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Office 365 (Thunderbird) - Exchange Calendar and Tasks Add-On for Lightning

Best Effort Support Only

This document contains instructions on using a non-Microsoft email client, such as Apple Mail or Thunderbird. Microsoft does not recommend these clients for use with Office 365, and there are often significant limitations in client functionality as a result. Because of this, the DoIT Help Desk is only able to offer best effort support for these clients, and certain issues may require the use of a Microsoft client in order to be resolved. For more information on Office 365 client support, please see: Office 365 - Which clients/protocols will be supported?

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Testing Configuration and Versions:

The version of Exchange Calendar and Tasks Add-on for Lightning tested is 3.3.0. It was tested on Windows 7 SP1 running Mozilla Thunderbird 31.3.0 and Lightning 3.3.1. Mileage may vary with disparate releases or systems.

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Important:

This extension is not maintained by Mozilla. It is a third-party extension that provides Calendar, Tasks, and Contacts for the Lightning calendar add-on for Mozilla Thunderbird using EWS (Exchange Web Services) as the provider. Updates to the add-on are likely to add, remove, change, or break functionality. The information given below is for reference; it is not intended to provide any guarantee of functional level.

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Installing the Add-on:

1. Install the latest version of Mozilla Thunderbird.
2. Install the latest version of the Lightning add-on.
3. Download the latest version of the Exchange Calendar and Tasks Add-on.
   • Latest version 3.9.0: Ericsson/exchangecalendar
4. In Thunderbird, click on Tools | Add-ons
5. Click on the Gear icon (next to "Search all add-ons") and select Install Add-on From File...
6. Browse to the downloaded add-on in the previous step
7. Click Install to verify that you understand that you are trusting the add-on from a non-verified author
8. Click Restart now to restart Thunderbird and finish installation of the add-on

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Configuring to Access O365:

1. Launch Thunderbird
2. Click on File | New | Calendar
3. Select On the Network and click Continue
4. Select Microsoft Exchange 2007/2010 and click Continue
5. Choose any name and color for the calendar. Remove the check mar from Show Reminders check box if you do not wish to receive pop-up reminders to meetings
6. Select the email address that is associated with your calendar, then click Continue
7. Enter the following information for settings:
   • Server URL: https://pod51011.outlook.com/ews/exchange.asmx
   • Primary email address: netid@wisc.edu or first.lastname@wisc.edu or name@domain.wisc.edu
   • Username: netid@wisc.edu
   • Domain name: [Leave this blank]
   • Share Folder Id: [Leave this blank]
8. Click on Check server and mailbox.
9. You will be prompted for your password. Enter the password for the account you are configuring and click OK.
10. Make sure Calendar folder is selected for Folder base
11. Click Continue.
12. Click Done.

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Client Capabilities:

Key
	This client is able to perform these functions very well, with few or no issues.
	This client has some issues performing these functions. Certain tasks may require a different client or additional steps.
	This client is not able to perform these functions; a different client is needed to complete these functions.
	These functions have not yet been tested using this client.

Calendar Functions	Yes/No	Notes
Configure for access		This add-on is an Exchange Provider for the Lightning calendaring add-on for Thunderbird. Configuration is fairly straight forward, but it does first require installing Lightning. It's also highly advisable to configure the Office 365 account for IMAP email access.
Create a meeting/appointment/event
Modify or delete an event that you created
Modify or delete an event that another person created		There is an option to "Forward invite" to another user.
Modifications to event by organizer overwrite modifications by attendee(s)		N/A
Delete a meeting/appointment/event		During testing, ran into a bug with a recurring event that prevented me from deleting it from the TB calendar. Attempting to delete it would not do anything, though the event did not show up in any other client (Outlook, OWA, etc). The meeting was created by another organizer, where I first accepted once instance, then accepted all instances.
Set recurrence on events
Create a task		When configuring your account, select 'tasks' object instead of 'calendar'.
Modify a task (update status, change details)		Must first subscribe to "Tasks" folder. See "Create a task" above.
Delete a task		Must first subscribe to "Tasks" folder. See "Create a task" above.
Invite attendee(s) to events (within the system)
Invite external attendee(s) to events (other systems, e.g. Gmail)
Provide attendance response to non-recurring events		Like Outlook and OWA, you are given an option to "Edit the response before sending", "Send the response now", or "Don't send a response". All of these appear to functional optimally.
Provide attendance response to single instances of recurring events		You can either right-click on the event and choose from the "Attendance" menu under "This Occurrence" or double-click/edit the event and choose "Edit just this occurrence". Both work as expected.
Provide attendance responses to all instances of recurring events		You can either right-click on the event and choose from the "Attendance" menu under "All Occurrences" or double-click/edit the event and choose "Edit all occurrences". Both work as expected.
Check schedule availability of another user
Create a new calendar
Delete an existing calendar		Deleting a calendar in TB doesn't actually delete it from the server--just unsubscribes.
Display multiple calendars in one view
Change calendar views (e.g. daily, weekly)
Change calendar colors		Not synced with server. Color settings are local to TB on machine.
Set default calendar view
Show or hide declined events		Declined events are sent to your trash, and are no longer visible to any degree on your calendar.
Set popup notifications for events
Set email notifications for events
Set other calendar options or preferences		Various other options exist that are specific to Exchange calendars. This includes things like Out of Office messages, setting automatic responses, automatically removing cancelled meetings that you haven't responded to, removing confirmed invitations when they're cancelled, etc.
Set sharing permissions for calendars		You can view the sharing permissions for your calendars, but they cannot be set. The view given lists all the possible actions and whether they're "true" or "false" for the given user or group.
Set privacy settings for calendars		You can view the privacy permissions for your calendars, but they cannot be set. The view given lists all the possible actions and whether they're "true" or "false" for the given user or group.
Create events with limited visibility (e.g. show date and time only)		The three options provided by Lightning are "Public", "Show Date and Time Only", and "Private". Public is default which works, and Private will correctly set the "Private" event flag. In TB, "Show Date and Time Only" adds a unique icon, but I'm uncertain what effect it has, since there is no analogous option in Outlook/OWA. The event appears to be public in those clients.
Subscribe to shared Office 365 calendars		This appears to be possible, since you are prompted for the "Share Folder Id", but I cannot determine a way tof subscribing to succeed.
Subscribe to external .ics calendars
Remove a subscribed calendar
Invite/schedule a resource (conference room, projector, equipment, etc)
Create an event on behalf of a resource
Set sharing permissions for a resource
Set privacy permissions for a resource
Print calendars or events
Manage attachments on events
Auto-complete email addresses from server Global Address List		Unlike personal address book below, I could not find a way to subscribe to the GAL.
Auto-complete email addresses from server Personal Address Book		You must first subscribe to your personal contacts list! This is done by going to "Address Book" in TB and selecting "Add Exchange contact folder". You can name it however you'd like, but the server URL will need to match the server URL for when you configured calendar (https://pod51010.outlook.com/ews/exchange.asmx). Primary email address and username will also match the calendar configuration settings. Subscribed folder base should be "Contacts folder".
Auto-complete email addresses from local Personal Address Book

Contacts Functions	Yes/No	Notes
Configure for access		There are additional configuration steps needed to subscribe to Office 365 address books. They are described above in "Auto-complete email addresses from server Personal Address Book". This subscription does NOT give you access to the GAL.
View and use the Global Address List (GAL)
Create a personal contact stored on the server		Though you can see the address book, there is no option to create a new contact within it.
Modify a contact stored on the server		Attempting to edit a contact yields a read-only contact that cannot be modified.
Delete a contact stored on the server		Delete is greyed out.
Create and modify local contacts
Auto-complete addresses from contacts
Create server-side distribution list
Modify server-side distribution list

See Also:

• Office 365 - Support for non-Microsoft clients
• Office 365 - Which clients/protocols will be supported?
• Office 365 - Exchange Online Basic Authentication Overview
• Office 365 - Set up your mobile device or desktop client