Setting Up Text Messaging and Notifications

  • Article

Applies to: Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, Office 365 for enterprises, Microsoft Exchange, Live@edu

You can set up your e-mail account to send you text message notifications in a variety of situations. You can also set up your mobile phone to be able to send and receive text messages from your account.

Note

Sending and receiving text messages from your account requires either Windows Mobile 6.5 or Windows Mobile 6.1 with the Outlook Mobile Update. If you've applied the Outlook Mobile Update, you can send text messages from Outlook Web App and synchronize text messages with your mobile phone.

Text Message Notifications

You can set up your account to notify you about the following:

  • Missed calls and voice mail messages   You can receive a text message when you miss a call or receive a voice message.
  • Calendar updates   You can be notified by text message when your calendar is updated or when you receive a meeting reminder. You can also set up your account to send you a daily agenda by text message at a specific time of day.
  • E-mail updates   You can receive a text message when messages that meet specific criteria are received.

Turning On Notifications

Before you can choose which types of notifications to set up, you must turn on notifications. To enable turn on, use the following steps:

  1. In Outlook Web App, click Options > See All Options > Phone > Text Messaging tab.
  2. Click Turn on Notifications.
  3. In the Text Messaging dialog box, select your locale and mobile operator, and then click Next.
  4. Enter your phone number and click Next.
  5. Your mobile phone will receive a passcode. Enter that passcode, and then click Finish.

Missed Calls and Voice Messages

To set up your phone to receive text messages when you miss calls and or have voice mail messages, use the following steps:

  1. In Outlook Web App, click Options > See All Options > Phone > Voice Mail tab.
  2. In the Notifications section, choose one of the following options:
    • I only want to receive text message notifications when I have voice messages
    • I want to receive text message notifications about missed calls and voice messages

Note

If these options aren't available, turn on notifications using the instructions provided earlier.

Calendar Updates

To set up your phone to receive calendar update notifications, use the following steps.

  1. In Outlook Web App, click Options > See All Options > Phone > Text Messaging tab.
  2. Click Set up calendar notifications. If you don't see this link, notifications aren't set up yet. To set them up, click Set Up Notifications and follow the steps to turn on notifications that were provided earlier.
  3. Choose from the following options.
    • Notifications when my calendar is updated in the next <number of> days   After you select this check box, select from a range of 1 to 7 days. You can also choose to have notifications sent only during working hours.
    • Notifications for meeting reminders   After you select this check box, you'll receive reminders of upcoming meetings in a text message. You can also choose to have notifications sent only during working hours.
    • Daily Calendar agendas   You can choose the time of day you want the agenda delivered.
  4. Click Save.

E-Mail Notifications

To set up your phone to receive e-mail notifications, use the following steps:

  1. In Outlook Web App, click Options > See All Options > Phone > Text Messaging tab.
  2. Click Set up e-mail notifications using an Inbox rule.
  3. In the New Inbox Rule dialog box, set the following options.
    • When the message arrives, and   Select from a variety of options.
    • Do the following   The action Send a text message to is already selected. If your mobile phone number isn't displayed to the right of this option, click the Select one link to choose your mobile phone number.
  4. Click Save.

Sending and Receiving Text Messages

You can send and receive text messages from your e-mail account if you're using a Windows Mobile 6.5 phone or you've downloaded and installed the Outlook Mobile Update on your Windows Mobile 6.1 phone.

Enable Text Message Synchronization

To enable text message synchronization on a Windows Mobile 6.1 phone or a later version that's synchronized with a Microsoft Exchange account, use the following steps:

  1. On the mobile phone, select the Text Message application.
  2. To display the configuration page, select Menu > Tools > Manage SMS Sync.
  3. On the Manage SMS Sync options page, turn on SMS Sync by selecting either Inbox or Text Message. These are the two folders that can hold your text messages.
  4. To complete the setup, select OK.

Note

An update is required for Windows Mobile 6.1 phones. This update can be downloaded and installed on your phone after it's synchronized successfully with an Exchange server that supports SMS Sync.

Sending Text Messages from Outlook Web App

After you've set up your mobile phone to synchronize text messages with your e-mail account, you'll receive an e-mail message titled Send and receive mobile text messages on your computer. Text messages from your mobile phone will be synchronized to your mailbox and will appear in either the Inbox or the Text Message folder.

To start sending text messages from your e-mail account, close and reopen Outlook 2010 or Outlook Web App. To send a new text message, click Text Message in the New drop-down menu. When you click Send, the message will be synchronized from your mailbox to your phone and then sent through your phone.

Note

Normal text message fees apply and will appear on your phone bill.

Depending on your synchronization settings, there might be a short delay before your text message is sent from your phone. To avoid delays, set ActiveSync on your phone to synchronize items as they arrive instead of on a schedule.

To set ActiveSync on your phone to synchronize items as they arrive, use the following steps:

  1. On your mobile phone, select the ActiveSync application.
  2. Select Menu > Schedule to open the scheduling options page.
  3. Select As items arrive.
  4. Select OK.

Note

We don't recommend that you choose a synchronization schedule of as items arrive unless you have an unlimited mobile phone data plan.