Outlook Web Access Light - Firefox, Safari, and browsers other than Internet Explorer

OWA Light is the solution for all browsers and operating systems other than IE6 or IE7 on Windows. The following is preview of the improvements that were made to the product formerly known as " OWA Basic."

The first thing you'll notice in Microsoft Exchange 2007 OWA Light is the redesigned logon interface.

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By default, Outlook Web Access Light will be checked and greyed out/unchangeable. The only instance where you will be able to choose to use the premium/full featured version of OWA is if it is used with Internet Explorer 6 and above.

Once logged onto OWA Light, you will notice a redesigned user interface:

Differences between OWA Light (Non Internet Explorer Clients) & Premium (Internet Explorer 6 and above)

What you get in OWA Light:

• Faster logon times for slow connections
• Works across a diverse set of OS/Browser combinations, including the following:
  • Operating Systems: Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Window ME, Windows 98, Mac OS X, and Linux
  • Browsers:: Firefox, Safari, Opera, Netscape, IE7, IE6, IE5.5, IE5.01 and IE5.2 on Mac
• Works in locked down browser modes, such as kiosks and those with strict pop-up blocking policies.

The big things that are in Premium that are not in Light:

• Tasks module
• Only the text of the task items can be read through OWA Light; task specific properties will not necessarily be available.
• Search for mail items; For Beta2, OWA Light users only get search in Contacts and Address Book. We will have mail search for RTM.
• Reminders
• HTML composing of messages; compose in Plain Text only; Users still get HTML formatting for reading
• Flags and Categories
• Weekly view in Calendar; Light is daily view only
• Free/Busy grid in Appointment/Meeting Scheduling Assistant.  You do still get "Suggested Times", which is much more pronounced in OWA Light, to help users, including blind and low-vision users, to schedule times that work well for everyone.
• Print
• Spell Check; There is a small mitigation here in that some browsers, like Firefox 2, have spellcheckers built in.
• Conversation View
• Account Quota information

Navigation

Some of the new improvements in the OWA Light for 2007 include the collapsible navigation area, the dropdown tree for viewing all folders, and the most often used folder list.

The navigation area can now be collapsed in the same manner that it can be in Premium, providing more space for the user's folders.

Mail

When a name entered into the recipient well can't be recognized, OWA Light will present the user with the possible options for the user to select the intended recipient or, if so desired, to remove the entry completely, using the [remove] link next to the name.

Address Book

A new feature found on the details page for address book entries is the Organization section, which displays the reporting hierarchy of the person being viewed.

Contacts

As that OWA Light is constrained in the number of lines that can be displayed in the main view, and can only show one number at a time, the user can set a default number when creating or editing the contact, ensuring that the phone number the user is most likely to be looking for is the one that is presented first.

Calendar

A user can only view a single day at a time in OWA Light. The scheduling area displays in one (1) hour increments, with half-hour markers. Category coloring is not available in OWA Light at this time.

New for OWA Light in Exchange 2007 is the Scheduling Assistant which is available when creating or editing an appointment or meeting request. The big difference for Light vs. Premium is the lack of a Free/Busy grid. Instead, Light displays a detailed breakdown of suggested times and rooms, including quality of suggested time (Great, Good, Fair, Poor), and a detailed listing of who is/is not available at the suggested time.