Office 365 (Evolution EWS) - Client Capabilities

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?.

This document provides an overview of a range of functions and behavior when interacting with Office 365 using Evolution with the evolution-ews add-on. The functionality considered pertains to the Email, Calendaring, and Contacts portions of the Office 365 suite.

Key
This client is able to perform these functions very well, with few or no issues. 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 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. 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. These functions have not yet been tested using this client.

Email Functions Yes/No Notes
Client accessible per ADA guidelines These functions are untested.
Configure for access These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues. Version tested was Evolution 3.6.2 with the evolution-ews version 3.6 add-on installed. Depending upon your distribution, different versions of Evolution may be available that are compatible with other versions of evolution-ews. Your mileage may vary.
Send and receive These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Move message to a folder These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Create, rename, and delete folders These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Set sharing permissions for entire mailbox It is not possible to perform these functions. You can provide Delegation, which allows you to specify people that can send on behalf of you, but through testing, no way to share an entire mailbox could be located.
Set sharing permissions for folder(s) There are some issues with these features. Certain tasks may be impossible or problematic. This appears to function identically to Outlook. The menus and options for sharing are the same, and it will find all the correct permissions applied elsewhere, however, if you try to add a user to give permission to, they are not added to the list, making it impossible. You can only modify existing permissions.
Interact with a shared mailbox It is not possible to perform these functions. You can subscribe to other user's folders (see note below), but even if you have permission to do so, it doesn't seem possible to get their entire mailbox structure at once.
Interact with a shared folder These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues. In order to subscribe to a folder, you need to right-click on the account and choose "Subscribe to folder of another user". It adds subscribed folders under a new folder tree, "Foreign Folders". There seems to be a limited subset of folders that can be subscribed to.
Authenticate and send as another user It is not possible to perform these functions.
Send on behalf of another user (change identities) It is not possible to perform these functions.
Set and modify server-side filters There are some issues with these features. Certain tasks may be impossible or problematic. Out of Office replies are set on server side and correctly interpreted by Outlook. The menu is actually completely identical to that of Outlook. Could not find means to create any other type of filters.
Set and modify client-side filters These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Expand recipients from server-side distribution list It is not possible to perform these functions.
Forward email inline These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues. Additional option to "Forward as Quoted", which appears to be a forward inline with text specially quoted.
Forward email as attachment These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
View full headers of a message These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Export email (to import elsewhere) These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Detach attachments from email messages It is not possible to perform these functions. "Detach" functionality exists, but it doesn't work properly. Message that I removed the attachment from seems to have just disappeared from Evolution's Inbox, though it still shows in other clients. Message returned (with attachment) when I restarted the client.
Set tags, flags, or categories on email These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Print a message These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Auto-complete email addresses from server Global Address List These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Auto-complete email addresses from server Personal Address Book These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Auto-complete email addresses from local Personal Address Book These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Recover deleted emails from Deleted Items It is not possible to perform these functions.
View emails in threaded or conversation view These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Set reminder on email messages There are some issues with these features. Certain tasks may be impossible or problematic. These may be local only. I created a "follow up" on an email and it doesn't appear to have synced to the server, but I may be incorrect.
Create an event from an email message These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Use a Digital ID to digitally sign an email These functions are untested.
Set a priority on an email message These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.

Calendar Functions Yes/No Notes
Configure for access These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Create a meeting/appointment/event These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Modify or delete an event that you created These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Modify or delete an event that another person created It is not possible to perform these functions. Attempting to change any fields yields the error: "Cannot modify calendar object: The specified object was not found in the store."
Modifications to event by organizer overwrite modifications by attendee(s) It is not possible to perform these functions.
Delete a meeting/appointment/event These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Set recurrence on events These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Create a task These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Modify a task (update status, change details) These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Delete a task These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Invite attendee(s) to events (within the system) There are some issues with these features. Certain tasks may be impossible or problematic. You can invite attendees and put them into "required/optional/chair" participant groups, but you can't actually see their participation status if they respond.
Invite external attendee(s) to events (other systems, e.g. Gmail) These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Provide attendance response to non-recurring events It is not possible to perform these functions. No means of supplying an attendance response could be identified.
Provide attendance response to single instances of recurring events It is not possible to perform these functions. No means of supplying an attendance response could be identified.
Provide attendance responses to all instances of recurring events It is not possible to perform these functions. No means of supplying an attendance response could be identified.
Check schedule availability of another user There are some issues with these features. Certain tasks may be impossible or problematic. The Check Availability function exists, but it always shows "No Information".
Create a new calendar These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Delete an existing calendar These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Display multiple calendars in one view These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Change calendar views (e.g. daily, weekly) These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Change calendar colors These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Set default calendar view These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Show or hide declined events It is not possible to perform these functions.
Set popup notifications for events These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues. Notification default is a popup, but other options are to "Play a sound", "Run a program", or "Send an email", but send an email is greyed out.
Set email notifications for events It is not possible to perform these functions. Notification default is a popup, but other options are to "Play a sound", "Run a program", or "Send an email", but send an email is greyed out.
Set other calendar options or preferences These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Set sharing permissions for calendars It is not possible to perform these functions. There is a full Outlook-mirroring permissions window, but attempting to change any yields an "Internal Server Error"
Set privacy settings for calendars It is not possible to perform these functions. There is a full Outlook-mirroring permissions window, but attempting to change any yields an "Internal Server Error"
Create events with limited visibility (e.g. show date and time only) There are some issues with these features. Certain tasks may be impossible or problematic. There is a "show as free/show as busy" option, but it does not seem to function. There is not any option to choose how it displays in a subscription view.
Subscribe to shared Office 365 calendars It is not possible to perform these functions.
Subscribe to external .ics calendars These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Remove a subscribed calendar These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Invite/schedule a resource (conference room, projector, equipment, etc) These functions are untested.
Create an event on behalf of a resource These functions are untested.
Set sharing permissions for a resource These functions are untested.
Set privacy permissions for a resource These functions are untested.
Print calendars or events These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Manage attachments on events These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Auto-complete email addresses from server Global Address List These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Auto-complete email addresses from server Personal Address Book These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Auto-complete email addresses from local Personal Address Book These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.

Contacts Functions Yes/No Notes
Configure for access These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
View and use the Global Address List (GAL) These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Create a personal contact stored on the server These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Modify a contact stored on the server These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Delete a contact stored on the server These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Create and modify local contacts These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Auto-complete addresses from contacts These functions are performed very well, with few or no issues.
Create server-side distribution list It is not possible to perform these functions.
Modify server-side distribution list It is not possible to perform these functions.