Hi chaps, I've just got WSS 3.0 rolled out across the company and everything is working fine and dandy. One request we've had is for certain lists/discussion forums to be able to receive emails directly as the users are getting alerts for some features mailed to them, and they'd especially like to email back to the discussion forums. I wasn't sure initially about implementing sharepoint recieiving email or if we really needed it, but we've been asked for it now so it would be great to give the users what they want as its them that's going to make this a really successfull deployment at the end of the day. Having looked at all the documentation for this on TechNet (Configure incoming e-mail settings (Windows SharePoint Services) and Plan incoming e-mail (Windows SharePoint Services) though it does look slightly overwhelming when you've got no-one else around to refer to with previous experience. Could some of you perhaps describe in a nutshell how it went for you or if I'm worrying about nowt and offer any advice to keep it as simple as possible? We are running Exchange 2003 as our email server on Windows 2003 and WSS3.0 is running on Server 2008 and we have a single domain. I'm assuming the Basic Scenario is really all we'd need but this link http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc287879.aspx makes it sound like there's a lot to configure in active directory... Be great to hear from someone who has gone through this before, as the lengthy step-by-steps (do i need all of them???) make it sound quite daunting. thanks to anyone who can share their experiences and advice!!!squeak squeak

ooh, l played with the set-up in a test system off the network and feel confident about going ahead, with the simpler approach - am i missing any great features out by going down this route though? I had already setup a few groups in active directory for applying site permissions and to set-up alerts and things, for which i had to assign an email address in sharepoint for these groups so they could be alerted as a group. It's not like we are a massive company by any means anyway, but does the Microsoft SharePoint Directory Management Service part manage these email groups for you, or just allow users to make their own distribution groups up?squeak squeak

Hi Squeak- The MS Directory Management Service does allow your end users to manage and create their own distribution groups that are tied into your AD. This allows your end users the ability to search for sharepoint lists as they would any other AD user when creating their emails. You can always add your sharepoint list email to any AD distribution group. For outgoing emails you should still be able to use your AD distribution groups. Kyle

Hi Squeak- The MS Directory Management Service does allow your end users to manage and create their own distribution groups that are tied into your AD. This allows your end users the ability to search for sharepoint lists as they would any other AD user when creating their emails. You can always add your sharepoint list email to any AD distribution group. For outgoing emails you should still be able to use your AD distribution groups. Kyle thanks for putting me straight kyle, very much appreciated!!!!squeak squeak