Trying out Outlook mail

Howard Brazee · Mar 19, 2023

I thought I would look at Outlook mail as my main email address already goes through Microsoft Exchange. (I don't know whether I will like that or not)
I opened the app and easily got the Exchange email working.

But I tried to add on my Apple account without success. I went into Outlook/Settings/Accounts, pressed + and selected "New Account". I entered my Apple email address and my AppleID password, but got "Unable to sign in. Try again or create an app password for this account."

There's an option to create an App-Specific password. I hadn't heard of those before. Is that what I need to do?

pine man · Mar 19, 2023

Howard Brazee said:
There's an option to create an App-Specific password. I hadn't heard of those before. Is that what I need to do?

Yes, you can get it by logging into your iCloud Account then going to Settings/Manage Apple ID/Sign In and Security/App Specific Passwords.

Howard Brazee · Mar 19, 2023

I saw that I can create one there, but I really don't know what that would do. So I have a password for Outlook, does that mean it will access my Apple emails?

pine man · Mar 19, 2023

Howard Brazee said:
So I have a password for Outlook, does that mean it will access my Apple emails?

Yes it will and you only have to enter it once. It's quite normal for non Apple email clients.

Howard Brazee · Mar 19, 2023

Thanks. I saved off that password in a document and tried it. I will see if I like Outlook better than Mail and if so, see if the instructions I've Googled for transferring my saved email work well.

pine man · Mar 19, 2023

Certainly worth trying it out and making your own mind up.

I had been using it for many years as part of an Office 365 subscription but recently cancelled that subscription moving back to all Apple apps to see how I get on. So far so good.

Good luck with Outlook.

Howard Brazee · Mar 19, 2023

I got rid of my Office Subscription, and had some trouble getting rid of the purchase code (had to download an app to do that). I bought a cheap stand-alone Office, but I see that Outlook for Mac is now free.

Looking at it, I am not figuring out how to mark a message as Junk.

The reason I never get email from my main account on my phone or pad is that I rely on junk algorithms to find most of my junk (I check daily). I see "block", but that is not the same thing as calling an email "junk". I have assumed Mac Mail learned from my marking a message "Junk".

Howard Brazee · Mar 19, 2023

I also like it when my mail app in my dock indicates how much unread mail I have.

Randy B. Singer · Mar 19, 2023

Howard Brazee said:
I opened the app and easily got the Exchange email working.

That's fascinating, because I've heard that the free version of Outlook for the Mac doesn't support Exchange.

Howard Brazee · Mar 19, 2023

Randy B. Singer said:
That's fascinating, because I've heard that the free version of Outlook for the Mac doesn't support Exchange.

I bought a real cheap version of Office. It took me a lot of work to make sure Office didn't think I still had the subscription. It seems weird that the free version wouldn't support a Microsoft product (Exchange) though. But weird choices are made by companies.

Randy B. Singer · Mar 19, 2023

Howard Brazee said:
It seems weird that the free version wouldn't support a Microsoft product (Exchange) though. But weird choices are made by companies.

I know, right? On the Macintosh consultant's list they were pointing out the irony that Microsoft's own free e-mail program for the Mac does't support Exchange, but Apple's free e-mail program does.

I can only guess that the deal is that Microsoft tends to delineate products by whether they are for home use or if they are for business use. So the business (i.e. subscription) version of Outlook supports Exchange, but the home version (i.e. the free version) does not.

Randy B. Singer · Mar 19, 2023

Exchange definitely does not work on the free version of Outlook:

pine man · Mar 20, 2023

I used the old version of Outlook from a standalone copies of Microsoft Office for many years without issue and when I moved from Windows to Macs about 10 years ago it was 'comforting' to continue with Office!

After changing to an Office 365 subscription a 'New' version of Outlook was released about 2-3 years ago, which was marketed as being designed specifically for the Mac. Initially it was pretty poor and I, and others, provided continual feedback to Microsoft to get it improved.

When I last used it about a month or two back it was much better but the population of Mailboxes with more than about 10 emails was still problematical and it still wouldn't deal with iCloud email Rules.
A lot of users had, by then, reverted to the legacy version of Outlook but I decided to dump Office 365 altogether.

Like the OP, I had problems severing my ties with Microsoft and, ultimately, closed my account completely, then opened a new one so that I could continue using the free version of OneDrive.

I have used Apple Mail before and, of course, it's on my iPhone, so no problem there. Pages and Numbers provided a bit of a challenge initially but I'm getting the hang of them now and see no need to return to Microsoft Apps.

ferrarr · Mar 20, 2023

Randy B. Singer said:
Exchange definitely does not work on the free version of Outlook:

View attachment 38085

What if you uncheck Sync with Microsoft Cloud?

Howard Brazee · Mar 20, 2023

My Office subscription was for my wife and myself. She now has LibreOffice on her Mac and Collabora Office on our Macs. Numbers won't run some of my spreadsheets. LibreOffice has fewer compatibility issues than Numbers and Pages, but when I saw Office available for $40 I got it because I share some documents with people who have Office.

My brother has had a domain with GoDaddy for some time. Last year, GoDaddy switched to using Exchange. A few months ago, I discovered that I needed to go to Exchange and purge messages and I check my junk there by going to Outlook.

That web page appears to have smart junk filter that I don't see in Outlook (which may be sufficient to make me stick to Apple Mail). Also, Outlook's "All Accounts" didn't combine my accounts' accounts.

Rod · Mar 20, 2023

MS Outlook is now available as a stand alone mac native app on the Mac App Store;

You Can Now Get Microsoft Outlook for Free on Mac

Sorry, Windows people.

www.howtogeek.com

I cannot tell if this version supports Exchange accounts but just mentioning it so we are all comparing the same thing. This is not the Office 365 version.

Randy B. Singer · Mar 20, 2023

Rod said:
MS Outlook is now available as a stand alone mac native app on the Mac App Store;

You Can Now Get Microsoft Outlook for Free on Mac

Sorry, Windows people.

www.howtogeek.com

I cannot tell if this version supports Exchange accounts but just mentioning it so we are all comparing the same thing. This is not the Office 365 version.

The version on the Mac App Store is free, but many folks have reported that it eventually requires a paid subscription to work. Apparently it is a free demo for now. I'm sure that they will get around to fixing that sometime very soon.

Microsoft makes the free version available directly:

Direct download:
https://aka.ms/OutlookMacDirectDownload

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/outlook-blog/outlook-mac-for-all/ba-p/3757787

The free version will ask for your registration number on setup. When you don't give it one it will continue to work perfectly, but it will display ads. It won't work with Exchange no matter how much you futz with the settings. To have Outlook work with Exchange you need the commercial version.