Microsoft 365/Outlook Exchange ActiveSync

Hi Ulrica,

Thank you very much for your explanation.

So, as I explained, I'm able to connect via Exchange on my iPhone.

I also wanted to provide you with some history.

I've had my MS365 Family subscription for approximately 6 years running on a Windows system and used EAS to connect. I didn't have any issues for years, until about 18 months ago when a bug in a update caused EAS to stop working. MS acknowledged the issue and advised users to revert back to a specific version of the software. I was able to do that and got everything working again.

When MS issued an update a couple of weeks later, it created a sync issue with the calendar. I spent several hours trying to get it resolved with MS and never did. So, I continued to use the version we were advised to use until the update was issued, however, could not allow updates to the software as the calendar issue was still there. I would test it every 3 months or so.

The closest I came to getting assistance was when a MS fellow told me that the Personal side if MS365 does not handle EAS. He provided me with a link to contact the Business side of MS as he explained they are responsible for EAS. I worked back and forth with a MS fellow, providing him with all of the information he required. He acknowledged there was an issue and received approval to take it to the backend folks for further review. Prior to this step, he asked to sign into my MS account, which I allowed him to do. It was then that he discovered I had a Personal subscription and not a Business one. My case was dropped. It was frustrating to say the least.

I purchased a MacBook Pro in December of this year. Downloaded MS365 for IOS and could not connect using EAS, only IMAP. And still can't.

My apologies for the long winded communication. But I wanted to let you know what I have been dealing with for the last several months.

Thanks for taking the time to listen.

Barry

Calgary, Alberta

Canada

As far as I've seen the Calendar issue with Activesync was never fixed. We ended up recommending our users stop using the Calendar function entirely in Outlook and have been migrating whomever we can away from using Outlook. Unfortunately Outlook Add-ins still tie us to the product, otherwise we would've fully uninstalled by now.

Activesync in general has still been finicky and we've found that while moving between Win11 and Win10 systems with Roaming profiles that Activesync sometimes just breaks, requiring .OST files to be deleted in order to restart syncing for the current active session. It's hard to say for certain if this is related to the changes made in 2401 that initially broke Activesync but I suspect so from previous years of utilizing Activesync without issue.

Responding to this post as we just started to see more syncing issues today and I'm now investigating if 2504 broke the functionality yet again.

Dear Barry,

Thank you for your reply.

To be honest, this current section mainly provides support for personal/family products, and our knowledge about enterprise products may not be that comprehensive.

I suggest that you do not subscribe to the product for now. Instead, you should first seek pre-sales support on the product purchase page and ask clearly whether your service provider can switch to using the Exchange protocol. Then, consider whether to change the product. Dedicated pre-sales support staff will have a better understanding of the features of enterprise products.

Best Regards,

Ulrica.W - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Hi Ulrica,

Thank you very much for your explanation.

Question. If I was to switch my MS 365 subscription to a MS 365 Business subscription, would I be able to get Outlook with email, calendar, contacts and tasks on my Macbook Pro?

I'm able to connect my iPhone using Exchange. Shaw (now Rogers) is my service provider.

Thanks for your assistance.

Barry

Calgary, Alberta.

Canada.

Dear BarryManovich,

Thank you for posting in the Microsoft Community.

We are very sorry about the deletion of your previous post. This was likely due to the oversight of other support staff who misread the posting time and mistakenly thought that you had posted duplicate content within a short period, so they accidentally deleted your post. We sincerely ask for your understanding.

Regarding the issue you mentioned about wanting to use Exchange ActiveSync to synchronize data such as the calendar of your email account, please let me explain it to you.

Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) is a synchronization protocol developed by Microsoft, mainly used for synchronizing data such as emails, calendars, contacts, and tasks between mobile devices and Microsoft Exchange Server. This means that to use this feature, the account must be hosted on a server that supports the Exchange protocol, such as Microsoft Exchange Server or Exchange Online in Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365).

In simple terms, whether you can use Exchange ActiveSync depends on the synchronization protocol supported by the account. For accounts that are not under a Microsoft enterprise subscription (including the Microsoft Family 365 subscription you currently have), only Microsoft domain email accounts (Outlook/Hotmail/Live/MSN) support using Exchange ActiveSync to synchronize data such as calendars.

This is due to the design of the account type. For other third-party email accounts such as Gmail/Yahoo! Mail, in Outlook, only the IMAP/POP protocol can be used to synchronize emails only, and the IMAP/POP servers themselves cannot support full synchronization of data such as calendars.

I hope my explanations can provide you with some references. Feel free to post back if you need further assistance.  Wish you have a good day!

Best Regards,

Ulrica.W - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist