OS X Mountain Lion Bible

How Exchange Works

Microsoft Exchange is a server application that stores and routes several kinds of information to users that connect to it through a client application such as Entourage, Outlook, Mail, Calendar, or Contacts. Exchange handles e-mail, contacts, calendar entries, tasks (to-do items), notes, RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds, and newsgroup feeds. By managing these types of information in a central location (the Exchange Server), Exchange makes it easy to share and collaborate, such as being able to check a colleagues' calendar to see if he or she is available, or to send e-mails to people you select from a corporate directory (rather than having to enter their e-mail addresses manually or have them stored in your Mac's Contacts application).

Note

Microsoft Exchange is not the only server application you might use for communication and collaboration. IBM's Lotus Notes and Novell's GroupWise also are used by many businesses, and they both come with a Mac client application to allow access to their e-mail, contacts, and calendar information. But OS X does not support their servers natively, so they don't integrate as well with Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Reminders, or Notes as Exchange does.

Exchange Server has several versions in use: 2000, 2003, 2007, and 2010. Exchange Server 2003 is the most widely deployed, but Exchange Server 2007 is steadily replacing 2000 and 2003 installations. And the most recent version, Exchange 2010, is starting to get adopted. (Businesses ...