Installing and Configuring Zimbra Connector Outlook (ZCO)

Preparing to Install ZCO

If you are running anti-virus software, the initial sync might be very slow. To speed up the process, turn off this option before installing ZCO and your initial synchronization.

You must have administrative privileges on your computer to install ZCO. If you do not, you can obtain administrative privileges temporarily from your system administrator.

Before you begin to install ZCO, make sure you know the following information. This information is used to create an Outlook mail (MAPI) profile for ZCO to allow ZCO to connect to your Zimbra Server Account.

  • The Zimbra server host name – zmail.bedinger.com
  • Whether the server requires a secure connection – YES
  • Your Zimbra email address – all lowercase
  • Your Zimbra account password – case sensitive

Installing ZCO

To install ZCO, you must download the ZCO .msi installation file to your computer. The ZCO .msi installation file can be obtained from https://zmail.bedinger.com/downloads/index.html or your system administrator. The installer walks you through the process of installing ZCO.

  • If Outlook is open, close it.
  • Download the ZCO .msi file from https://zmail.bedinger.com/downloads/index.html
  • Double-click the ZCO .msi installation file on your computer.
  • Click Run to execute the installer.
  • Click Next.
  • Read the end-user license agreement and click I accept the terms in the License Agreement.
  • Click Next.
  • To begin the installation, click Next.
  • When finished installing, the Installation Complete dialog displays. Click Close.

Creating a ZCO Profile

Microsoft Outlook works with what are known as mail (or sometimes “MAPI”) profiles. You can view profiles that are configured on your machine by using the Mail option in the Windows Control Panel.

A profile contains information about what server and which account Outlook should synchronize with. You can have multiple profiles to manage different email accounts. For example, you might have a profile for your work-related email account and another for your personal email account.

Therefore, before you can use Outlook with your Zimbra account, you need to configure a ZCO mail profile.

If there are no existing Zimbra profiles, the ZCO installer automatically creates a ZCO profile called “Zimbra”, but you will still need to enter settings such as the server name, user name, and password into this profile.

To create a ZCO Profile:

  • Open Outlook.
  • Choose the profile called “Zimbra”. Outlook displays the Zimbra Server Configuration Settings dialog.
  • Enter the Server Name: zmail.bedinger.com
  • Leave Use Secure Checkbox selected
  • Enter your Zimbra email address.
  • Enter your email password.
  • Click OK

You are all set up.

Outlook starts and begins fetching your account data from the server and storing it in your ZDB. Depending on the size of your mailbox, this can take up to an hour.