ULB Exchange on Thunderbird

ULB Exchange on Thunderbird.md

So you want to use your professional @ulb.be email address in a non-Outlook application? Silly you, as if it would be straightforward and a well thought out entreprise-wide migration.

Easy, but not free way

Install the ExQuilla extension, then add your account through its dedicated menu in the options. By the end of the 30-days trial, you should receive a banner notification in Thunderbird to purchase a licence (10€/year).

Almost as easy and free

1. Install DavMail.
2. Do yourself a favor and autostart it at boot.
3. In DavMail settings, set the Exchange Protocol to O365
4. Take note of the default IMAP and SMTP ports (1143 and 1025 in my case). No need to change anything else.
5. In Thunderbird, create a new account and switch to Manual config.
6. As IMAP and SMTP servers, set localhost
7. Input the IMAP and SMTP port you checked earlier in DavMail.
8. Set your full @ulb.be email address as Username.
9. SSL and Authentication methods can be left to Autodetect. Those are only between Thunderbird and the local DavMail installation. There shouldn't be any use in encrypting your local traffic, but do as you please.
10. Re-test to make sure you set the DavMail settings correctly.
11. Done and enjoy.

Add your calendar

1. Check the Caldav HTTP port in DavMail settings.
2. In Thunderbird, create a new calendar On the Network.
3. Select the CalDAV format
4. Set the location as follows: http://localhost:1080/users/mail@company.com/calendar where 1080 is the port you checked earlier and mail@company.com is your @ulb.be email address.
5. You can leave the Username blank.
6. Upon finishing the setup, Thunderbird will prompt you with a login and password dialog, simply input your full @ulb.be email address and password.

Reference: davmail.sourceforge.net

Note that ULB provides free licenses for the Thunderbird add-on "Owl for Exchange". After installing the add-on, go to "Add new account manually" in the add-on settings and fill the form. Once added, the add-on will show something like "Your license is valid until 7.1.2023." I would guess that this will be automatically renewed but I can't be sure.

There is also another way if you are under Linux using the Evolution mail client. Install the apt package evolution-ews and that's basically it. All free.

Awesome, thanks for the info : )

For some reason, that still needs to be figured out, the DavMail method does not seem to work anymore.
However, the method using Thunderbird add-on "Owl for Exchange", described by @arovai, works fine.

leaving this here as it might be useful for the next ones: the OWL solution works smooth:

1. https://monulb.ulb.be/en/group/support/-/imap_mfa_en/2.1?redirect=%2Fen%2Fgroup%2Fstaff-site%2Fsearch%3Fp_p_id%3Dulb_search_web_portlet_SearchPortlet_INSTANCE_J3MrgrzJnIfG%26p_p_lifecycle%3D2%26p_p_state%3Dnormal%26p_p_mode%3Dview%26p_p_cacheability%3DcacheLevelPage%26_ulb_search_web_portlet_SearchPortlet_INSTANCE_J3MrgrzJnIfG_searchPages%3Dtrue%26_ulb_search_web_portlet_SearchPortlet_INSTANCE_J3MrgrzJnIfG_keywords%3Dthunderbird%26_ulb_search_web_portlet_SearchPortlet_INSTANCE_J3MrgrzJnIfG_searchDocuments%3Dtrue%26_ulb_search_web_portlet_SearchPortlet_INSTANCE_J3MrgrzJnIfG_searchSupportArticles%3Dtrue
2. https://support.ulb.be/group/support/-/owl4ulb_fr