With the Microsoft Exchange client and Microsoft Mail workgroup postoffice, you can send and receive mail while working away from the office. While offline, you can compose or reply to mail, and then using a modem, telephone line, and Dial-Up Networking, you can establish a remote connection to your organization's network or to your computer, and send and receive mail.
Remote preview of mail.
After you dial in to the network, you can use Microsoft Mail to preview just the headers of new mail messages. That is, you can see who has sent you a message, the subject of the message, the size of the message, and the estimated time it will take to download it. This saves you time and disk space by allowing you not to download unnecessary files. You can also use remote mail when connected to Microsoft Mail on the LAN.
Selective download.
After you retrieve headers, you can mark messages to download or to delete. You can stay on the line after retrieving headers, or call later to download selected messages.
Dial-Up Networking.
The Microsoft Exchange client relies on Dial-Up Networking to connect remotely to postoffices. Because Windows 95 supports the TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, and NetBEUI protocols, you can use Dial-Up Networking to dial into many types of remote access servers to access your postoffice. For information, see Chapter 28, "Dial-Up Networking and Mobile Computing."
Offline use.
You can compose and address mail offline, that is, while disconnected from a network. Messages are queued up in the Microsoft Exchange outbox until the next time you connect. You can also download a copy of the Microsoft Mail Post Office Address List onto a portable computer for addressing messages when working at a remote site.
Scheduled connections.
You can dial in as needed to retrieve mail remotely, or you can set up scheduled connections to dial in at a specific time or at regular intervals.
Modem sharing through TAPI.
Microsoft Exchange uses the Windows 95 telephony applications programming interface (TAPI) to dial and retrieve mail remotely. TAPI allows applications to share a modem by arbitrating modem requests among applications. For example, configuring a modem to receive incoming faxes does not prevent you making a call to download mail. Microsoft Exchange also uses the TAPI Dialing Properties tool to handle multiple locations, hotel dialing prefixes, and credit card calls. For more information, see Chapter 25, "Modems and Communications Tools."