HowTos

Thunderbird and Exchange 2010

Quinn

• 2 min read

OWA
The BIGGEST headache thus far about working in a Windows-centric environment has been trying to handle our work email elegantly. That is, not having to open a VM to use Outlook or open a second browser (Firefox) to have a decent OWA client.

I tried Evolution (Gnome3's default mail client) and the evolution-mapi plugin, but that was buggy at best when it actually worked...and that wasn't often. It also could not connect to our Global Address List, so that was a big issue as well.

After a lot of Googleing, and trying to build the latest evolution from source, which was a total fail due to its rather large list of dependencies as it is part of the Gnome Desktop, I decided to give Thunderbird a try.

...Should have done that from the get-go.

Email and GAL

Install Thunderbird

yum -y install thunderbird

Download ExQuilla for Microsoft Exchange

cd ~/Downloads && wget http://mesquilla.net/exquilla-currentrelease-tb-linux.xpi

Install the Addon in Thunderbird

  • <Alt+t> --> Addons
  • (Gear Icon or the like) -Will be near Search Bar-
  • Install Addon from File
  • Choose exquilla-currentrelease-tb-linux.xpi
  • Restart Thunderbird (or wait till after completing the next section)

Calendar and Tasks

Install Lightning Addon

In the Addons tab, search for Lightning and install.
Download the Exchange Calendar and Tasks Add-on for Lightning
http://www.1st-setup.nl/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/download-monitor/download.php?id=13 and install the Addon in Thunderbird.

  • <Alt+t> --> Addons
  • (Gear Icon or the like) -Will be near Search Bar-
  • Install Addon from File
  • Choose exchangecalendar-3.1.3.xpi
  • Restart Thunderbird

Configuring Exquilla

In Thunderbird: <Alt+t> --> Exquilla for Microsoft Exchange --> Add Microsoft Exchange Account
Fill in your details and continue through the setup.

Configuring Calendar

Open a Calendar tab and right-click in the white-space on the left-hand side.

  • Choose 'New Calendar'
  • Select 'On the Network'
  • Select 'Microsoft Exchange 2007/2010'
  • Name and Color it
  • Select 'Use Exchange's autodiscovery function'
  • Check your primary email to make sure it is correct
  • Fill out username and domain
  • Click Next

CONGRATS!! You should be good to go. Never again will you need to open a damn M$ VM just to use your exchange email.

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