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SharePoint 2013: Site Mailboxes [2/4 - Activation]

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This article is part of a series dedicated to the "Site Mailboxes":

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Introduction

This article will show you how to activate the "Site Mailbox" feature on a SharePoint site, which is MUCH easier than configuring the servers http://s0.wp.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif?m=1129645325g

We will add some basic tests to validate the installation and to show you how it works.

How-To

After having configured the Exchange (2013) and SharePoint (2013) servers, it's time to activate the "Site Mailbox" on the site used during the configuration.

The site used is highlighted in bold below (see this article, step 6):

\Set-SiteMailboxConfig.ps1 -ExchangeSiteMailboxDomain spasipe.local -ExchangeAutodiscoverDomain Exchange13.spasipe.local -WebApplicationUrl https://sitemailboxes.spasipe.local

Activation process

1. On the site (named "Racine"), click on "Add an app"

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/8.png?w=595&h=345

2. Click on "Site Mailbox"

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/9.png?w=595&h=388

3. The App is added, and an item named "Mailbox" appears in the left menu

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/10.png?w=595&h=391

4. Click on "Mailbox" to launch the creation process

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/61.png?w=595

5. An authentication window displays. Note that we are connected to the Exchange server.

In this "Site Mailbox" concept, each server keeps its role. There's no part of the Exchange server installed on the SharePoint server or something like that.

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/71.png?w=595&h=420

6. You have time for a little coffee.

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7. The creation is done and displays some things you should know:

  • It may take up to 30 minutes before the "Site Mailbox" is ready,
  • All users in the "Members" and "Owners" groups will receive an email when the "Site Mailbox" is ready.

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/91.png?w=595&h=198

User Side

In this example, a user named "bjester" belongs to the "Members" SharePoint group.

1. This user uses Windows 8 and in Outlook 2013. They can see an item named "Racine" (It's the name of the site used previously):

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/101.png?w=595&h=408

2. Outlook combines the user mailbox and the "Racine" item containing:

  • "Inbox": displays the emails,
  • "Documents": displays documents stored in the default SharePoint document library.

Please note that emails are managed by Outlook and documents by SharePoint.

Exchange "only" displays documents stored in SharePoint.

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/111.png?w=595

3. If we look at the email (automatically sent), three links are available:

  • A link to the site
  • The email address associated with the "Site Mailbox" – This address is automatically generated
  • A "Learn more" which redirects to this page.

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SharePoint Site Side

1. Click on "MailBox" in the left menu

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/15.png?w=595

2. You are then redirected to the Exchange server on the OWA connexion page

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/16.png?w=595&h=422

3. At first connection, you have to type your preferences

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/17.png?w=595&h=425

4. Then you have access to the Site Mailbox and you can try to send an email by clicking on "new mail".

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/18.png?w=595&h=291

5. Type the "Site Mailbox" mail address as recipient and then click "SEND".

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/19.png?w=595&h=255

6. The email is received successfully.

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/20.png?w=595&h=290

7. Back to the SharePoint site, create a new document library named "Reporting" and add a document.

Quickly modify the menu (see this article) to add a link named "Reporting" at the same level that "Documents" (that's important for the next step).

In parallel, add two documents in the "Documents" document library.

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/241.png?w=595&h=254

8. Back to the client (Outlook 2013), you can see that at the same level that "Racine":

  • "Inbox" contains one email
  • "Documents" contains two documents
  • An item named "Reporting" has been added, and contains one document – To add an item at this level, you just need to add a link in the left navigation menu, in the SharePoint site.

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/231.png?w=595&h=409

9. If you click on "Documents", you can see two documents, as well as basic information such as the name, modification date, or the extraction status.

http://spasipe.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/25.png?w=595&h=106

Conclusion

This article showed how to set up a "Site Mailbox".

Next article: how to use this "Site Mailbox".

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