How to share Outlook's calendar with other people?

Without Exchange Server, how to share Outlook's calendar?

Back in the old days, Outlook users could share their calendars with others via Microsoft Exchange Server. However, only users within the same domain could be accessing to the calendars since it is within a proprietary network environment.

Outlook Calendar Sharing

Now, Microsoft started to promote Office365 a few years back after realizing content sharing is getting more popular through Internet. Not only Office, but also its own Outlook.com was merged in with Exchange Online Service as its backend. As a result, individuals other than users within the same domain, such as free Outlook.com users, are able to access shared calendar resource.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY

It is almost summer vacation for schools. Teachers and club staffs may want to plan out agenda of the upcoming school year during summer instead of at last second. But, the fact is that everyone is on vacation and planning trips here and there. 

In the past, teachers and staffs used to hold meetings somewhere they need to physically show up. Then, they would have discussions and use Excel to jot everything down. It was not really effective and yet a good summer vacation was interrupted for some of them.

For now, I suggest that teachers and staffs can create a shared calendar to which every member has access. Whenever there is any idea popped up in mind, just simply create an entry in the shared calendar. By using this collaboration scheme, an outline of agenda for next school year is almost complete. What is left is to wrap it up with some touch and fix on back-to-school day before school really starts.

How to share calendars with users on different platforms?

As we mentioned before, not every teacher or staff has an Outlook.com or Exchange account and gets to add, modify or delete calendar entries. Some has Gmail while some has Yahoo, iCloud or etc. Yet, everyone is on a variety of devices to get online, such as Android, iPhone, desktop PC, or laptop.

As perhaps the most commonly used calendar cloud service provider, Google is strongly recommended. Once this shared Google account is created, every teacher or staff can easily log in this shared Google account from his/her device. Since only one account is being used, everyone logged surely has the privileges to add, modify or delete entries.

How to confgiure shared Google account on different platforms?

Let's talk about how to configure Google account on various platforms.

1. Android:

Android

Whether it is Android phone or tablet, we can log in the shared Google or Gmail account. Then, we can download and install Google Calendar app. Lastly, open this installed app and we will see entries synchronized.

2. iOS:

iPhone

Whether it is iPhone or iPad, we can create Google/Gmail account from within Settings/Passwords & Accounts/Add Account. Then, we can open the built-in Calendar app and put checkmarks in the boxes next to the shared Google calendars. Lastly, we will see the entries.

3. Windows 10/8.1:

Built-in Calendar app within Windows 10/8.1 is rarely used by Windows users because they mostly use Outlook or Thunderbird instead. But, it is working fine. Once a Google account is created within the Calendar app, calendar entries will also be synced.

4. Outlook:

A known fact is that Google Calendar Sync for Outlook was discontinued 4 years ago. Even we downoad and install it on Outlook 2019, 2016, 2013, 2010 or 2007, it would not work because this Outlook add-in cannot connect to Google server. Yet, calendar ics files off Google Calendar can only be imported to Outlook and thus fails serving the purpose of synchronizing. I would rather recommend you to use some third-party Outlook add-in, such as EVO Collaborator for Outlook. Setting up such Outlook add-ins is similar to Google Calendar Sync for Outlook. Once installed, enter username, authenticate through Google OAuth 2.0, configure sync folders and that is all.

5. Thunderbird:

If some teacher or staff is using Thunderbird, then they can refer to Using Lightning with Google Calendar to install & configure Lightning and Provider for Google Calendar. 

6. Mac OS X:

Mac OS X

Like iOS, simply add the shared Google account within Internet Accounts. Once added, open the built-in Calendar application to access shared calendar entries.

How to sync Outlook calendar with ownCloud v9.0?

How to sync Outlook calendar with ownCloud v9.0?

In Mar,2016, ownCloud v9.0 was released. Some feedbacks from existing ownCloud v8.2.3 upgrading to ownCloud v9.0 are good while some are bad. Anyway, out of curiosity, I did a test drive to check if EVO Collaborator for Outlook is compatible with it. It seems out of luck that ECO did not connect to ownCloud v9.0. I was a little disappointed because this Outlook add-in has been working for owncloud from v5.0 to v8.x. 

Later, I was trying to find some clue on ownCloud’s on-line user manual about the server URL that we need to enter on iOS devices:

The URLs look like this:

1. CalDAV URL: ADDRESS/remote.php/caldav/principals/username
2. CardDAV URL: ADDRESS/remote.php/carddav/principals/username

I think it is too long to remember and enter during configuration. 

Then, I contacted EVO staff about this. They said they were working on it and needed a few more days to wrap it up. A few days later, I received an e-mail from them telling me it is compatible with ownCloud v9.0 now. 

I went ahead to try it. This time, EVO staff impressed me as usual. All I need to enter is the owncloud server hostname is the following format:

https://<servername_or_server_ip>/remote.php/

Unlike ownCloud’s user manual, EVO Collaborator for Outlook’s auto-detection only took a few seconds to detect all my CardDAV and CalDAV URL just like EVO's free mail server However, only the default contact (address book), calendar and task folders can be detected unlike iCloud or Gmail. Then I did a few sync rounds back and forth between ownCloud’s web-UI and Outlook. Synchronization went smoothly. 

All I could say is that EVO Collaborator for Outlook is responding to new release of server or service on the market fast making sure Outlook 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019 users can synchronize with it while improving itself toward perfection with fixes and updates. They deserve the credit of putting efforts and dedication.

How to setup a mail server on windows - part 4/4 Verifying setup

How to setup a mail server on windows - part 4/4

Verifying setup

 Mail server setup verification

1.    Set up an IMAP mail account in Outlook. Do not forget to enable SMTP-Authentication under account creation wizard.

2.    Send out an email to Gmail using the email address created in step 1 within Outlook and check if mail comes in “Monitor” log.

3.    Reply this mail in Gmail and check if mail comes in “Monitor” log.

4.    Resolve if there is a SPAMHAUS  issue that your mail server is on one of the block list and thus mails cannot be delivered in step 2.

5.    Check IP in SenderBase if your mail server IP does not exist in any of the block list in Spamhaus and its associated database.

Optional setup

1.    In most cases, your users are using Outlook 2007, 2010 or 2013. EVO Collaborator for Outlook helps users to stay synchronized for their Contacts and Calendars along with EVO Collaboration Add-on services.

a.     Download ECO. Run Setup.exe and follow the instruction.

b.     Open Outlook, and click on “Configure profile(s)”

c.     Click on “EVO – not configured”

d.     Enter your server’s hostname, your username, and your password

e.     Click “TEST” to authenticate the profile

f.      Once authenticated, click on “Apply” and “Quit”

g.     Now, ECO will start its initial synchronization. As completed, ECO will also perform synchronization every 300 seconds or when any change is made

2.    If you have iOS devices, Thunderbird with plug-ins, OS X systems, Blackberry OS10, or Android devices, please visit “Support” section on EVO’s official website for further detail on test procedures.

3.    If you have EvoServ installed, follow the steps below to test webmail

a.     Open a web browser and enter http://<your_mail_server>/roundcube/

b.     Once webmail screen appears, enter “user@yourdomain.com” and password to log in

Resources:

1.    Spamhaus (http://www.spamhaus.org/) – This is a reliable source of block list and assist you to make comparison against the lists.

2.    SenderBase – (http://www.senderbase.org/) – This is an IP eputation database that determines whether your mail server has a good reputation

3.    Microsoft Outlook – (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/) – This is perhaps the most commonly used mail client application on the market.

4.    Gmail – (http://www.gmail.com/) – This is perhaps the most commonly used webmail and related services on the market.