Entourage- separate access paths and speed questions

W

walnuts

Hey all,

I actually posted this on MacRumors and didn't get any answers, so I figured I'd try my luck here, so here goes:

I have two Entourage questions regarding my standard exchange account:

Speed: My entourage seems slow to download from my e-mail server. I experienced this with my iMac and my Macbook with Office 2004 and 2008 with good internet connections (iTunes downloads between 5-10 Mbps). It takes in excess of 7 hours to download my 3 gb database and about 2 minutes every 10 minutes to update my database once downloaded. Does this sound normal? Could my settings be wrong? My IT guy has made it clear that he would not help me, so I sort of guessed at the connection settings until it worked.

Two separate connections: This came up with my Macbook. As far as I understand, Entourage uses Outlook Web Access to access exchange accounts. So, my problem is that there are two separate ways to access web e-mail depending on whether or not I am in the office. At home, I access my work e-mail from the web with an address like this:

 <http://email.mywork.com/exchange>

That address works when used with Entourage.

However, that address does not work when you are the office. You must then use an address like this in a web browser (when not using outlook):

 <http://servername/exchange>

So, is there any way to tell entourage to try to use both of these paths to access my e-mail (whichever one works at the time)? Since I use my macbook both at home and at the office, it needs to be flexible. Right now, I have it set to the first address; it just doesn't work at the office.

Thanks for any help you could provide!
 
W

William Smith

My commetns are inline with yours...

Hey all,

I actually posted this on MacRumors and didn't get any answers, so I
figured I'd try my luck here, so here goes:

I have two Entourage questions regarding my standard exchange account:

Speed: My entourage seems slow to download from my e-mail server. I
experienced this with my iMac and my Macbook with Office 2004 and 2008
with good internet connections (iTunes downloads between 5-10 Mbps). It
takes in excess of 7 hours to download my 3 gb database and about 2
minutes every 10 minutes to update my database once downloaded. Does
this sound normal? Could my settings be wrong? My IT guy has made it
clear that he would not help me, so I sort of guessed at the connection
settings until it worked.
Click to expand...

I suggest trying to reduce the amount of mail you are trying to keep in
sync, especially if you're an organizational zealot who likes many
folders. Excessive folders cause a lot of activity. Try to archive
messages that you don't need on a regular basis.
Two separate connections: This came up with my Macbook. As far as I
understand, Entourage uses Outlook Web Access to access exchange
accounts. So, my problem is that there are two separate ways to access
web e-mail depending on whether or not I am in the office. At home, I
access my work e-mail from the web with an address like this:

<http://email.mywork.com/exchange>

That address works when used with Entourage.

However, that address does not work when you are the office. You must
then use an address like this in a web browser (when not using outlook):

<http://servername/exchange>

So, is there any way to tell entourage to try to use both of these paths
to access my e-mail (whichever one works at the time)? Since I use my
macbook both at home and at the office, it needs to be flexible. Right
now, I have it set to the first address; it just doesn't work at the office.
Click to expand...

Entourage can't use two addresses at the same time but I've written a
script to automatically change your server address based on your network
location. You can find it here
<http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/2007/06/testers_needed_for_script.html>.
If you need help configuring it just let me know.

Also, make sure your Entourage identity and its enclosed identity (found
in /Users/<your user folder>/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2008
Identities/) is excluded from any Spotlight or AntiVirus software scanning.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

William M. Smith, Microsoft Interop MVP - Mac/Windows
Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
 
W

walnuts

Hey thanks for the help!

If my many folders or never archiving policy are what cause my slowdown, then I am doomed as of my own fault. The folders are necessary as they are the only way I can keep myself organized. I can't "autoarchive" my outlook as my IT person doesn't know where the archived e-mails go and I would need to access them myself.

The script works perfectly- that is exactly what I needed!- Thanks!
 
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