Newcastle University

Outlook Web App (OWA)

Outlook Web App (OWA) is a web based email client for Exchange 2010. It provides a feature rich email and calendaring client via a web browser.

It is accessible from the URL: https://owa.ncl.ac.uk

You will be presented with a login screen that looks like the following picture:

 

Log on with your University username and password.

• If you have public or shared computer selected, the system time-out will be 10 minutes of inactivity.
• If you select private computer, the system time-out will be 6 hours and the browser will remember your username.

OWA 2010 now works in premium client fashion with a number of browsers.

• Microsoft Windows
  • Internet Explorer 7 +
  • Mozilla Firefox 3.0.1 +
  • Google Chrome 3.0.195.27 +
• Apple
  • OSX Safari 3.1 +
  • Mozilla Firefox 3.0.1 +
• Linux
  • Mozilla Firefox 3.0.1 +

Other browsers will work with OWA in light mode. The light version of OWA is also useful in circumstances where low bandwidth is required.

The new version of OWA contains many new features that make the experience very close to that of Outlook full client.

Conversation View

The default view with OWA 2010 is ‘conversation view’. The new view groups together email conversations (it also includes items you have sent). Although conversation view can be a time-saver, it can be also quite confusing if you are not used to it.

 

If you see a little arrow next to a message (marked A), click it to expand the entire conversation (marked B). You can then select each message in the conversation. A tick will appear next to the message that is in focus.

Should you wish to disable Conversation View, click Conversations by Date (detailed 1) and de-select Conversation (detailed 2), your folder will revert back to a traditional view. You will need to do this on each folder that you wish to disable conversation view.

Open Shared Mailbox

If you have been assigned permissions, you can open other mailboxes in OWA. Navigate to the top right of the windows and click the small down arrow located to the right of your Display Name. A box should appear that allows you to enter the name of the mailbox that you want to open. You can either enter the email address, display name or username of the mailbox that you want to open.

 

Extended Calendar View

The calendar view in OWA2010 is far more sophisticated than previous versions.  It allows you to open additional calendars and share your calendar.

Click on the Share button.

 

The main options are to add a calendar and to share your calendar. If you select Add Calendar, you can select someone else in the organization, by clicking the Name button and searching for the appropriate person. It is important to note that they must have shared their calendar with you first.

 

After you've added the calendar, it should appear in your calendars list. You can group together calendars by right clicking the My Calendars list.

 

You can view multiple calendars side-by-side if you select the tick-box next to the appropriate calendars.

If you choose Share this Calendar, you can send an invitation, much like sending an email. The important element is to carefully choose what level of permission that you wish to give. Note: By default, everyone on the Exchange service can see the Free/Busy information of everyone else. This is in place to facilitate arranging meetings.

 

Single Page Message View

In OWA 2007 the mail view was split into pages of 50. This made navigation through a large mailbox quite laborious.

In OWA 2010, the mail view is one continuous list, like in the Outlook full client.