How-to: Use OX Functional Accounts with Email Clients like Outlook or Thunderbird

Knowledge Base Community
, , , ,
1

How-to

Users want to access OX functional accounts via email clients such as Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird. These accounts lack a password and require specific configuration to authenticate.

Investigation

OX functional accounts are special LDAP objects in the UCS (Univention Corporate Server) environment. They do not have a password field because they are not interactive user accounts. Authentication is delegated to a “master user” who has permissions to access the functional account’s mailbox.

Steps:

Configuration for Mozilla Thunderbird

  1. Add a Shared Mailbox (Way A):

    • Right-click your personal mailbox in Thunderbird.
    • Select Subscribe….
    • Click Refresh to load shared folders.
    • Check folders like Inbox or Sent under the functional account.
    • To send emails from the functional account, add its email address under Additional Identities in account settings.

  2. Add as a Separate Account (Way B):

    • Go to Account Settings > Add Account.
    • Enter:
      • Name: Functional account name (e.g., “Info-Team”).
      • Email Address: Functional account email (e.g., ).
      • Password: Your personal password.
    • Manually configure:
      • Incoming Server (IMAP):
      • Username: Your username@/ (use a slash / as a separator).
      • Outgoing Server (SMTP):
      • SMTP Username: Your personal username without the functional account suffix.

Configuration for Microsoft Outlook

  1. Using the OX Connector (MAPI-like):

    • The connector automatically detects permissions.
    • If the mailbox does not appear, mark it as an “Abonnement” in the OX App Suite web interface.

  2. Using IMAP (Without Connector):

    • Go to Control Panel > Mail > Email Accounts > New.
    • Select Manually configure server settings.
    • Enter:
      • Email Address:
      • Username: Your username@/ (use / or * if / fails).
      • Password: Your personal password.
    • For SMTP:
      • Check “Outgoing server requires authentication”.
      • Enter your personal credentials (without the functional account suffix).

Additional Notes

  • Authentication Delegation: The server (Dovecot) uses the master user’s credentials to access the functional account’s mailbox.
  • Syntax Requirements: Ensure the IMAP server is configured to accept / or * as a separator for shared mailboxes.
  • Permissions: A master user must have full access to the functional account in UCS or the OX App Suite.
  • Email Client Compatibility: Outlook requires specific syntax for IMAP, while Thunderbird is more flexible.