One of my favorite little “almost hidden” features of Kerio Connect is it’s excellent implementation of ActiveSync for mobile devices.  Let me explain.

Normally, when using your favorite mobile device with ActiveSync to access your Exchange account, you are only able to see your own account folders (your email, your calendars, your Contacts). Of course, you can also access and search the Global Address Book.  Meanwhile, back on your computer, you are able to see all of your company’s Public Folders and Calendars, and even your co-worker’s mail folders, calendars, and address books (at least those who’ve been sharing things with you).

It’s just not fair that you can’t see these “extras” on your phone or iPad.  That’s what Kerio thought as well.  Let’s give the people what they want!   OK, but wait, there’s more.  Not only can you gain access to these “extras”, you can also use the same great feature to hide any of your own folders.  So you can hide those archive folders that you really don’t need to see on your phone while adding your group calendar, and Joe’s project email folder.  Now we’re talking!!

So if you have a Kerio Connect account, and want to begin using this feature, just follow this easy guide.

Begin by logging into WebMail on your computer. Whatever you can see here, is what you can manage from your mobile device. Public folders are already here, but you will need to subscribe to any other user’s shared folders so they are visible here in webmail.

Using the Settings menu, select “Subscribe Shared Folders”. Then type in your coworker’s email address and hit return. Whatever they have shared to you will be available to subscribe to. Check those boxes for each folder, then click OK. Now you will see those folders in your WebMail folder list.

Now the fun part. Using your Mobile Device, open it’s web browser and go to your Kerio WebMail URL. You should see a similar login screen, but do not log in here. Look to the bottom of the login area for the phrase “Set up my phone”, and tap it.  Now tap on “Folders to sync” and log in with your credentials.

Finally, you’ll see the same folder list that you usually see in WebMail on your computer, but this time you can check and uncheck any of them.  This is where you manage things. Scroll straight to the bottom and check the box next to any Public folder, or coworker’s folders, then uncheck any of your extra folders you do not wish to see on your mobile device. When you’ve finished getting it all straight, tap the Save button.

That’s it, you are finished, and now all of those extra folders will show up in your mobile device’s appropriate application for email, calendars, and contacts.  See. I told you this would be cool.  You won’t see this feature on Microsoft Exchange. This is a Kerio exclusive.  Just one more reason to host your email with us on our RocketFast Kerio Connect server. Or talk to us about migrating your company to your very own Kerio Connect server. You will not regret it.