do I have to pay for an exchange account in outlook 2007

[Rowdyron]

We have windows 7 Pro.and outlook 2007and we want to use the "away from
office" feature. I cant get a straight answer from Microsoft. I simply want
to know if we have to pay for Exchange to make it work an how do we do it?
Ron

 

[Roady [MVP]]

Yes, but you can opt to either have your own in-house Exchange server or
choose for a Hosted Exchange solution to get an Exchange account.

Note that many ISPs also offer such an "Away" option for POP3 and IMAP
accounts. The only downside is that you'll have to enable/disable it via
their web interface of you mailbox and not via Outlook.

 

[dlw]

"Exchange" refers to a business class email system, and yes, you would have
to pay for the Exchange Server software, as well as have a server class
machine to run it on. Unless you are a business, it is probably not an
option.

 

[Gordon]

"Exchange" refers to a business class email system, and yes, you would
have
to pay for the Exchange Server software, as well as have a server class
machine to run it on. Unless you are a business, it is probably not an
option.

But a cheaper option is "Hosted Exchange" - where the Mail provider runs the
Exchange Server.
1 and 1 have such a service - I expect many other mail providers do as well.

 

[VanguardLH]

We have windows 7 Pro.and outlook 2007and we want to use the "away from
office" feature. I cant get a straight answer from Microsoft. I simply want
to know if we have to pay for Exchange to make it work an how do we do it?
Ron

You could pay for Exchange but then you will also have to learn how to setup
and maintain Exchange. Do you have the skills set necessary of a system
administrator to manage an Exchange server? If you did, and if you were
willing to pay for a huge overpowered solution for yourself, you wouldn't be
asking here about Exchange.

Why not use the auto-responder function that may already be supplied by your
e-mail provider? Use the webmail interface to your account and check its
option to see if there is an auto-responder feature (might be called
"vacation response", "out of office", "away responder", or something else
but you'll be able to recognize the feature by its description on how it
will send out auto-replies). You did not identify your e-mail provider so
someone that also uses the same one could educate you on whether or not that
same e-mail provider provides an auto-responder.