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xMail FAQ

  1. What is the xMail service?
  2. How do I obtain a xMail account?
  3. I can't get my xMail email to work on Outlook 2003!
  4. Can I access Outlook from the web?
  5. Can I use Outlook 2003 from off-campus to access xMail?
  6. How much space does my xMail account have? What is my quota?

  1. What is xMail?

    xMail is a fee-based email and calendaring service designed for highly integrated corporate-style messaging and calendaring based on Microsoft Exchange. It is aimed at University academic or administrative departments that want to provide such services to all or most of their users but want to avoid the significant up-front equipment, software, and management costs associated with running a Microsoft Exchange-based email service. xMail supports the full functionality of Microsoft Outlook, including calendaring, and can be used with the Blackberry mobile device, the new Mobile Windows devices, and many other small devices.

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  2. How do I obtain a xMail account?

    At present time, the xMail service is only available for faculty and staff of the University of Chicago. If you are faculty or staff you can see the costs and instructions for getting an account by looking here.

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  3. I can't get my xMail to work on Outlook 2003!

    Note that you must have paid for your xMail account before you'll be able to access the email. How do I obtain a xMail account? (above) has more info on that topic. Please check over your settings with our brief Outlook 2003 Setup for xMail walkthrough. Remember, if you are migrating to Outlook from another client, you'll need to consult your local support or take a look at our conversion guides.

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  4. Can I access xMail from the web?

    To access your xMail account from any computer you can go to https://xmail.uchicago.edu using Internet Explorer. This site will work in other browsers, but due to design constraints, we strongly recommend using only Internet Explorer.

    More about the different versions of the Outlook Web Access client (OWA) can be found here. A much more verbose comparison and description can be found here.

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  5. Can I use Outlook 2003 from off-campus to access xMail?

    We recommend that off-campus xMail users access their email via xMail's web interface rather than Outlook. However, if necessary, you can use Outlook 2003 from an off-campus location; you just need to make a VPN connection first. For help setting up a VPN connection, please look at our VPN setup documents. After you make the VPN connection, you can launch Outlook 2003 and log in. For the username type adlocal\cnetid and use your CNet password.

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  6. How much space does my xMail account have? What is my quota?

    At this time, all xMail accounts have a quota of one gigabyte. You can check to see how much space your xMail account is using by right clicking on your account name while in the Mail view, selecting "Properties..." and clicking on the "Folder Size" button. Make sure you view the "Server Data" tab: the figures on the "Local Data" tab refer to data stored on your computer and do not count toward your quota.

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Last updated: 1/30/07