SPECIFICITY: This should work on any system.

PRELIMINARIES: You need to have set up Mail to work with an Exchange server.

• Using the Finder, navigate to Library and then Mail
• Find the Public Folders folder
• Delete all the sub-folders contained within the Public Folders folder
• For the remaining Public Folders folder, use Get Info to set your own permission on the folder to “Read only”. This simply prevents the server from being able to save anything to your system.

This crude solution stops you syncing with all public folders, rather than letting you filter which ones you want. I suppose in theory you could set the sub-folders you don’t want to be read only and the ones you do want as read and write. I have not tried this approach. An IMAP filtering script would also work, but I have not found an easy one to use. Or Apple could improve Mail…

SOURCE: I found a version of this tip at Mac OSX Hints.

ISSUE: If you are using OS X you can replace Entourage with OSX Mail, iCal and Address Book.

SPECIFICITY: These settings are specifically for faculty and staff of The University of Queensland using Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard). The settings may be different at other institutions, but the principles should be the same.

PRELIMINARIES: The easiest way is to have everything working in Entourage first (set up Entourage 2008 at The University of Queensland), because you can set the calendar and address book to sync with Entourage rather than directly with the Exchange server. <Sigh> Technically iCal can sync with an Entourage server, but I am yet to find the correct settings.

SETTINGS

Mail

Use the new account wizard or go to Preferences–>Accounts and add a new account.

Account Information

• Account type: Exchange IMAP
• Description: UQ (Can be anything you like)
• Email address: a.person@uq.edu.au
• Full Name: A. Person
• Incoming mail server: exchange.uq.edu.au
• Username: nnaperso (Your normal UQ username)
• Password: (I leave this blank because I prefer to always type it in. You may choose to put it in and have it saved.)
• Outgoing mail server (smtp): (You will have to create an outgoing mail server identity, which will then be chosen in this preference–see below).
• Outlook Web Access Server: exchange.uq.edu.au

Advanced:

• Make sure “Enable this account” is selected
• Make sure “Include when automatically checking for new messages” is selected
• Port: 993
• Make sure “Use SSL” is selected
• Authentication: Password
• Make sure “Use IDLE command if the server supports it” is selected

Outgoing mail settings

The settings you will need for the outgoing mail server are:

Account Information

• Description: UQ (You can use whatever you like)
• Address: smtp.uq.edu.au

Advanced

• Make sure the “Use default ports” option is selected
• Make sure the “Use secure sockets” option is selected
• Authentication: Password
• Username: nnaperso (Your normal UQ username)
• Password: ******** (Your normal UQ password, but you will need to enter  and save it here unless you want to enter it every time you send mail).

iCal & Address Book

In Entourage 2008, go to General Preferences–>Sync Services

• Make sure “Synchronise Contacts with Address Book and Mobile Me” is selected (You do not need to be using Mobile Me for this to work)
• Address Book: Contacts [a.person@uq.edu.au] (Choose the name of your Exchange account in Entourage (this will be automatically populated by Entourage with the name of your account, by default ” a.person@uq.edu.au”. The point is not to choose Address Book [On My Computer])
• Make sure “Synchronise Events and Tasks with iCal and Mobile Me” is selected (You do not need to be using Mobile Me for this to work)
• Calendar: Calendar [a.person@uq.edu.au] (Choose the name of your Exchange account in Entourage (this will be automatically populated by Entourage with the name of your account, by default ” a.person@uq.edu.au”. The point is not to choose Calendar [On My Computer])

ADDITIONAL SETTING OPTIONS

You may also want to prevent Mail from automatically syncing with all the Public Folders on the Exchange Server, which wastes time, slows down Mail, and wastes space.