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How the Autodiscover service works with Outlook for Mac 2011

Office for Mac 2011 will reach end of support on October 10, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see these resources.

 

Applies to: Office for Mac 2011

Topic Last Modified: 2016-12-16

The Microsoft Exchange Autodiscover service makes it easier for users of Outlook for Mac 2011 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1) or later to configure their Exchange accounts. The Autodiscover service uses a user's e-mail address to configure her or his profile automatically. Depending on the type of authentication configured on the server, Outlook for Mac users typically have to know only their e-mail address and account credentials during Exchange account configuration. When users provide their credentials to configure their Exchange accounts, Outlook for Mac connects to the Autodiscover service and the user account is automatically configured to use the Exchange mailbox.

In Outlook for Mac, the Autodiscover service keeps user account settings up-to-date after the account setup. When a user's Exchange Server information changes, Outlook for Mac reconfigures the user's profile automatically. Outlook for Mac checks for updates to the account settings:

  • Every time Outlook for Mac is started.

  • At a server-defined interval (by default, every hour) to make sure that the Exchange Server settings are always kept up-to-date.

  • When a user's mailbox is moved to another server. Autodiscover service will detect the move and update the settings.

  • During a network failure when Outlook for Mac tries to connect to the Exchange server.

If Outlook for Mac can connect to the Exchange server that has updated settings from the Autodiscover service, those settings are stored and used for future connections.

How Outlook for Mac uses the Autodiscover service to configure user accounts

  1. A user opens the Accounts dialog box in Outlook for Mac and provides an e-mail address and network credentials, such as user name and password, to configure a new Exchange Server account. Outlook for Mac then uses the Autodiscover service to configure the user’s profile.

  2. The Autodiscover service on the client tries to contact the Autodiscover service on the Exchange Server to obtain the user's connection settings by using one of the following methods: querying a set of predefined URLs based on the domain information in the user’s e-mail address, performing an HTTP redirect check, or by using a DNS Service Location (SRV) lookup.

     

    Autodiscover service tries to obtain the user's connection settings

    Autodiscover tries to obtain the user's settings

     

    Note

    When Outlook for Mac connects to the HTTP redirection site or when it uses the DNS SRV method, users will see a dismissible warning message that asks them to verify that they are being redirected to a trusted URL. In this case, you must advise users to accept this warning message and allow Outlook for Mac to connect to this trusted URL.

  3. The Autodiscover service returns the Autodiscover XML response over HTTPS that includes the connection settings and URLs for the available Exchange services. This XML is used as a configuration template for Outlook for Mac and contains two groups of settings for connecting to Exchange services, such as data synchronization (for mail, contacts, notes, and tasks), free/busy information, and OOF settings.

    Typically, the first group contains the URL for connecting within your organization’s network (internal) and the second group contains the URLs for connecting from outside your network (external). The user is not informed about the internal or external connection settings.

  4. Outlook for Mac uses the configuration information and connection settings to connect to the Exchange server.

    Note

    Outlook for Mac will always attempt to use the internal URL first. If that fails, it will attempt to connect to the external URL.

The user is successfully connected to the Exchange Server.

Considerations for successfully connecting to the Autodiscover service

  • When Outlook for Mac tries to connect to your Microsoft Exchange messaging environment, it locates the Autodiscover service by using the primary SMTP domain address from the user's e-mail address. Unlike Outlook for Windows, Outlook for Mac does not support the LDAP Service Connection Point (SCP) method to obtain account settings. As mentioned earlier, it uses only the predefined URLs, the HTTP redirect check, or the DNS SRV lookup method. This is similar to what Outlook uses when it runs Autodiscover service from outside the organization’s network.

    Based on how you have configured the Autodiscover service, the Autodiscover service URL to which Outlook for Mac connects to will be either https://<smtp-address-domain>/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml or https://autodiscover.<smtp-address-domain>/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml. For example, if the user's e-mail address is user@contoso.com, the Autodiscover service should be located at either https://contoso.com/autodiscover.xml or https://autodiscover.contoso.com/autodiscover/autodiscover.xml. For more information, see Configure the Autodiscover Service for Internet Access.

    Note

    A valid SSL server certificate is required for the Autodiscover service host name. Autodiscover service silently rejects the certificate mismatches.

  • To make sure that users can successfully use the Exchange features, such as Exchange Web Services data synchronization, Out of Office functionality, and free/busy information, you must configure both the internal and external URL values correctly. For more information, see Managing the Autodiscover Service

  • If you are using Outlook for Mac with ISA Server and it is in front of the Client Access server, then the ISA Server provides the Autodiscover service URL to Outlook for Mac.