The UNC email server, which is called Exchange, is being upgraded from version 2010 to 2013 on June 8, 2016 starting at ~8 pm.  There will be several email notes from OIS/ITS about this, and coincidentally and ironically there has been a recent burst of email phishing attempts (see http://its.unc.edu/phish-alerts/ for examples of what not to respond to). Note that emails from OIS/ITS emails will not request users to enter usernames or passwords or other credentials.

 

Other points worth noting:

 

The client software on your computer after the upgrade can be Outlook 2010, 2013 or 2016 (Outlook 2007 will not work after next Wednesday, June 8).

 

Webmail (https://outlook.unc.edu/) will run off the 2013 exchange server after next Wednesday so may look a little different.

 

before 8 pm next Wednesday users should shut down Outlook mail on their computers and also log out from Outlook webmail. The upgrade will take a few hours on the Exchange server, and email may go a little crazy during that time, especially searching your mail folders.  Not running email will help the upgrade go faster.

 

Smart phones may need different actions and I'm not sure what is best to do for them.  Maybe not much to do at all, except killing the mail app if it is running.  It may be prudent to turn off Exchange mail, calendars, contacts in the phone's Settings, .etc.

 

The first time you read email after the 8 PM June 8 upgrade you may notice that it takes quite a long time to start up.  It is best to let it start up and be patient – don’t kill the program.  Your mail boxes are being re-indexed and calendars & address books resynchronized. 

 

The next major email upgrade at UNC is to Office 365 in 3-9 months (not announced by ITS/OIS yet).  Webmail access will work much the same.  But for non web page access Outlook 2016 client software will have to be used (Outlook 2010 and 2013 and previous version will not work).  This is a compulsory upgrade for everyone using UNC email.  It is best to start planning to upgrade to Office 2016, which is a free upgrade for UNC computers.