Outlook 2013 – Synchronisation

If you have set up your MailPro account in Outlook 2013, you can start the synchronisation of the calendar and contacts with the following steps:

1. Start synchronisation

Before starting synchronisation, we recommend installing the Outlook plug-in.

Then click on Options under File.

2. Outlook options

Select the Advanced menu item on the left and look for International options on the right – this is located some way down the list. There, set the preferred coding for outgoing vCards to Unicode (UTF-8). This setting helps prevent problems that can arise with synchronisation of contact data containing umlauts and other special characters.

3. MailPro calendar view

For the synchronisation of the calendar, you need the WebDAV URL through which the calendar can be accessed. To do this, log in at https://mailpro.hoststar.at in your web mail, click on the Calendar menu at the top and then under MY CALENDARS, on the calendar you wish to synchronise, right on the cog icon.

4. Calendar URLs

You can ignore the first two calendar URLs. Only copy the address denoted as Calendar URL. For the standard calendar, the URL essentially always has the same format:

Without SSL: http://mailpro.hoststar.at:8008/calendars/email@domain.name/calendar/
With SSL: https://mailpro.hoststar.at:8443/calendars/email@domain.name/calendar/

5. Copy calendar

As a precaution, first create a backup of your existing Outlook calendar. To do this, right-click on your calendar and then click on Copy calendar.

6. Copy folder

Select the very first entry in the list as the storage location for the copy and then click OK.

7. Copied calendar

The copied calendar should now be visible with the same name (appended with - copy) at the same location as the original. The copy is not required for the synchronisation. It serves purely as a back-up in case problems arise during the set-up.

8. Synchronise calendar

Now right-click on the calendar that you wish to synchronise and select the menu item Enable Sync with CalDAV at the very bottom.

9. cFos Outlook DAV

You now need the calendar URL that you previously copied from Webmail. Set the calendar URL under Folder URL. For User name, enter the email address that you entered for the mail configuration of Outlook. For Password, enter the password that corresponds to the email address.

Synchronize every determines how often (and whether) synchronisation should be carried out automatically. With the Manual sync only option, synchronisation only occurs when you click on the Sync All button. With Sync disabled on the other hand, the calendar will no longer be synchronised.

10. Sync All

If the data is correct and the synchronisation interval is set to the desired value, click on the Save button and then close the Folder setup window. You can then test the synchronisation straight away by clicking on the Sync All button. In the Start tab, the button should be on the right-hand side.

11. First synchronisation

If calendar entries have already been made in Webmail and the synchronisation works, you should see entries in your Outlook calendar within a few minutes. If a new window appears with an alert, there is a problem. In this case, please report the error message to support@hoststar.at.

12. Integrating another calendar with a different owner

To integrate someone else’s calendar, the necessary permissions must first be set in Webmail to allow you access (read and/or write permissions) to the calendar in question. For setting up in web mail, please refer to the Instructions for groupware functions in My Panel.

For setting up in Outlook, first create a new, empty calendar by right-clicking on an existing calendar and then selecting New calendar….

13. Name the calendar

You can give the calendar any name you wish – for obvious reasons, it is preferable for the name to indicate the person, whose calendar is connected.

14. Get the calendar URL

Now, you need the calendar URL from Webmail. As described before, these instructions assume that you have already established a link to another calendar via Webmail. Underneath your own calendar, you should see other calendars displayed as SHARED – xyz@domain.com.

Select the calendar you wish to access via Outlook and then click on the cog icon.

15. Copy the calendar URL

Because this is a shared calendar, the calendar URL will look different in this case. You can ignore the first two calendar URLs. Only copy the address denoted as Calendar URL once again to the configuration of the Outlook plug-in.

Without SSL: http://mailpro.hoststar.at:8008/calendar-delegation/29/calendar/
With SSL: https://mailpro.hoststar.at:8443/calendar-delegation/29/calendar/

16. Activate synchronisation

Right-click on the newly established, empty calendar and select Enable sync with CalDAV.

17. Add the calendar URL

Add the previously copied calendar URL to Folder URL. Input the login details from your own e-mail address into the User name and Password fields. Even when you access someone else’s calendar, you will only ever need your own login details.

18. Create backup of previous contacts

Before setting up the synchronisation of contacts, you should also create a backup of existing data. To do this, right-click on your Contacts folder and select Copy folder.

19. Define storage location for the backup

Select the very first entry in the list as the storage location for the copy and then click on OK.

20. Check backup

The copied contacts folder should now be visible with the same name (appended with - copy) at the same location as the original. The copy is not required for the synchronisation; it serves purely as a back-up in case problems arise during the set-up.

21. Activate synchronisation

Right-click on the contacts folder to be synchronised and select Enable sync with CardDAV.

22. Compose contacts URL

The URL for accessing contacts is unfortunately not directly visible in Webmail, but is composed as follows:

Without SSL: http://mailpro.hoststar.at:8008/addressbooks/email@domain.name/
With SSL: https://mailpro.hoststar.at:8443/addressbooks/email@domain.name/

Replace the email address shown in grey with your own and enter the resulting URL in Folder URL. Input the login details from your own email address into the User name and Password fields.

23. Synchronise contacts

A subsequent test with the Sync All button should result in at least one new contact appearing, because your own email address is automatically included in the address book as soon as a MailPro account is created. If this test runs successfully, the set up of contacts and calendar synchronisation in Outlook is complete.