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I've tried some googling with mixed results. It looks like IMAP natively is not push but there is a "push-IMAP" draft? What does Exhcange Online use? Essentially I just want to know if using Exchange Online with Office 365 and outlook 2016 on a Windows desktop is a "push" or "pull" scenario. I'd like to know the default configuration and also if it supports push via configuration.

THE JOATMON
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2 Answers2

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It's a pull configuration by default with the Outlook client, but Exchange support via it's API (EWS) to enable push notification, also subscription, but as Microsoft state, the push notification need a third party web service to handle it.

The current status explained;

Mail, calendaring and CRM apps typically use notifications to update their local cache, corresponding client views, or backend system upon changes. Outlook supports both streaming and push notifications. Currently, push notifications are commonly used by mobile apps, as it doesn't require clients to poll for changes, and makes updates available to clients almost immediately.

Comparing with streaming notifications, push notifications require the client to provide its own web service in order to get notifications, while streaming notifications requires only a direct connection between the client and Office 365 streaming notifications service.

If you are curious you can see more push exemple there, for what an application can subscribe too.

THE JOATMON
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yagmoth555
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  • Thanks for the info. Maybe you can clarify something for me (or maybe it should be a separate question). If I hit CTRL+ALT+S in outlook, I get a "Send/receive Groups" dialog. It says an automatic send/receive is scheduled every 30 minutes, but I *know* it doesn't take that long to get emails. If someone texts/calls me and says they are sending an email, I always get it within a minute. Am I crazy or is something else going on here? – THE JOATMON Apr 30 '19 at 15:46
  • @ScottBeeson The info is hard to find, but you are right, but it would mean Outlook use the cached mode, as those setting are used in that case, (the download interval in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\\Outlook\Cached Mode). So if it's used, then it mean Outlook is in push. – yagmoth555 Apr 30 '19 at 16:35
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Someone mentioned “ MS has been moving its clients to the "streaming" system for about many years, with polling intervals set up in the client - about 1 minute is the smallest interval.”

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/get-push-email-with-office365-account.1899307/

Jayce
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