ARCHIVED: In Outlook Web App, what is the Remote Document Access feature?

Note: OWA now has the same functionality across major browsers in most cases; see In Outlook Web App (OWA), what are the "Premium" and "Light" interfaces? For more information on using OWA, with your Inbox displayed, click ? (the question mark) at the top right.

In Exchange 2007, you can access files shared on a SharePoint server or through a normal Windows fileshare using the Remote Document Access feature of Outlook Web App (OWA). This allows off-campus users access to shared files without the need to connect to VPN. Basically, this feature mimics some (although not all) aspects of Windows SMB file and folder sharing, but it does so through the OWA interface. The mimicry is not perfect; for example, when viewing a shared folder's contents, you do not have drag and drop capabilities or any right-click context menus. You only have a list of files, but you can call up that list through OWA from anywhere, even off campus. With Windows file and folder sharing, you either need to be on the same network as the computer sharing the items, or you need to have a VPN connection established.

The prerequisites for Remote Document Access are:

• Outlook Web App running in an Exchange Server 2007 environment
• A computer and browser combination allowing access to the OWA Premium interface
• Either a file shared through SharePoint Services or one shared using Windows File Sharing on a computer joined to the Active Directory.

To access a file remotely though OWA:

1. Log into Outlook Web App.
   
   
2. In the lower left of the screen, click Documents.

   Note: If you do not see this choice, make sure you are using a browser and operating system combination capable of displaying the OWA "Premium" interface. These instructions will not work through the "Light" interface". See In Outlook Web App (OWA), what are the "Premium" and "Light" interfaces?

3. Near the upper left, click Open Location.
   
   
4. In the Open Location dialog box, enter either the SharePoint site link, or the UNC path for the share. For example, if the document you want to access is on a SharePoint web site, you'd enter the URL for that site: https://sharepointsite.ads.iu.edu/

   Replace sharepointsite with the name of the SharePoint web site.

   If it is a simple windows share on a computer named dvader.ads.iu.edu, enter the following:

   \\dvader.ads.iu.edu\

   If you know the document name, you can put it at the end of the URL or UNC path. For example, if the name of the Microsoft Word document you want is shared_document.doc, enter:

   https://sharepointsite.ads.iu.edu/shared_document.doc

   Again, replace sharepointsite with the name of the SharePoint web site.

   For a UNC path, enter:

   \\dvader.ads.iu.edu\shared_document.doc

   Then click Open.

You will see either a list of all the viewable files in the shared folder at that point, or if you specified the filename, you will receive a prompt to either save or open the document. Either choice is valid, but saving the document locally is a safer choice; if something should happen, such as a power outage or a Windows problem, the document will be saved to the hard drive and still be accessible.

If you get an error:

• Make sure you entered the proper URL or Windows UNC path. For Windows UNC paths in particular, remember that you must enter \\ (two backslashes), not // (two forward slashes), and that you'll need to make sure you know the proper name of the computer. For example, a computer in a residence hall that ran Get Connected will have a "bl-rh" or "in-rh" in front of it. Someone knowing that computers after Get Connected are named after the owner's username may enter \\dvader.ads.iu.edu\shared_document.doc instead of \\bl-rh-dvader.ads.iu.edu\shared_document.doc. Make sure you know the exact name and path.
  
  
• Double-check spelling. It is very common to enter ".iniana.edu", or ".indina.edu" instead of ".indiana.edu", or to enter the wrong domain (e.g., ".indiana.com") by mistake.
  
  
• In the case of a Windows share on a UNC path, make sure the computer in question is joined to Active Directory. Not all computers on the IU network are.

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