There are instructions below you should read before your first sync!
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Any other incidentally-mentioned product names are trademark by their respective owner.
Thanks for choosing eXchange My Contacts! Hereafter referred to as XMC.
XMC is a Contacts Sync Provider for Exchange Web Service, hereafter EWS. This is a feature of Exchange Server 2007 and higher.
XMC works with the Stock Android Contacts Application, version 2.0 or higher. This is found on "Google-branded" devices.
Some OEMs customize the Contacts Application. XMC's Contacts features may not work properly on these devices.
You need Exchange Server 2007 or higher.
XMC is made up of these components:
XMC also uses these built-in features and applications:
You must have access to EWS, either over The Internet, or within your Office Network. Depending on Office Network firewall settings, you may not have access from The Internet.
Check with your Email or Network Administrator to find out if this feature is running.
If you use hosted Exchange, check with your provider for availability.
We cannot help with Exchange Server administration issues.
EWS should not be confused with Outlook Web Access (OWA). They are often deployed together, and are accessed the same way, via HTTP. Most Administrators will recognize OWA.
This is not a definative test: check with your Mail Administrator.
Conduct this test logged into the workstation and account you use Outlook with.
Using the Web Browser of a Desktop Computer. Visit the following URL (you must use https):
https://hostname/ews/exchange.asmx
And substitute your Exchange Server's DNS name for hostname. If you are unsure, try
mail.thedomain.com
If you are prompted for login credentials, or receive a blank page, not an error message page, you have access to EWS.
You manage your contacts with Outlook or Outlook Web Access, using the Contacts folder. XMC treats Exchange as the master source, and does not send local updates back to it.
Changes you make in Outlook get applied, subject to the Sync Interval setting in XMC, and network conditions.
This is the opening screen. From here, you can access the other top-level screens.
This screen uses the Web Browser to display the Sync Log. This is usually used for troubleshooting.
Oldest entries display first.
This screen lets you control application-wide settings, that affect all accounts.
How often to communicate with EWS, in minutes. The default value is 120.
This screen prompts for connection information, and allows you to test your connection.
Use your Windows Domain Credentials for the domain, username, and password. This is usually the same as your Office Computer's login, unless you connect to a hosted instance.
This screen displays two alternative views of the User Availability data.
This Subview displays the User Availability data as a Calendar Timeline.
The Calendar Timeline responds to touch events for scrolling; horizontal swipe scrolls time, vertical swipe scrolls users.
Use the dropdown list to control which timelines are displayed.
This Subview displays a scrolling list of the calendar events, using the same color-coding as the Calendar Timeline.
Select an item to download the content, and display the Body in an overlay window.
This screen prompts you for a search substring, and searches the following locations:
The results are displayed in a list, with the newest items first.
Select a result entry, to download and display the Body in an overlay window.
The results are displayed in a graphical tree format, collated by the Subject field. Any "RE:" or "FW:" prefix is ignored in the collation.
Tap a subject node, to scroll it into the center position.
Tap a result entry node, to download and display the Body in an overlay window.
This section describes how XMC interacts with the Contacts Application.
Please read this entire section before the first sync, so you can verify your Contacts are set up best for XMC.
XMC only communicates with EWS and updates your Contacts, while you have Sync Enabled.
XMC may not interact correctly with OEM versions of the Contacts Application.
XMC treats your Exchange Contacts as the master source. Make changes to contact data within Outlook or Outlook Web Access, not on your device.
The following data from your Exchange Contacts is managed:
This data may become merged by the Contacts Application with pre-existing contacts! In this case, you can manually Split the affected contacts.
XMC creates a default Contact Group called Everyone, that every contact is added to, even Exchange Contacts that have Categories.
To successfully obtain data from a contact's Exchange Calendar, you must select their Exchange Mailbox address as Email Address 1.
Important: This check is only made the first time the Contact appears! It is not checked on subsequent updates to email addresses.
Important: Use the Address List dialog to do this; do not type it in. Exchange sends the address in a different format than SMTP email address, and XMC relies on that to tell who your Exchange Mailbox contacts are.
A complete discussion is outside the scope of this document. Please refer to the help for your Contacts Application. This discussion applies to the Stock Contacts Application.
The Contacts Application supports the aggregation of Contacts, with multiple entries provided by multiple accounts.
One example is having both Google and Facebook account information for the "same" contact.
The Contacts Application tries to automatically aggregate this data, so you only see the name once in the list of Contacts. You can also manually control this, via Join Contact and Split Contact.
XMC adds another account into the pool of contact data providers that can be aggregated.
If you have double-contacts, you can Join them together, to avoid the "extra" being displayed.
Select the "master" copy, and join the copy from XMC to it.
If you have missing-contacts, they were probably Joined automatically by the Contacts Application.
Select that contact's details, and you should see an entry labelled with your XMC account. If you want to see both contacts, you can Split them apart.
The User Availability's current or next-upcoming calendar event is maintained. It is updated every 15 minutes from cached data.
The User Availability's Free/Busy data is used to maintain the Social Networking Presence. It is updated every 15 minutes from cached data.
The Free/Busy data is translated into Social Networking Status as follows:
The Sync Provider synchronizes with the Contacts folder of your Exchange Mailbox. If the Contacts Application requests a sync before the Sync Interval has expired, nothing happens.
The Availability Service connects with EWS and queries for User Availability, for all contacts with an Exchange Mailbox, i.e. the ones you see from Outlook's calendars.
The service has its own 15-minute clock-aligned timer (i.e. 00/15/30/45), and obeys the Sync Interval setting for connecting to EWS. However, it uses the cached User Availability to update Calendar Event and Presence information on every 15-minute interval.