What Are the Zoho Mail Exchange ActiveSync Settings?

The Zoho Mail service offers Exchange ActiveSync server access to push messages and to synchronize calendar, task, and contact information between Zoho's servers and your preferred email program.

This procedure works with any email program that supports Microsoft's ActiveSync protocol — sometimes generically called Exchange.

Exchange ActiveSync settings in Zoho Mail for iPhone and Android

Zoho Mail Exchange ActiveSync Settings

Use these settings for accessing incoming messages and online folders in an Exchange-enabled email program or mobile device:

Server address: msync.zoho.com
ActiveSync domain: leave blank
Username: your full Zoho Mail email address
Password: your Zoho Mail password — or an application-specific password if you've activated two-factor authentication on your account
TLS/SSL required: Yes

We've developed step-by-step tutorials to help you set up Zoho Mail on Android and to set up Zoho Mail on iOS.

You can only access the Exchange or ActiveSync protocols with your Zoho Mail account if you're a paying subscriber. Free accounts do not support these features.

Microsoft Outlook 2016 with Zoho Mail

Starting with Outlook 2016 and including Outlook 2019 and Outlook Office 365, the add-accounts wizard requires that a properly configured autodiscover entry guide the account set-up process for all Exchange Server accounts. In a nutshell, Outlook will look at the DNS records of the email address's domain to seek a file (often a CNAME or a SRV record) within DNS that points Outlook to a specific XML file or some other configuration record on the Exchange Server that contains the full setup data for the account.

Your Exchange administrator at Zoho must ensure that the correct configuration data resides on the server. If you're using a custom domain name, you may be able to get the connection to work by setting a CNAME record in DNS that points autodiscover.domain.com to msync.zoho.com with a TTL of 3600 — but people have had varying luck with that approach.

In Outlook 2013 and prior versions, you could manually enter Exchange data. With Outlook 2016, Microsoft deliberately removed manual Exchange configuration in favor of an autodiscover-or-nothing logic to account management.

Interestingly, Microsoft's mobile Outlook client — a well-regarded mail-and-calendar app for iOS and Android — does support the manual setup of Exchange accounts, regardless of the presence or absence of relevant autodiscover entries.

Several websites offer guidance about setting specific registry settings to disable the simplified account-creation wizard in the most recent versions of the Outlook desktop program. You can, indeed, use a registry setting to override this behavior, but be careful, as registry tweaks can adversely affect your computer in ways that may prove difficult to fix.

Plugins with Microsoft Outlook

Zoho offers its own plugin to sync calendar and contact information with Outlook, but the plugin does not officially support Outlook 2016 or more recent versions. Find it in your Zoho Mail control panel by going to Settings > Calendar > Synchronize > Microsoft Outlook.

Alternatives to Exchange ActiveSync with Zoho Mail

The benefit of ActiveSync rests in the push-focused nature of the technology combined with access to email, calendar items, contacts, and tasks. However, not all email clients handle ActiveSync, and in cases where ActiveSync registration fails (e.g., because of absent or misconfigured autodiscover settings), you can still approximate the convenience of ActiveSync by stitching the fabric together instead of buying the full, glorious tapestry.

You'll get most of the way there by using different services:

For mail: Use POP3 or IMAP as a receiving protocol and send using SMTP. Use SSL-encrypted mail if you can.
For calendars: Most mail applications support the CalDAV protocol — an industry standard for calendar-and-event data. Zoho supports CalDAV through the calendar.zoho.com address, using your full email address and your password or app password.
For contacts: Many mail applications support the CardDAV protocol, including Zoho Mail. The URL is contacts.zoho.com.

Outlook 2016 and newer versions support various free and paid plugins that support CalDAV and CardDAV support because Microsoft does not natively support these industry standards in its flagship desktop email client.