Messaging in MerusCase allows attorneys and staff to send and receive messages both to other users in their firm and to outside email recipients. User-to-user messaging is supported out-of-the-box with no additional configuration needed, along with sending messages to outside recipients via our Guest Messaging interface, which logs outside mail recipients in to a "Merus Lite" to view their message.
With a little configuration on their end, MerusCase users can also send messages as/receive messages sent to their own email addresses. To accomplish this, MerusCase functions as an email client (like Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, or the email app on your smartphone), rather than as an email service (like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, or Microsoft Exchange), working via the SMTP outgoing and POP/IMAP incoming email standards.
Setting up MerusCase to send messages via a web-hosted Microsoft Exchange email account
Microsoft Exchange provides email services for many small-to-medium-sized businesses, including many of our client law firms. MS Exchange servers may be set up on nearly any server-class computer for use in an office, but using that Exchange server OUTSIDE the office's internet network requires additional services and configuration of the exchange server, via methods like proxies and Virtual Private Networks. There are even companies that host exchange servers
Most Exchange servers are capable of working with third-party email clients, but they also frequently don't come with that functionality enabled by default. Microsoft calls these Exchange components "connectors," with POP3 and IMAP connectors for receiving mail and SMTP connectors for sending mail.
Given the IT and maintenance costs associated with keeping one's own mail service in-house, many firms who come to MerusCase with Exchange-based email want to get as much mileage as they can out of their investment, and we frequently get asked "Does MerusCase play nice with my Exchange server?" With the steps required to make Exchange work with any third-party email client (including MerusCase), a better question might be, "Does my Exchange server play nice with everything else?"
Given the IT and maintenance costs associated with keeping one's own mail service in-house, many firms who come to MerusCase with Exchange-based email want to get as much mileage as they can out of their investment, and we frequently get asked "Does MerusCase play nice with my Exchange server?" With the steps required to make Exchange work with any third-party email client (including MerusCase), a better question might be, "Does my Exchange server play nice with everything else?"
Written by Paul Bertucci, Migration Coordinator and Technical Support Engineer at MerusCase
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