Syncing Zimbra to the iPhone/iPod Touch

NOTICE: Though Zimbra works fine with the iPhone and iPod Touch, we cannot guarantee support for your device. Any data loss due to incorrect setup is the user's responsibility. Also, any data fees incurred are the responsibility of the user, not Computer Services or SUNY New Paltz. If you have any questions regarding your data service, please contact your cellular carrier.

Warning: Make sure you have recently backed up your iPhone/iPod Touch though iTunes before setting up Zimbra. Failure to do so may result in data loss. To backup your data, open iTunes and right click your iPhone or iPod Touch and select backup. select backup.

Setup Instructions

To receive your Zimbra email on your iPhone/iPod Touch you must first setup a Zimbra mail account. To do this click the settings button located on the main page of your iPhone/iPod Touch.

and click on the Mail, Contacts, Calendars button.

Next click on the add account button. Then select Microsoft Exchange. You will then be asked for your email, username and password. Your email will be USERNAME@zmail.newpaltz.edu (where USERNAME is your username). Your username and password will be whatever you normally use to log into Zimbra. The description is the name the iPhone/iPod Touch will use for this email account. Though you do not need to use @zmail.newpaltz.edu as your e-mail address normally, it is required for the iPhone/iPod Touch setup. After you are done inputting the information click the next button located in the upper right hand corner. At this point you may be prompted to accept a certificate of authentication. If authentication window pops up select accept. You will notice that a new window box has appeared asking for the server. Input zmail.newpaltz.edu and select next.

Warning: Please read the following lines before clicking save.

You will then be prompted to select the features of Zimbra you would like to sync to your iPhone/iPod Touch. If you choose to select mail Zimbra, a new folder will be created for your Zimbra email.

If you choose to sync your contacts to Zimbra, you will prompted with a message that all of you current contacts will be deleted. This is because when the iPhone/iPod Touch is synced with Zimbra, both Zimbra and iPhone/iPod Touch addresses books must be identical. At this point you have two choices. Simply don't sync contacts and use the web interface to retrieve contacts when necessary (Steps to do this shown at end). Alternatively you can choose to sync your iPhone/iPod Touch contacts with Zimbra and use Zimbra as your only address book. If you choose to do this, you should turn off syncing for now and add all of your iPhone/iPod Touch contacts to Zimbra before syncing.

Calendars work the same way as contacts. If you sync your calendar to Zimbra it will overwrite your iPhone/iPod Touch calendar. You can then access your emails by click on the mail icon and selecting your Zimbra account. You may have to select accounts in the upper left to view this if you have multiple emails addresses set up.

Zimbra offers a iPhone/iPod Touch web interface where you can access your email, contacts and calendars. Simply open Safari on your iPhone/iPod Touch and go to zmail.newpaltz.edu. If you would like to make this more accessible bookmark the page to your desktop.

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