How do I set up Exchange Online before changing DNS settings - Email and calendar - Office 365

I'm planning to switch to Exchange Online from another hosted Exchange provider, but before I change the DNS settings required to make the switch, I want to set up the new Exchange Online account on all my devices and computers so that it's all ready to go when the switch is made.

How do I set up an account in Apple Mail and in Microsoft Outlook without first changing the DNS.

The guides I have been reading says you should only have to provide the e-mail address and that will automatically configure the account but that would require that I first change the DNS settings and then I risk getting cut of my e-mail for a while.

I want to make sure everything is up and running before I change the DNS.

Any ideas? Where can I get the server name of my Exchange Online account?

All the best

Stefan

Hi Sean,

Thanks for your reply.

Hi Setfan,

I understand you prefer to set up the Office 365 account in Outlook before the domain name records are changed.

It may take a while to finish the DNS propagation. If you will change the log on account after adding your domain to Office 365, I suggest adding Office 365 account in Outlook after finishing the process. If you won’t change the Office 365 email address with the custom domain, you can add it by referring the following suggestions.

First, log into the Office365 portal, then hit on Outlook and wait for the Outlook Web App to load. Then press the help circle on the far right and select the ‘About’ option as here:

Now you’ll see the ‘About’ section which has a whole mess of detail few people really want to see. Your concerned with the ‘hostname’ bit of the setup, and that’s because you need to know what server your Office365 installation (in the cloud) is running on.

Once you have your hostname, you need to make a minor adjustment – adding the word ‘mailbox’ to the equation. You can use the host address. The host address looks like ‘https://hkxprd0610.outlook.com/owa’, your Exchange server addrss is really ‘hkxprd0610.mailbox.outlook.com’. Now, you have pretty much all the detail you need. (Please note: Don’t use these settings as you may not be on this server and any attempt to authenticate will fail.)

You can refer to this article to manually set up Office 365 account in Outlook.
http://community.office365.com/en-us/f/160/p/43450/146847.aspx#146847

You can refer to this article to set up Emails in Apple Mail.
http://help.outlook.com/en-us/140/cc511390.aspx

There are parts of the two links to tell about how to find server name.

Thanks,
Ray Yang