Joined on 07-13-2005
TechSoup Member
Hi everyone-
I just started as the administrative assistant and I have been given a task by my boss. We are currently using Microsoft Outlook for our non-profit's email and are not able to use the "Out of Office Assistant" function. From what I've been told, that function is only available through Exchange. So my question is this: what products will I need to order in order to be able to upgrade our 10 office computers to be able to support the use of Microsoft Exchange as our email system and thus utilize the "Out of Office Assistant" and group calendar functions? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Andrea
Hi Andrea,
The reason you can't use "Out of Office" without Exchange, is because Outlook is an Email client and would not normally be running when someone is on holidays (usually their computer would be shutdown)... therefore Outlook cannot send or receive any mail until it's started again - and this includes Out of Office notifications.
Exchange is an Email Server system designed to run 24x7, meaning it can send and receive mail on your behalf... even if you are fishing in the Bahamas and a million miles from the cares of Email !!
If you are comfortable leaving your Outlook computers running 24x7, you can use Outlook to send Out of Office notifications (a good instruction guide can be found
Here) - otherwise you probably do need Exchange.
Do you have a Windows 2003 Server you could use to run Exchange?
Don
Joined on 07-13-2005
TechSoup Member
Don-
We'd prefer not to have our computers running all the time, so Exchange seems to be the way to go (I've also heard that with Exchange there is a calendar function so that everyone could have access to one another's calendars for meetings, etc, which is another function we're interested in). I do not believe we currently have a Windows 2003 server, just a Snap server for data storage. Thanks for any suggestions you can offer!
Andrea
Hi Andrea,
Yes Exchange provides calendaring functions as well as a range of other useful functions... it sounds as though Exchange would be right for you.
There are plenty of people here who can advise you on hardware and software prerequisites, however I'm a little reluctant to dive into this straight away because Exchange is a server platform requiring considerable skill to establish properly.
My advise is to secure the services of a computer support contractor specializing in Exchange to provide an implementation quotation - you might decide to go with this contractor, or if not, at least the process would give you and your executive an idea of the scope of works involved.
Cheers, Don
Joined on 07-13-2005
TechSoup Member
Thanks Don, but we're a very small non-profit, without an IT person, and we were really hoping to be able to do most of this in-house. We only have 7 employees and 10 computers! I will speak with my boss and she and I will try to determine the best course of action. Thanks for your help.
Not a problem at all Andrea - good luck with it all.
Don
Okay, here is my suggestion: You should sign up with the website hosting company what included the e-mail package or only e-mail package itself. They will do the job for you, you don't have to take care of that since you are a small non-profit organization (less than 10 people). Based on what I read from your story, sounds like wasting of money, time, and IT support (in case something goes wrong) to build the Microsoft Exchange server. You could pay less than $30 per month for this kind of service online
You could take a look at 1and1.com website to find out more information about mail service. Or, if anyone have more brighter ideas, then please throw out.
From what I've been told, that function is only available through Exchange
"Out of office" replies are on lots in other non-Exchange email solutions. In fact, several of my family and friends are on ICDsoft, and user has one in his or her webmail login.