Connecting to Exchange through Thunderbird
In addition to Entourage and Mail, a number of browser-based e-mail clients are available to Macintosh users. Thunderbird, featured here, is one of the most popular.
Exchange servers allow connections using the IMAP protocol. While it doesn't include several features such as calendaring, notes, invitations, etc., Thunderbird is very handy for sending and receiving e-mail.
You can download the free Thunderbird browser here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/ There are separate clients available for Mac, Windows, and other operating systems.
The Setup:
(Note: setting up Thunderbird is a little different from setting up other IMAP clients. Setting preferences takes on a different order. You should begin with setting the SMTP preference first. Thunderbird right out of the box may come with a some kind of SMTP setting, but you should add a new Outgoing Mail Server, make that the default, and delete the old one). Some screen views have been left out or truncated for size reasons.
I. From Thunderbird's Tools Menu click Account Settings Select Outgoing Server (SMTP), click Add (previous not shown, but results follows:)
Description: outgoing musc mail
Server Name: smtps.musc.edu
Click Use name and Password
UserName: your_netid
Click SSL
The Port setting should now read: 465
Click OK
Click Add Account
(Screen Shots below omitted for brevity)
New Account Setup:
Click: Email Account — Continue
Fill in your name
Email Address: your_email_alias@musc.edu — Continue
Server Information
Click IMAP
Incoming Server: eximap.musc.edu — Continue
User Names:
Incoming User Name: your_netid — Continue
Account Name: MUSC Email — Continue
See the Congratulations! Screen confirming your settings
Click Done
II. Back under the Local Folders menu:
Click Server Settings:
Should read: eximap.musc.edu and your_netid
Click Security Settings: SSL (Port changes to 993)
Click Advanced…
Uncheck: show only subscribed folders
Click OK
Setting LDAP in Thunderbird
Main Menu -> Preferences -> Composition -> Addressing
Click Edit Directories
(Not Shown) Click Add
Name: MUSC LDAP
Hostname: ldap.musc.edu
Base DN: o=MUSC,c=US
Port number: 389
Click OK