Directory Services Setup for Eudora 6.1

The Eudora Directory Services tool allows you to look members of the UIC community up in the UIC Ph (phonebook) server and then automatically create an Address Book entry for them and/or use the returned Ph entry to send email to them.

This is an aspect of Eudora that varies for Windows and Macs.

This page explains how to set Eudora Directory Services up to use the UIC Ph Directory. Ph works well with Eudora for Windows, but it pretty useless for Eudora for Macs.

Eudora also supports the use of LDAP, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. Instructions on how to set Eudora for Macs and Eudora for Windows up to use the UIC LDAP server are at Using the UIC LDAP White Pages. LDAP works fine for both Eudora for Macs and Windows.

When Eudora is installed on a computer running Windows Vista, you cannot set up Directory Services in Eudora because the New Database button does not work. A UIC user discovered that you can active that button by going to the Control Panel:

Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Turn User Account Control On or Off -> Uncheck the Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer box.

After you create an LDAP database, you can turn User Account Control back on and still create or modify your Directory Services databases.

1. Launch Eudora, then select Tools->Directory Services...
   
   
   
   
2. Click on Ph to highlight it and then click the New Database button.
   
   
   
   
3. In the Server name box, type UIC. Under Server Setup, type ns.uic.edu in the Host name: box.
   
   
4. Select the Attributes tab.
   
   
   
   
5. Click on email: to highlight it, then click the Edit button.
   
   
   
   
6. Change email: to read email_to:, then click the Add button.
   
   
   
   
7. Click on Phone(w) to select it, then type phone: in the Attribute Name: box, then click OK.
   
   
   
   
8. Next, click OK again.
   
   
   
   
9. Under Databases, you will now see UIC. Click the checkbox next to it.
   
   
   
   
10. At this point, you are all set up.

1. You can now run a query by typing a name in the Query box and clicking the Start button. A list of matching names appear in the top box below the Query, each item giving a summary of the person's information -- full name, email address, work phone, and the database the entry was found in. (Because we've only selected the UIC Ph sever, the Database will always be UIC.)
   
   Detailed information about the first person listed appears in the bottom box; to display the full Ph entry of another listed name, double-click the name in the results list.
   
   
   
   
2. Click the To, Cc, or Bcc buttons at the bottom of the Directory Services window to either add that person's email address in the corresponding address field of the message of the message you're currently composing, or, if you're not currently composing a message, to open a new message addressed to them.
   
   
3. To create an Address Book entry for a listed person, highlight their name in the results list in the top box and select Special->Make Address Book Entry....
   
   
   
   Eudora will fill out an Address Book entry for the person and show it to you. Make whatever changes you want to make, then click the OK button to save it.
   
   

The Ph server isn't of much use when using Eudora for Macs Version 6, because you can't tell Eudora that "name:" is the name, and "email_to:" is the email address, so Eudora can't pull out the name and email address for you to click on to use in an email message.

And add to that that you only have the choice of using either LDAP or Ph. You can't use both. And with LDAP, you do get to click on the To:, Cc:, and Bcc: buttons. So, you're better off using LDAP with Eudora for Macs: Using the UIC LDAP White Pages.

Here's how to set it up to use Ph anyway.

1. Open Eudora, then select Special -> Settings -> Hosts.
2. In Ph/LDAP Server: type: ns.uic.edu
   Note the Ph - slash - LDAP. You can define only one -- either or. (Put ns.uic.edu in for the finger server too, if you want to.)
3. Click OK.

Then to use Ph.

1. Select Window -> Directory Services.
2. Type your query in the Enter query box. Usually, it will be the person's last name, if it's unique.
3. Click Lookup.
4. The response to the query will appeary in the bottom of the window.
   
   The To:, Cc:, and Bcc: buttons are all greyed out because no name or email addresses are identified in the returned data.