Like Outlook on Valium... slow!!
I found this discussion (apparently ongoing a while) and want to add my own experience. I have not used Entourage or anything else besides my ISP's web mail, and Outlook - for the past 10+ years. (Early 90's I used Eudora, true, then Outlook Express, then personal Outlook and then corporate Outlook, *all* on Windows). All my office and personal email was either sent to or forwarded to my accounts on Outlook. I used the organization tools and found it second-nature.
Now.... I have recently gotten my first Mac, state of the art and theoretically blazing - as it is in fact with most Apple Applications. But I wanted to restore my millions of emails in hundreds of folders (after my PC finally was given last rites and I decided to go with Mac) and debated Virtual Machine with all my Windows apps versus biting the bullet and "going native", sort of, and getting the new Office 2011 for Mac, reading generally good reviews. I decided to spring for the Office/Mac version and let the Mac do its stuff.
But my oh my it is SLOW as molasses on an Arctic tundra! How so? My most frequent activity, for example, is going through an inbox full of new mail and sorting into the right folders what I want to keep, deleting the gunk. Five minutes before posting this I received 3 copies of the same email (ironically from Nik Software describing issues with Mac Lion compatibility). So I wanted to delete the 2 extra copies and move one to my "Nik" folder. With Windows Outlook I'd just click and it's gone, instantly. With the Apple version it usually does not do anything at all for a while, no matter if I repeat the request to move to another folder, or if I do it from the main inbox page or while an individual message is open. If I wait long enough it may disappear or I will see the destination folder appear rather than the "Inbox". But it's like super-slow motion. It varies, sometimes not 2 minutes per move, other times (like now) yes.
It's almost (in my expressionistic experience) like it is knocking at the door of Apple's architecture and waiting for its number to be called. Why is that? I do have other apps open, but not really doing much to put any load on the processor or RAM. I'm used to it being instant, and only because it is so, so, very SLOW SLOW SLOW can I draw the comparison.
I have only Windows Outlook to compare to. I do find the Apple Mail a bit java-like (sometimes taking a moment before completing a move or deletion, especially if it's a chunk of G-mail) - but Outlook is free-standing, self-contained. The only thing may be relevant is that I have like 10,000 messages that I need to keep on the local machine to have handy (not in an archive externally) and *maybe* it is not as robust as Windows Outlook was. (?). Or is it "struggling" with the formerly .pst files from Windows Outlook?
I don't have the answer but when I "googled" slow Outlook for Mac, lots came up including this forum. I see I'm not alone, but my own perspective might be an addition to the mostly "Outlook vs. Entourage" discussions I've read. I'm focused on Outlook (Windows) versus Outlook (Mac) and wish that there was some way to get the Mac a bit more enthusiastic about executing the basic Outlook email functions at even a fraction of the speed I'm used to w/Outlook for PC. I don't think it's anyone's imagination! But I'd sure love a "fix"!
