Windows and Macintosh Exchange clients interoperability (253902)

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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:

  170061 XCLN: Readme.txt for Msoutl32.dll

  140404 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:

  197450 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:

  195813 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:

    195813 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:

    170061 XCLN: Readme.txt for Msoutl32.dll

    140404 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:

    197450 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:

    195813 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:

    170061 XCLN: Readme.txt for Msoutl32.dll

    140404 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:

    197450 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:

    187836 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: