given to individuals on the main ITCS email server (mail.umich.edu). Most common email clients can be configured to connect to two email servers at the same time. For example, once you have configured Microsoft Outlook to connect to Exchange, go back and also configure Outlook to connect to mail.umich.edu. Once complete, you would see the folder listings for both accounts in Outlook, and you would be able to easily transfer (i.e. drag-and-drop) messages/folders from one account to the other.
ITCS offers a few tips on how to manage your Exchange quota at:
How do I export all of the messages/folders in my Exchange account to a file?
Microsoft has extensive information in their knowledge base about managing Personal Folder Files (.pst), including how to transfer, import and export. It can be found at:
I accidentally deleted a message/folder in Outlook? How can I get it restored?
The Exchange server stores all deleted items for up to three days before purging them. To retrieve any such items, carry out the following steps on a Windows machine running Microsoft Outlook 2003 or 2007:
- Start the registry editor, regedit.exe, by select Start >> Run >> regedit
- Navigate to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Exchange\Client\Options subkey.
- From the Edit menu, select New and click DWORD value.
- Enter the name DumpsterAlwaysOn and press Enter.
- Double-click the new value and set it to 1.
- Click OK.
- Close the registry editor.
- Start Microsoft Outlook.
- Select the folder (e.g. Inbox) from which the messages disappeared by clicking on its icon in the left folder list.
- Choose Recover Deleted Items from the Tools menu.
- Select the item(s) you want to recover and click on Recover Selected Items.
The item(s) will then reappear in the Inbox and/or folder you selected.
How do I view someone else's Exchange calendar using Outlook Web Access?
In order to view someone else's Exchange calendar in Outlook Web Access, simply visit the following URL:
https://exchange.umich.edu/exchange/uniqname/calendar/
where uniqname is their U-M uniqname.
