Outlook for Mac

[kjoseph]

I've read many articles about Outlook for Mac and it seems that the reviews are not good. Would love to hear from real users if they think Outlook for Mac is worth the money. Thanks very much.

 

[chscag]

My opinion - no, it's not worth the money. However, Microsoft does have a newer version that should be available any day now. It's Outlook for the Mac 2015. It's up to you though because MS as far as I know, does not offer a trial version of Outlook. Now, if you had asked about Outlook for Windows.... I would definitely say yes.

 

[S.SubZero]

Unless you are talking to an Exchange server (ie. certain work places) then it's not worth the money. It's far too limited and not much better than a free software like Thunderbird, or even the built-in Mail app.

 

[Exodist]

Unless you are talking to an Exchange server (ie. certain work places) then it's not worth the money. It's far too limited and not much better than a free software like Thunderbird, or even the built-in Mail app.

I have to say I have always loved Outlook. But SubZero is correct, as outlooks biggest features are woven into their exchange server. Like the ability to call back emails, we all have had those drunken tantrums and sent nasty grams to our boss. Luckily Outlook lets you recall them hopefully before anyone has had a chance to read them. Also it has the ability to let you know when someone receives and opens a email you send. Which is helpful to see when someone is ignoring you.

That said, its still loads better then Mail on the Mac that is plagued with more problems then west africa.

Thunderbird is likely the best cross platform email client out, but that isn't saying much.

I would loved to have Evolution Mail client on my Mac. I think its likely my favorite and best email client ever wrote.. Period..

 

[chscag]

That said, its still loads better then Mail on the Mac that is plagued with more problems then west africa.

Got to disagree here. Outlook Mac 2011 is a version 1.0 application and it shows. Sorry to say, it doesn't even come close to Apple Mail which is not plagued with problems. Yes, Thunderbird is a great cross platform but it too has problems, mainly Mozilla...

Now if you were referring to Outlook for Windows, I would agree since that's stable and has been for years. We'll see what Microsoft does with Outlook Mac 2015, however, I'm not going to rush out and spend $120 to find out.

 

[chas_m]

I've been using Mail for over a decade without issue, haven't lost a single email ever (way more than I can say for Office, which seems to corrupt it's own databases regularly!).

I've heard occasional reports of people having issues with Exchange integration in mail, and more recently with Yosemite I've heard of some problems with Gmail and Mail working harmoniously, but for the most part Mail seems to work with POP and IMAP email accounts with aplomb. What specifically do you feel is a problem?

 

[Exodist]

Got to disagree here. Outlook Mac 2011 is a version 1.0 application and it shows.......

I've been using Mail for over a decade without issue, haven't lost a single email ever (way more than I can say for Office, which seems to corrupt it's own databases regularly!).

I've heard occasional reports of people having issues with Exchange integration in mail, and more recently with Yosemite I've heard of some problems with Gmail and Mail working harmoniously, but for the most part Mail seems to work with POP and IMAP email accounts with aplomb. What specifically do you feel is a problem?

My issues with it, its its integration (or lack of proper) with Yahoo and Gmail. And it has nothing to do with Yahoo and Gmail. Thunderbut while lack luster works correctly and any other mail client does to.
The issues is proper management and the occasional vanishing of emails. I have had it eat more then one really important email on various occasions. It also has issues with managing/syncing emails on both the server and client. And uploading photos and files is a pain in my backside and often fails.. Why do you think Apple added the new iCloud function to help people upload emails. Its isn't a "new feature" its a freaking bandaid on their broken email client that they can't fix .. Plus Mail is just lack luster, no useful contact management or calendar. They are all separate programs that really (at least to me) don't feel like they work well together. Seriously, Outlook Express is better.. Thats sad..

 

[chas_m]

The above is, simply, completely untrue IME. Has it occurred to you that your symptoms aren't shared by the dozens of millions of people who use OS X, and that therefore the issues you're having could be originating from some other cause?

Yahoo mail works fine, has done for years (I have a Yahoo account). Likewise GMail (I no longer use it with Mail, but I did until recently -- I do acknowledge that early versions of Yosemite had some issues with GMail, though I never experienced this).

As part of my job I attach photos and files to emails pretty much all day, again -- couldn't do my job if this didn't work properly, but it always ALWAYS does. The new Apple feature you're referring to is to help people send files LARGER than most POP-based (ISP) email accounts allow -- it has nothing whatsoever to do with a "broken" system.

Mail has FANTASTIC contact management and calendaring. It's called Contacts and Calendar, they are *beautifully* integrated together and in a far superior way than MS has ever managed ... talk about prone to corruption and eating mails, let me introduce you to Office's monolithic database that corrupts itself routinely ...

Do you really, seriously, believe that nearly all Mac users (90 percent or so) would use Mail if it behaved as you describe for anyone else? Sorry, but I call BS.

 

[Exodist]

The above is, simply, completely untrue IME. Has it occurred to you that your symptoms aren't shared by the dozens of millions of people who use OS X, and that therefore the issues you're having could be originating from some other cause?

Honestly I wouldn't lie. But yea they could have been caused by some other cause. But I serisouly went through that programs settings over multiple weeks and even googled the heck out of what was going on. I think it was supposed to have something to do with IDLE not working correctly which I did eventually get it to stop eating my emails. But it still never has worked correctly for me. Keep in mind I get hundreds of emails a day.

Yahoo mail works fine, has done for years (I have a Yahoo account). Likewise GMail (I no longer use it with Mail, but I did until recently -- I do acknowledge that early versions of Yosemite had some issues with GMail, though I never experienced this).

Yahoo is/was the less buggy of the two, however they both suffer from poor spam management control. For example my email accounts are old, my yahoo predates y2k. So I get excessive amounts of spam. Now if new spam comes into Mail, I mark as spam. It does not tell Yahoo or Gmail to make that email go to the on server spam folder in the future. Instead it constantly downloads it over and over. Now whats a pain in the rear end, if I go over and use Yahoo or Gmail on my web browser to mark that email as spam. It has to be there t mark it. But since it got downloaded, its no longer there. So I have to go to Mail settings and tell it to leave emails on the server, then wait for that email again, other wise clogging up my account. It makes you wonder why the heck bother with Mail in the first place.

As part of my job I attach photos and files to emails pretty much all day, again -- couldn't do my job if this didn't work properly, but it always ALWAYS does. The new Apple feature you're referring to is to help people send files LARGER than most POP-based (ISP) email accounts allow -- it has nothing whatsoever to do with a "broken" system.

So your telling me the known large email attachment bug, Apple even mentioned in the last
live event does not exist? Seriously they got a huge round of applause from the crowed when they introduced a fix for this. I constantly had to go to my Gmail account just to send out scanned documents because of this. This is why with Yosemite they have basically created their own forwarding server for attachments.

Mail has FANTASTIC contact management and calendaring. It's called Contacts and Calendar, they are *beautifully* integrated together and in a far superior way than MS has ever managed ... talk about prone to corruption and eating mails, let me introduce you to Office's monolithic database that corrupts itself routinely ...

This is just an opinion, you have yours which I respect. But I have mine as well. It likely just boils down to what were used to and what we prefer. But for comparison sake for others that may have not seen both side by side. I will attach a screen of both at the bottom.

Do you really, seriously, believe that nearly all Mac users (90 percent or so) would use Mail if it behaved as you describe for anyone else? Sorry, but I call BS.

No I don't believe. But not everyone uses everything the same way. Many may have one server, at home or at work. And it likely works beautifully. But just because its snowing in your neck of the woods does not mean global warming doesn't exist. This is why we call them "BUGS" they are bugs, crazy crap that should not exist, but does and is notoriously hard to replicate and fix. However these are in fact documented bugs with Apple and just because your not aware of them, does not mean Apple isn't and working to fix the best they can. So to call BS on me is really lame bro.. I mean come on Chas, how long have I been coming here and helping out when I can. I am not just going to start making up something that doesn't exist, plus everyone is fully entitled to their own opinion.

Joe..

 

[MacInWin]

Mail works perfectly for me, integrated with Contacts and Calendar, and I routinely send and receive large attachments. (The largest was, IIRC, nearly 900 MB of images. So I'll say your experiences are NOT typical, at least for this very happy Mail user. My wife uses Thunderthud, and when I am called to help her out of a problem, I am reminded of how bad it really is! As for Outlook, well, I quit using MS. Stuff a long time ago, it was just too painful to put up with the endless updates and fixes.

 

[chas_m]

So you're now largely admitting that you know Mail doesn't have the problems you claim it had for most people, and that what's really bugging you is that it isn't exactly like Outlook. Thought as much.

As for the "large attachments" issue -- it would never occur to me to send 1GB+ email attachments (anything below that that I've said, up to an including 500MB seems to work fine), but if I did I would hardly be surprised that the receiving ISP would reject them ... which I've seen happen with as little as 20MB of attachments ... but that is an ISP problem and not an Apple problem ... this is exactly why Dropbox is as popular with PC users as it is with Mac users.

 

[Exodist]

So you're now largely admitting that you know Mail doesn't have the problems you claim it had.......

No I am NOT claiming that at all, I stand by every word I said. It does in fact have a issue with large email attachments. Apple has admitted this for crying out loud..

 

[bazanders]

If your wanting to integrate google calendar into outlook forget it, theres no caldav support. If your calendar is managed by exchange, then fine no problems.

 

[pinto79]

I'm using Outlook on my Mac because I had to. Short of paying Apple to convert my Outlook database from my old Windows machine, it was the only option that would work. I tried a number of conversion apps and migrating through Thunderbird on both Mac and Windows, but nothing would work. My .pst file was in excess of 4GB in Windows and the database is probably larger than that now, and nothing seemed able to handle the size.

I have no complaints with it. Some stuff is a bit different than the Windows version, but overall no issues here.