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Outlook OWA App

androidg8r

Newbie
Feb 28, 2012
24
1
I have read every thread on this forum related to accessing OWA on my Android. Posters on this site talked about Touchdown (free vs. full) and Emoze for their Windows PC handset. I have a Samsung Galaxy S2 and I do not want to have to switch to an iPhone. I will if I cannot resolve this issue. Please help.

I can access OWA exch.company.com/owa from my browser. No problem at all. ActiveSync is not allowed per IT regulations. Therefore Roadsync, Moxier, DejaVu, etc. will not work.

My collegues at work are using the following app on their iPhones:
Outlook Mail Pro (put this into Google) by CodeBeforeDawn dot com

Quote: "The best way to access your Outlook Web Access account with your iOS device. View, compose, and send emails with a fast and elegant interface on both iPhone and iPad

I contacted the developer to see if he was working on something for the Android but I did not get a response.

Essentially what this app on iPhone does is keep you logged on to your OWA account after it is first set-up and send you notifications once you have new e-mail.

Can anyone direct me with some tips or information? Will the full version of Touchdown work? Why is it so easy for the iPhones?
 
I came across this in Android market. The descrption is exactly what I am looking for. Very bad reviews however. Bad customer service. Dont know if it is competency of people reviewing it or if is a bad product. Anybody on this forum have experience with red cloud 2010 as it called.

Other solutions?
 
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OWA is designed to be a browser-accessed program. That's why it's call Outlook Web Access. What do you want to do that the browser won't let you do? If you want notification of new email, then the standard email app, or any of the many enhanced email apps available will do that. OWA is simply a browser interface to an Exchange server, and any email app should do Exchange access.
 
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androidg8r, I've had experience with OWA on my phone and I have always accessed it through the browser (like it was meant to be) but I understand that you'd prefer to access it with the stock email client. I've seen these threads previously that seemed to successfully do so but I've never tried implementing what they've documented. Perhaps these information might help you:

http://androidforums.com/android-lounge/374794-owa-support-android-email-clients.html

http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-support-troubleshooting/103310-evo-outlook-web-access-owa-again.html

http://androidforums.com/htc-droid-eris/55761-owa-access.html

Setup Outlook Web Access for your Nexus One - Android Help

Update: Are you sure your IT department is not imposing a restriction that prevents OWA through Touchdown from working on an Android phone, unless it's through a browser or if the device is a Blackberry? They may be controlling access for security reasons, especially the ability to control the device by enforcing password polices, block sms, remotely wipe if needed, etc.
 
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Clipper is an excellent clipboard program. You can make entries either by copying from an app or manually. It's free on the market. For a password manager, I like KeePassDroid. I've used KeePassX on my PC for a long time, and the Android version uses the same database. I keep my database on Dropbox, so I can access it from any device, and always have the latest version.
 
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You should take a look at davmail google it I can't post links yet
I have been using it for 6 months in an exchange 2010 environment where active sync is blocked. Essentially you run the software on a server/machine and it connects into exchange web services the same way owa does and acts as a pop/ imap gateway for your phone. So you just setup k9 or your preferred android mail client to connect via iMap or pop settings to your machine running davmail. Obviously you need to setup port forwarding, Dyndns and secure it but it works very well. I can send and receive emails in just a few more seconds than a normal device. Software is free as well and the dev is very helpful

It's the only solution I've found to work on my android phone
 
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There is an app on the iphone called outlook mail pro that keeps a user contnously logged into owa.
That's a contradiction - you can't be "contnously logged into" a web interface, because that's not how the web works. The app can log into the web page, but the server (Exchange, in this case) determines how long it's considered to still be logged in. (And that can be from a fraction of a second to until the universe ends.)

But all an OWA app will do is simulate a web browser on the "internet-facing" side. Exchange-interfacing apps are much better for interfacing with Exchange server. (Maybe your IT department needs to be told that the 20th century ended a while ago.)
 
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You should take a look at davmail google it I can't post links yet
I have been using it for 6 months in an exchange 2010 environment where active sync is blocked. Essentially you run the software on a server/machine and it connects into exchange web services the same way owa does and acts as a pop/ imap gateway for your phone. So you just setup k9 or your preferred android mail client to connect via iMap or pop settings to your machine running davmail. Obviously you need to setup port forwarding, Dyndns and secure it but it works very well. I can send and receive emails in just a few more seconds than a normal device. Software is free as well and the dev is very helpful

It's the only solution I've found to work on my android phone

I am struggling with similar OWA issues due to IT department restrictions. Thanks for the Davmail info, I'll give it a shot. Anything is better than being restricted to OWA via a tiny browser session on Android. It's also nice to see someone actually read and understand the topic before throwing out un-useful comments about using the stock email client or touchdown, K9, moxie, et al.
 
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OK, so Davmail is partially working for me. I am able to configure it so my localhost Thunderbird client can connect. However, I can not get any of the major android IMAP clients to work (K9, maildroid, etc) even though I follow the "iphone setup" instructions as closely as I can (There are differences).

I keep getting password fail errors. So frustrating as I am so close to having a working imap client that I can taste it.
 
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OK, so Davmail is partially working for me. I am able to configure it so my localhost Thunderbird client can connect. However, I can not get any of the major android IMAP clients to work (K9, maildroid, etc) even though I follow the "iphone setup" instructions as closely as I can (There are differences).

I keep getting password fail errors. So frustrating as I am so close to having a working imap client that I can taste it.

Progress, I can now connect (unsecured) using any of the major android mail apps that support IMAP. Now I am having a problem securing the channel with SSL. I am working on it. If/when I resolve that, I will come back and make a more comprehensive post about what I had to do to get this working so that it might help someone else in the future.
 
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Progress, I can now connect (unsecured) using any of the major android mail apps that support IMAP. Now I am having a problem securing the channel with SSL. I am working on it. If/when I resolve that, I will come back and make a more comprehensive post about what I had to do to get this working so that it might help someone else in the future.


I'd love to hear what you find. BTW, I can't agree more with the irrelevant response post you had earlier. If you aren't answering the question asked and just want to question why someone would want to use something else (even when the OP said that it was blocked and they obviously have no control over corporate IT decisions, then just saying it's "stupid" or recommending a client that doesn't meet the obvious OWA connection needs, is useless). That being said I *DO* have ActiveSync access but I DON'T WANT a 6 digit PIN forced upon my phone, so I want to use OWA through a client. Yes, I know OWA works in the browser, but apparently everyone here is using a huge tablet because we all know a tiny phone screen with OWA is cumbersome and useless. I also want "notifications" and obviously it won't be push, but I can set a reasonable interval to meet my needs on refresh without killing my battery and that's what I'm looking for, so if anyone has some big mystery as to why someone would *ever* want to use OWA instead of ActiveSync, then this is just 1 of many. I'm not concerned with calendar as I've already got the GoogleSync set up for my Outlook calendar from work that way. I just need the mail side of things. I don't want my phone being watchdog'd by BoxTone.

Anyway, can't wait to see what you figure out. I did try using MobiMail which is supposed to work for OWA, but so far only crashes and no successful authentication. I e-mailed their support and haven't heard back yet.
 
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basschica,

I've successfully implemented Davmail with SSL now. I am now trying to work through a client-problem with the developer for MailDroid (my preferred IMAP client). It can not manually accept the self-signed SSL certificate that I used, so I am stuck using Kaitan mail (which did allow me to setup SSL) until I can work it out with the MailDroid dev. Kaitan really blows compared to MailDroid, so I am hoping to get the SSL issue resoved quickly.

I also installed an app called Caldav, from the google play store, to keep my default android calendar in sync with my corporate calendar. It works pretty well.

There is also LDAP integration to support the Exchange Global Address Book lookups/sync with contacts, but I didn't want to experiment with that for now. I don't want my entire corporate GAL imported into my personal gmail/google contacts. That would be a nightmare.

Oh, as for the particulars, the corporate email exchange server I connect to is Exchange 2010 with the service patch that prevents clients like Touchdown from connecting directly. Anyway, it took more work that I expected, but I am very happy with the results.
 
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Just a quick note to Basschica.

You had mentioned your company allows ActiveSync but you don't want the pin unlock forced upon you phone. I had a smiliar reservation about using my phone to access corporate mail as they do force the pin. I found that using touchdown allows me to only pin lock the Touchdown database on my phone and not my entire phone. You can then still use pattern lock or no lock if you so choose. Not sure if you have tried this on your phone or if your IT department has blocked Touchdown from working but I thought this might be helpful for you as I had the exact same problem until I started using Touchdown.

-Goodluck
 
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El seven

Is it possible for you to put together step by step instruction about installing and setting up davmail on android device? I assume that you compiled it, right?

I may put a guide together, but I honestly just followed the davmail setup instructions and had to deal with a few platform specific issues (Windows 7) to make it work. I did not compile Davmail myself, I just used the windows installer.

I guess if I were to list the undocumented steps for windows 7.

1. You have to make sure you have the path to your java runtime directory in the environment path. If it is, you should be able to launch a cmd prompt and type "keytool" anywhere in the folder structure and have keytool return a list of commands.

2. When you generate your SSL certificates, you need to run CMD as an administrator. So after you type in "cmd" on the launcher, you have to press ctrl-shift-enter to run as an admin. I was unable to get the keytool to generate the keystore/cert until I ran CMD as an admin.

2. You have to open the appropriate ports on your firewall of choice (I use ESET).

3. You don't have to do this, but I did register a free domain name on dyndns and use a dyndns updater (free program) to keep my external IP address synched. That way I can connect to fakedns.dyndns-free.com instead of using an IP address that my Internet Service Provider could change on me.


That's it really, nothing earth shatting, but just some annoying steps that are not part of the Davmail setup guide, but are necessary for you to get it working.
 
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I am not looking for advanced features. I do believe it is the policies of our IT group that are making this so not straight forward. I will have to use the web based version. do any of you know an advanced clipboard program that allows you to store words and assign shortcuts..

I think you hit the nail on the head. IT policy might allow a secure login, but would not allow you continuous access. You need to login each time you want to access email, then get logged out when you close the browser, shut down the device or if you get timed out.

There is similar policy in place where I work requiring a fresh secure login whenever I need to access email. Just be glad you don't have to answer a rotating security question after the initial login, followed by a 2nd login including domain/username....
 
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I have the same problem here. Glad to know I'm not the only one. Did you find a solution (app) to stay connected via OWA? Every Iphone in my company has that Outlook Mail Pro app you mentioned in your post, working flawlessly, but I haven't found a similar app for android, and I don't want to change to Iphone, I just don't like them. So, any contribution will be really appreciated. Thanks.
 
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My problem is I'm happy to use the web interface for OWA through my browser. However, I'm using Dolphin browser and the interface does not work well (actually at all). I've tried the stock browser, Firefox and a few others. Strangely on the stock browser and Firefox it sends to to the old style web interface (which I guess works for some purposes but I need the new features). Anyone recommend a browser in which the OWA is useable.
 
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A bunch of us are using QOWA

Well, you would use it as you're the developer.

Full disclosure is encouraged here at Android Forums. Posing as an end user to promote your app is misleading and dishonest. We have an Application Announcements section specifically to allow developers to let the community know about their work.
 
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