Q253902: XCLN: Windows and Macintosh Exchange Clients Interoperability
Article: Q253902
Product(s): Microsoft Exchange
Version(s): MACINTOSH:8.0,8.1,8.2,8.2.1; WINDOWS:2000,4.0,5.0,5.5,7.0a,7.5,8.0; :
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s):
Last Modified: 06-DEC-2000
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Exchange Macintosh client, versions 4.0, 5.0
- Microsoft Exchange Windows 3.x client, versions 4.0, 5.0
- Microsoft Exchange Windows 95/98 client, versions 4.0, 5.0
- Microsoft Exchange Windows NT client, versions 4.0, 5.0
- Microsoft Schedule+, versions 7.0a, 7.5
- Microsoft Outlook for Macintosh, Exchange Server Edition, versions 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.2.1
- Microsoft Outlook, Exchange Server Edition, version 8.0, used with:
- the operating system: Microsoft Windows versions 3.1, 3.11
- Microsoft Outlook Web Access, version 5.5
- Microsoft Outlook HTML Form Converter
- Microsoft Outlook 2000
- Microsoft Outlook 98
- Microsoft Outlook 97
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SUMMARY
=======
This article defines the level of interoperability available between the
Exchange Clients for Windows and Macintosh platforms. Because several versions
of Exchange Server and its clients are available, the level of interoperability
between clients can be difficult to determine.
MORE INFORMATION
================
Term Definitions
----------------
To fully understand interoperability in Exchange Server, you must first
understand the following terms:
- MAPI. MAPI refers to the Windows Messaging Application Programming Interface,
or the common calls that a Microsoft Windows application makes to perform
mail-related actions. MAPI clients can run information services in a profile.
Only one of these services, the Exchange Server service, is discussed in this
article. Also, all of the following explanations assume that the MAPI client
has been granted the appropriate rights.
NOTE: Although the Macintosh clients are not really MAPI clients, they still
belong in this category, as opposed to another category of client, such as
the Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3) version client. The Macintosh
clients have some MAPI features that put them in the same category with the
Windows MAPI clients. There is no MAPI support on the Macintosh platform, so
an application cannot be written on the Macintosh to make MAPI calls. This
also means that there is no support for forms, or any other Visual Basic
support on this platform (other than the HTML forms mentioned below).
- Interoperability. Interoperability refers to the level at which clients can
interact, and interoperability also determines what data results from this
interaction. Exchange Server provides two levels of interoperability for its
clients. The following two levels of interoperability, simple and full, are
available:
- Simple. This level of interoperability offers the most basic means of
working with other users and information in the Exchange Server
organization, and is available to all of the MAPI clients of an Exchange
Server computer. Although this level of interoperability does not offer
all of the features that are available to Exchange Server and its clients,
it does provide the ability to interact with these other clients. The
following are some of the features that are available with this level of
interoperability:
- You can send and view free and busy information.
- You can send and receive meeting requests.
- You can send messages on behalf of another user.
- Full. This level of interoperability offers the most robust means of
working with Exchange Server users and information. This level offers all
of the features that are available to the installed Exchange Server
computer and its clients. Not all clients can obtain this level of
interoperability. The following are some of the features that are
available with this level of interoperability:
- You can open another user's server-based calendar for direct access.
- You can assign delegates to your mailbox.
- You can assign delegates to receive meeting requests instead of you.
Calendar Interfaces
-------------------
Two types of calendar interfaces are available to Exchange Clients: "old" and
"new," or more specifically, the earlier Schedule+ and later Outlook calendar
interfaces. Because the level of calendar interoperability is based on the
calendar interface that the client uses, you must understand the differences
between the two following interfaces:
- Schedule+ 7.0a was the first calendar product, and is included with Exchange
Server 4.0. Exchange Server 5.0 includes the improved Schedule+ 7.5. Both of
these programs are only available as part of the Exchange Server version that
they were released with, and were never available for retail sale (Schedule+
7.0 is included with Microsoft Office 95, but is not compatible with Exchange
Server). Both of these versions are available for the Windows 16-bit, Windows
32-bit, and Macintosh platforms. Schedule+ can use either a local file or the
Exchange Server-based store to hold the calendar data. Only the Schedule+
application can use this data; it cannot be opened in any other application.
As long as Schedule+ clients open only other Schedule+ calendars, full
interoperability exists. However, because Outlook was released later than
Schedule+, Schedule+ cannot open an Outlook calendar. The one exception to
this is the Windows versions of Schedule+ that was included in the Exchange
Server Inbox client version 4.0 and 5.0). For additional information about a
method that allows read-only access to an Outlook calendar with this version
of Schedule+, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q170061 XCLN: Readme.txt for Msoutl32.dll
Q140404 OL97: 16-Bit Client Unable to Read Schedule+ Data
This capability was also later incorporated in Outlook for the Macintosh.
For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in
the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q197450 XCLN: Macintosh Outlook Client Version 8.1 New Features
- Outlook 97 is included with Exchange Server 5.0, as well as being available
through retail sale. Later, Exchange Server 5.5 included Outlook 98 and
eventually Outlook 2000 (included with the Exchange Server 5.5 Service Pack 3
CD-ROM). These new clients offered the Outlook calendar interface, in
addition to the existing Schedule+ interface. The biggest difference between
the two interfaces is that the Outlook calendar is a folder under the user's
top-level mailbox. In addition, the items in the folder are standard IPM
message classes, so that custom forms and folder views apply. Lastly, because
the calendar is a folder, you can add it to a user's offline folder file
(.ost) and synchronize it. Outlook can open both earlier Schedule+ calendars,
as well as later Outlook calendars. In addition, you can also configure
Outlook to use Schedule+ as the primary calendar, so that Outlook uses the
original Schedule+ application for any calendar operations and offers full
interoperability with older Schedule+ users.
For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in
the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q195813 OL2000: Using Schedule+ as the Primary Calendar
Exchange Client Interoperability
--------------------------------
The most basic explanation of interoperability is that any Schedule+ client
always has full interoperability with other Schedule+ clients and simple
interoperability with Outlook clients. However, interoperability is not always
that simple.
A more accurate way to explain interoperability between the different versions of
Exchange Clients is to list all of the clients and their level of
interoperability. The following table lists levels of interoperability between
all of the Exchange Clients.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Clients | Outlook 2000 | Outlook 8.2.1 | Outlook Web Access | Inbox 5.0 S+ 7.5 | Outlook 16-bit |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Outlook 2000 | Full | Simple
(1, 3) | Simple | Simple
(1, 2) | Simple
(1, 2) |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Outlook 8.2.1 | Simple
(1, 3) | Full | Simple | Full | Full |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Outlook Web Access | Simple | Simple | Simple | Simple | Simple |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Inbox 5.0 S+ 7.5 | Simple
(1, 2) | Full | Simple | Full | Full |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Outlook 16-bit | Simple
(1, 2) | Full | Simple | Full | Full |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Legend:
- Simple. Only simple interoperability is available.
- Full. Full interoperability is available.
- (x). Where x represents one of the following numbers:
- (1) If you use Schedule+ as your primary calendar with 32-bit Outlook,
full interoperability is available.
For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in
the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q195813 OL2000: Using Schedule+ as the Primary Calendar
- (2) If you use the Msoutl.dll or Msoutl32.dll files with Schedule+,
read-only access to the Outlook 32-bit calendar is available.
For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q170061 XCLN: Readme.txt for Msoutl32.dll
Q140404 OL97: 16-Bit Client Unable to Read Schedule+ Data
- (3) If you use Outlook for Macintosh version 8.1, read-only access to
Outlook 32-bit calendars is available.
For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in
the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q197450 XCLN: Macintosh Outlook Client Version 8.1 New Features
Exchange Client Available Features
----------------------------------
It may be helpful to review all of the clients with their features to see which
features are available. The following table outlines the available client
features.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Features | Outlook 32-bit | Outlook 16-bit | Outlook Macintosh | Outlook Web Access | Schedule+ 7.x | Exchange Inbox |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Free and Busy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 16-bit Forms | Yes | Yes | No (4) | No (4) | N/A | Yes |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 32-bit Forms | Yes | No (4) | No (4) | No (4) | N/A | No |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| HTML Forms | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Private Items | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Send As | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | No | Yes |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Send on Behalf | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | No | Yes |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Public Folders | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | Yes |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Calendar Delegation | Yes | Yes (1, 2, 3) | Yes (1, 2, 3) | No | Yes (1, 2, 3) | N/A |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Contacts | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes (5) | N/A |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Rich Text | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| HTML Text | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Message Flags | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Recall Message | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Voting | Yes | Yes (6) | Yes (6) | No | No | No |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Legend:
- Yes. This feature available in this client
- No. This feature is not available in this client
- N/A. This feature is not applicable to this client
- (x). Where x represents one of the following numbers:
- (1) If you use Schedule+ as your primary calendar with 32-bit Outlook,
full interoperability is available.
For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in
the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q195813 OL2000: Using Schedule+ as the Primary Calendar
- (2) If you use the Msoutl.dll or Msoutl32.dll files with Schedule+,
read-only access to the Outlook 32-bit calendar is available.
For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q170061 XCLN: Readme.txt for Msoutl32.dll
Q140404 OL97: 16-Bit Client Unable to Read Schedule+ Data
- (3) If you use Outlook for Macintosh version 8.1, read-only access to
Outlook 32-bit calendars is available.
For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in
the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q197450 XCLN: Macintosh Outlook Client Version 8.1 New Features
- (4) Outlook 32-bit forms are not supported on the Windows 16-bit and
Macintosh platform clients. However, it is possible to supplement this
with HTML forms that are based on Outlook 32-bit forms. When Windows
16-bit or Macintosh platform clients receive an item that uses a custom
Outlook 32-bit form, it contains a URL. HTML forms allow these clients to
connect to OWA and for an HTML version of the form.
For additional information, click the article number below to view the article in
the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q187836 XWEB: How to Use Outlook Web Access Web Services and HTML Forms
- (5) Schedule+ does have a Contacts module, however, Schedule+ Contacts are
not compatible with Outlook Contacts. Only another Schedule+ client can
use Schedule+ contacts. Schedule+ contacts are limited; they do not offer
fields for e-mail address, Internet Web sites, or many of the other fields
that Outlook Contacts offer.
- (6) Messages that contain voting buttons are not supported on the Windows
16-bit and Macintosh platform clients. However, these clients can open and
reply to a voting message that is sent from an Outlook 32-bit client.
Additional Resources
--------------------
For additional information, click the article numbers below to view the articles
in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
Q140404 OL97: 16-Bit Client Unable to Read Schedule+ Data
Q253885 XCLN: Availability of Outlook for Macintosh Exchange Server Edition
8.2.1
Q168753 XADM: Microsoft Exchange Roles, Rights, and Permissions
Q234696 XCLN: How to Set Up Send on Behalf Of Permissions
Additional query words: OL2000 OL98 OL97
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Keywords :
Technology : kbHWMAC kbOSMAC kbOutlookSearch kbExchangeSearch kbExchangeClientSearch kbZNotKeyword kbZNotKeyword2 kbScheduleSearch kbZNotKeyword3 kbOutlookMacSearch
Version : MACINTOSH:8.0,8.1,8.2,8.2.1; WINDOWS:2000,4.0,5.0,5.5,7.0a,7.5,8.0; :
Issue type : kbinfo
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