How to set up a Blackberry with Exchange (without using Blackberry Enterprise server)
Since this article was written in Jan 2007, it is now possible to do the following:-
- On the Blackberry- an application called NotifySync* has been developed which can be installed on the Blackberry and uses ActiveSync for full mailbox synchronisation over the air. We use this for our own customers and recommend it as a solution.
- On your Server - BlackBerry Professional Software Express which provides the functionality of 'Blackberry Enterprise Server for Exchange' for small businesses and it comes with 1 free user and can grow up to 30 users.
- With your mobile/cellphone provider - IMAP and Outlook Web Access (OWA) have been made available via the Blackberry Internet Service (BIS) with mobile/cellphone providers. This supports synchronisation of your mail with move/delete (not calendar/contacts/tasks though)
which all provide a superior solution to this setup. However not all situations are equal and there may sometimes be reasons for reproducing the setup below and is kept for historical reasons and for its comments.
Most individuals that use their Blackberry in a small businesses environment would not buy Blackberry Enterprise Server for Exchange as it is simply too expensive and quite pointless for one or two users. Here is one method to bypass this and use the (UK) mobile phone providers Blackberry infrastructure and run it in conjunction with your Exchange system. (I'll also mention here that runPCrun can provide fully managed Microsoft Exchange hosting* with the ability to add full "over the air" Blackberry synchronisation - starting at £14 p/mailbox/month, call us if you are interested in this.)
The main main advantages of the following set-up compared to just setting up standard POP3 collection are:-
- immediate (push) delivery of messages (rather that waiting for the Blackberry service to poll the POP3 provider)
- No need to open POP3 ports through your firewall
- Items sent via your Blackberry are kept in your Sent Items in Outlook/Exchange.
This is attained with a little bit of tweaking and performs very well, although (obviously) the calendar,notes and tasks are not synchronised over the Internet as with the full blown server. In a small company this is not an issue and the synchronisation can occur easily using the cradle.
What this method does in a nutshell - when an email is received, it is forwarded immediately to a mobile providers blackberry address. When a new mail or reply is sent from the Blackberry, it is sent masquerading as the Exchange email, and a copy is BCC'ed to the Exchange email address. This email is the sorted into the Sent Items folder using a server side rule.
The steps to attain this are thus:-
Find out the PIN & IMEI
To find your PIN & IMEI perform one of the following actions:- In the BlackBerry device options or settings, click Status.
- Turn the BlackBerry device off and remove the battery. Look for the sticker on the BlackBerry device with the PIN information where the battery is usually located, usually placed above the SIM card.
Setup via the mobile providers web interface
There are two methods. You either set-up on your blackberry directly or using the Blackberry Internet Service web interface. Just ask your provider for the address of the web interface.
Common ones include:-
- O2 - http://o2email.co.uk/
- Vodafone - http://www.mobileemail.vodafone.net/
- T-mobile - http://www.instantemail.t-mobile.co.uk/
- Orange - http://www.blackberry.orange.co.uk/
- 3 - http://3uk.blackberry.com/
- Virgin Mobile - https://bis.na.blackberry.com/html?brand=virginmobile
(You can also try to do a Google search for "blackberry internet service" nameofprovider if your provider is not listed here)
Sign up the Blackberry via the web interface using the PIN and IMEI that you have on your Blackberry. In the web interface set up the following (the following settings have largely been removed from most providers):-
- Autoaging - 1 day (to keep your mailbox clean, sometimes only 10Mb available)
- Change the "Sent From Address" to the address you wish to use.
- Set a filter on the account to "not send" on receiving emails from the email address you will be masquerading as.
- and of course any other Filters or Signatures that you wish to have and use.
- If one hasn't been created by your provider, click on the button for creating a blackberry email address
- For sent items retrieval set Auto BCC: to your own email address.
Exchange Setup
- In Active Directory Users and Computers on the Exchange Server, set up a Contact for the BLACKBERRY address (you'll see that in the "Email accounts" section of the Blackberry Internet Service that you can get a providers email address e.g.on o2 it will be will be something like xxxxyyyyy@o2email.co.uk) You may want to hide this from the Global Address List after configuring everything.
- Set up a forward in Exchange on his normal account to the new "Contact" mail account.
- Hide the new Exchange contact using the AD/Exchange manager afterwards (this part is optional, we simply found that some people can get confused by it when it is in the Global Address List).
In Outlook
Set a rule in Outlook (because you are using Exchange this will be a constantly working Server side rule) to move any emails received from yourself to be moved into the Sent Items folder. (this of course works on the assumption that you don't send emails to yourself normally, and if you do you will have to set a different rule up, perhaps identifying via Email Headers). I've seen a couple of providers weirdly encode the From: address so a rule may not work. You will see for instance
From: Joe Bloggs <3kfjUTF-8jdls@runpcrun.com>
If you are having problems with the rules not matching, just check the email headers and set a rule to match the encoded address as well.
Result
Sending and receiving email is transparent to the end-user through the Blackberry and are sent and received as the primary email address in Exchange. Emails sent from the Blackberry are stored in the users Sent Items folder in Exchange and all without having to set up a Blackberry Enterprise Exchange Server and without having to start up and open POP3 on your Exchange server.
The Power User's BlackBerry Guide: 121 CrackBerry Tips, Hacks and Resources
* means there is some referral or partnership with these suppliers via the links given. Check out our stance on reviews and recommendations.
Comments
This looks very helpful. Can
That was dealt with in the
If you have a small business
Yes, absolutely this is
Is it not the case that the
No, the emails appear to be
Dan I appreciate the swift
Everything under "Exchange
Everything under "Exchange Setup" is done on the server in "Active Directory Users and Computers", not in Outlook or OWA, maybe I was not clear about that and I will amend the article accordingly.
* Set up a Contact for the BLACKBERRY address (you'll see that in the "Email accounts" section of the web interface e.g.on o2 it will be will be something like xxxxyyyyy@o2email.co.uk) in Active Directory Users and Computers on the Exchange Server
* Set up a forward in Exchange on his normal account to the new "Contact" mail account.
* Hide the new Exchange contact using the AD/Exchange manager afterwards if you wish, some people can get confused by it when it is in the Global Address List.
The emails then appear to be from the original sender, and a rule at your Blackberry provider to not sent emails when from the users email address will not cause a problem.
Dan, Will incoming mail
Quite simply, yes.
Dan, I really like you
I've noticed that at least
I have been trying the OWA
Hi Dan, I have been trying
If you can't access this
This has been very useful
I think the short answer is
Although this is a decent
That's a funny comment!
Or you can configure the
Yes, since I wrote the
I'm sorry to reply to such
No need to apologise! Yes,
Great posts all been very
Hopefully this is not to off
hello, cant seem to find
FYI: Blackberry will give
I have followed these steps
Hi Dan, What no one ever
Hi Ed, I'm afraid the reason
Hi, I have a BLACK BERRY
I've not seen this
Hi Dan, Great info - I've
Hi Dan, Great article and
Ben, Moving an email into a
Ben,
Moving an email into a specific folder is a server-side rule (on Exchange 2003), we know this as we have it set up many people like this (and they definitely don't leave their machine on)
Here is a page on how to do it using the web interface and the Outlook client.
You are aware that iPhones support Exchange natively now?. It has been like this since the 2.0 Firmware update.
I am part of a small
When you say you connect to
When you say you connect to your Outlook remotely, do you mean you have a hosted Exchange environment or that your small business has Exchange and that you connect to that remotely?
If you have your own Exchange server it is now possible to get BlackBerry Professional Software Express which provides the functionality of Blackberry Enterprise Server for Exchange for small businesses and comes with 1 free user and can grow up to 30 users.
If you have a hosted Exchange environment then you will have to pay to get your Blackberry services from them.
Thank you for your help and
genius! thanks alot mate,
Not sure if this would help
Hi, its worth noting that
Dan, I have a personal
The company have BES with
Thanks Dan, Can't get in
Hi there, I have the same
A couple of things occur to
Thanks a lot for this
Hello, I am trying to set up
John, What sort of problem
Hi Dan, Thanks for all your
John, If you use your
Hi Dan, I have a peculiar
i) BIS can use Outlook Web
i) BIS can use Outlook Web Access (or IMAP if IT allow it. SMTP isn't necessary)
ii) You can use your browser on your Blackberry to access Outlook Web Access
iii) If neither of those work, ask your work IT if they support "Exchange ActiveSync" then use something like NotifySync* on your Blackberry - which uses Activesync
Hi Dan, Good article, this
You need to set up a "mail
You need to set up a "mail enabled contact in Exchange". The contact email address to use is one provided by the Blackberry Internet Service provider.
Thank you for this most
We have a customer with
We have a customer with several Blackberries using OWA & BIS with a self-signed security certificate on the Outlook Web Access, so it shouldn't be that. Sorry.
Make sure you use the full domain name for your username e.g. MYDOMAIN\myusername or mydomain.local\myusername as this could be an issue.
Thanks again. I've tried
No additional software, just
Is it possible to sync a
Use NotifySync* on your
Use NotifySync* on your Blackberry - which uses Activesync like normal smartphones.
Thanks for this article.
HI Dan I would like to know
HI Dan sorry to bother you,
At Anonymous December 1,
Karl, it should work with
Hi dan I like this article
Hi Dan, I followed your
Dan, Using the method you
Can't help the poster on Jan
hi there, I am not an IT
If you use the solution in