Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Do you use Entourage?
- Thread starter GuillaumeB
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
deed but I find it quite sleak for a MS product . How does it compare to Mail.app and iCal?
i'd love to have feedback?
i'd love to have feedback?
I use it at work, exchange support is poor.
It uses OWA and syncs the folders every few minutes rather than having a Live client like Outlook.
It's okay though I suppose.
It uses OWA and syncs the folders every few minutes rather than having a Live client like Outlook.
It's okay though I suppose.
I use it, it's a bit clunky at times but I quite like the look of it and its easy integration with Hotmail. Plus it has contacts and calendar all in the same app. To be fair though, I don't think it makes a lot of difference - Mail and Thunderbird are pretty good apps too.
Featurewise is definitely better than mail.app and ical. Entourage has though following issues that make me stay away for it:
- Uses a single Database file. Whenever sth changes the file changes and Time Machine backs it up every time!
- Syncing with iPhone is done through iSync and doesnt work very well. Duplicates and many other inconsistencies appear...
- The Contacts App is poorly written, Addressbook is actually better!
- There is no way to keep two Entourage Databases in sync. I have a Mac Pro and a Macbook and I would like to keep both in sync...
I use it at work because I have to. My company is running Exchange 2007 and mail.app just refuses to behave with it - and don't get me started on iCal and Exchange. It's really quite nice in my opinion. It's got a lot of Mac-ness especially when you remember that it's from M$.
At home though, I use Mail, iCal and Address Book. I just prefer them. If I could use them at work, I would.
Entourage 2008 is the nicest of the apps that are in the 2008 version, again in my opinion.
Cheers.
At home though, I use Mail, iCal and Address Book. I just prefer them. If I could use them at work, I would.
Entourage 2008 is the nicest of the apps that are in the 2008 version, again in my opinion.
Cheers.
I've got both. For now, I'm mainly using Mail, iCal & Address Book, because I want to get a sense of life using just the Mac's built-in apps.
I've used Entourage for personal use, not with Exchange. It was okay, although for casual use I preferred the 'look & feel' of Outlook substantially better. Not something I can give an exact justification for; just aesthetics.
I do like Outlook & Entourage's 'all-in-one' feel where I don't get the sense of opening different app.s for mail, contacts & calendering.
I guess what I'm saying is, for personal use, Apple's built-in app.s are fine, but some may find Entourage seems 'slicker.'
Richard.
I've used Entourage for personal use, not with Exchange. It was okay, although for casual use I preferred the 'look & feel' of Outlook substantially better. Not something I can give an exact justification for; just aesthetics.
I do like Outlook & Entourage's 'all-in-one' feel where I don't get the sense of opening different app.s for mail, contacts & calendering.
I guess what I'm saying is, for personal use, Apple's built-in app.s are fine, but some may find Entourage seems 'slicker.'
Richard.
Tried it, didn't like it. I wanted to give it a go because I love the idea of having one app handle your mail, address book and calendar but it just didn't have the wow factor that Mail has in terms of simplicity.
I use it, although the issues in syncing with iCal and, therefore, my iPhone are trying my patience.
I've always liked the interface and usability otherwise.
I've always liked the interface and usability otherwise.
Nope. It's a nice app but my needs are simple and it does way more than I would ever need it to do. I just use my webmail and keep everything there.
Yeah I use it, but it gets annoying sometimes..... I've used Mail but don't want to configure it ATM.
Exchange
Yeap - our company's on an Exchange server so it's nice to have the mail/contacts/calendar integration.
Yeap - our company's on an Exchange server so it's nice to have the mail/contacts/calendar integration.
I used to use it, when i first switched to Mac, but once I got to know how things worked which took a while i decided to switch over to Mail, which I found worked a lot better. The only thing that annoys me is that Address Book is a sperate application. It is integrated quite well, but I like them to be in the same place really.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)
yeh in fact i like the idea of an all in one software as well. Thats why i was wondering.
but yeh you cant even auto import iCal or the address book.... Stupid! I guess ill stick with Apples products
yeh in fact i like the idea of an all in one software as well. Thats why i was wondering.
but yeh you cant even auto import iCal or the address book.... Stupid! I guess ill stick with Apples products
Don't use it. It's part of MS Office, which I'd rather not use if I don't have to, especially on my Mac.
Sorry, but I disagree with this statement. I also run two macs with Entourage on both. I also use two identities, one for work and one for personal.
In order to keep the two databases (one for each identity on both machines) in sync, I use a shareware program called "File Synchronization" and synchronize the ~user/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2008 (or 2004 whichever you use) folders on both machines. I have been doing this for years with no problem. It keeps both systems and both identities in sync.
The key is that if you use Entourage on one system, when you are done and quit, you must synchronize the databases before running the same identity on the other system or you will have problems.
In my scenario, when I work from home, I run my work identity on one system and my personal identity on the other. At the end of the day, I just run my synchronization program and thats it.
I used Entourage (2004) on my Powerbook and found it a good program as I use Outlook at work. Just gotta face it, MS knows e-mail. With my new iMac, I'm giving Mail a try. It seemed overly simplistic at first, but after some poking around, it has plenty of capability. You have to set up "junk folders"; the junk filter gets smart, but it takes a while...MUCH longer than Entourage's filter (I still have to check my junk folder religiously). Rules in Mail are executed much quicker. The default toolbar is too simple. Add the plugin for the reading pane on the right. Overall, out of the box, it's weak. Once set up correctly, it rocks. I'm still finding tweaks, but I'm finding Mail to be a lean, mean, e-mail machine!
hickster
hickster
I used Entourage V.x when Mail sucked. I have been using Mail only for a while now.
The thing that I like least about MS products (besides slow and clunky) is that they won't design the UI to really look full aqua. They have to keep to many things to look and feel like Windows apps. Just like the VB issue in 2008. It seems like developing the super kick-ass office system, that the have the capability of doing, is just not worth the effort for us lowly Mac users. That is why I don't use any MS software now.
The thing that I like least about MS products (besides slow and clunky) is that they won't design the UI to really look full aqua. They have to keep to many things to look and feel like Windows apps. Just like the VB issue in 2008. It seems like developing the super kick-ass office system, that the have the capability of doing, is just not worth the effort for us lowly Mac users. That is why I don't use any MS software now.
Nope. My computer is Microsoft free right now. I chose Mail/Address Book/iCal for a few reasons...
1. As a switcher, I wanted to really give the whole Apple lifestyle a chance. I started out trying the Apple apps, thinking I might not like them because my brain was so Outlook dependent. Honestly, I didn't think the Apple apps would be robust enough for me. After viewing the preferences and comparing them to those in Outlook, I assumed they were severely lacking in features. Turns out, the Apple apps did do everything I needed them to do. Outlook must have a buttload of features I just never used.
2. I have 2 Macs, and use my .Mac account to sync all my stuff. I also like having them synced to the Web, so I can access them from somebody else's computer in a pinch.
3. iPhone integration. I'm just assuming it's better since it's Apple-to-Apple. Never gave Entourage a chance, though.
4. The separation of apps doesn't bother me. In Outlook/Entourage you click in the sidebar to go from one function to the other. In the Apple apps, you click in the dock. So, the next function is still a click away, regardless of whether they're in one app or three.
5. In Outlook I had experienced too many problems with large .pst files.
Obviously Outlook and Entourage aren't the same app, but I did assume (perhaps incorrectly) that issues I had with Outlook had the potential to be problems in Entourage too.
1. As a switcher, I wanted to really give the whole Apple lifestyle a chance. I started out trying the Apple apps, thinking I might not like them because my brain was so Outlook dependent. Honestly, I didn't think the Apple apps would be robust enough for me. After viewing the preferences and comparing them to those in Outlook, I assumed they were severely lacking in features. Turns out, the Apple apps did do everything I needed them to do. Outlook must have a buttload of features I just never used.
2. I have 2 Macs, and use my .Mac account to sync all my stuff. I also like having them synced to the Web, so I can access them from somebody else's computer in a pinch.
3. iPhone integration. I'm just assuming it's better since it's Apple-to-Apple. Never gave Entourage a chance, though.
4. The separation of apps doesn't bother me. In Outlook/Entourage you click in the sidebar to go from one function to the other. In the Apple apps, you click in the dock. So, the next function is still a click away, regardless of whether they're in one app or three.
5. In Outlook I had experienced too many problems with large .pst files.
Obviously Outlook and Entourage aren't the same app, but I did assume (perhaps incorrectly) that issues I had with Outlook had the potential to be problems in Entourage too.
Sorry to be coming to this thread so late in the day, but I've been having email problems...
I have several accounts (IMAP POP Hotmail GMail etc), and several computers I would love to keep synchronised (ie deleted emails appear (or disappear) as deleted emails on all computers, read and dealt-with emails appear as dealt with complete with reply links to all computers etc).
While no email package seems to satisfy, here are a few observations:
Mail doesn't deal with Hotmail very well (Although check out HttpMail Plugin) (it frequently reports no new email when there is), Entourage does it properly. Entourage and gMail aren't as pally.
Mail doesn't delete junk from the server. After I've trawled through all the Junk at work and decided what to chuck (99.99% of it), I get home, check my email and there's all the junk again. Entourage lets you delete your junk from the server immediately.
Mail seems to delete stuff from the server unexpectedly and won't synchronize satisfactorily (I've received emails that never show up on my second computer, but not in any consistent way).
Entourage is sloooowwwww. It takes forever to launch. it's database is humungous and not Time Machine friendly - as every new email is seen as requiring a full back up. MobileMe accounts on Entourage are yeuch.
Mail allows you quickview of attachments (Especially useful with pictures - I'm a photographer). Entourage needs you to launch the application.
Entourage lets you see the progress of what's coming in, how big, who from etc. Junk filter in Mail is self learning.
When I send an email from Entourage I have no access to it (the sent mail) from my second computer. Mail allows you access to sent mail (plus in the preferences you can opt to Bcc yourself all sent mail - nice touch)
My leaning is towards Mail as it's an apple product and should sit well with iSync. But it's far from perfect. Anyone happy with any other email packages?
MacSnap.
I have several accounts (IMAP POP Hotmail GMail etc), and several computers I would love to keep synchronised (ie deleted emails appear (or disappear) as deleted emails on all computers, read and dealt-with emails appear as dealt with complete with reply links to all computers etc).
While no email package seems to satisfy, here are a few observations:
Mail doesn't deal with Hotmail very well (Although check out HttpMail Plugin) (it frequently reports no new email when there is), Entourage does it properly. Entourage and gMail aren't as pally.
Mail doesn't delete junk from the server. After I've trawled through all the Junk at work and decided what to chuck (99.99% of it), I get home, check my email and there's all the junk again. Entourage lets you delete your junk from the server immediately.
Mail seems to delete stuff from the server unexpectedly and won't synchronize satisfactorily (I've received emails that never show up on my second computer, but not in any consistent way).
Entourage is sloooowwwww. It takes forever to launch. it's database is humungous and not Time Machine friendly - as every new email is seen as requiring a full back up. MobileMe accounts on Entourage are yeuch.
Mail allows you quickview of attachments (Especially useful with pictures - I'm a photographer). Entourage needs you to launch the application.
Entourage lets you see the progress of what's coming in, how big, who from etc. Junk filter in Mail is self learning.
When I send an email from Entourage I have no access to it (the sent mail) from my second computer. Mail allows you access to sent mail (plus in the preferences you can opt to Bcc yourself all sent mail - nice touch)
My leaning is towards Mail as it's an apple product and should sit well with iSync. But it's far from perfect. Anyone happy with any other email packages?
MacSnap.
YEP... but don't want to!
Like many here, I am using entourage, but wish I wasn't. I am probably the .000001% of my organization that uses macs... in a PC world. I hate. I have a brand new MBP which is less than 2 weeks old and I am having nothing but problems... which I am associating with the stupid MS Office for Mac 2008 I bought to go along with it. I ALMOST bought that bootcamp thingy, but decided it was just cheaper to go with MS for Mac.
Computer locks up all the time, excel crashes and restarts itself, and I am just now getting memory errors.
On Mail, I find that it is to slow and the junk mail filter is a constant irritant. I have 2 emails that I use and I like to be able to switch between them.
I like the calendar in entourage and the "My Day" tasker tool.... but I hate how you enter email addresses. To enter multiple addresses, you have to click on each one. When you do, the box disappears and you have to reopen each time you enter a new address.. annoying.
I was going to look at Thunderbird (the app, not the drink).
Anyone have experience with all three?
O3B
Like many here, I am using entourage, but wish I wasn't. I am probably the .000001% of my organization that uses macs... in a PC world. I hate. I have a brand new MBP which is less than 2 weeks old and I am having nothing but problems... which I am associating with the stupid MS Office for Mac 2008 I bought to go along with it. I ALMOST bought that bootcamp thingy, but decided it was just cheaper to go with MS for Mac.
Computer locks up all the time, excel crashes and restarts itself, and I am just now getting memory errors.
On Mail, I find that it is to slow and the junk mail filter is a constant irritant. I have 2 emails that I use and I like to be able to switch between them.
I like the calendar in entourage and the "My Day" tasker tool.... but I hate how you enter email addresses. To enter multiple addresses, you have to click on each one. When you do, the box disappears and you have to reopen each time you enter a new address.. annoying.
I was going to look at Thunderbird (the app, not the drink).
Anyone have experience with all three?
O3B
One other thing I forgot to mention but it's quite a biggy. Entourage 2008 seems to have its own built in attachments blocker. It decides if something has a "potentially unsafe attachment", and if so you have no access to it.
I have even posted stuff to myself so I could access it at home and then it hides it from me. I woulda been sunk without Mail.
SNaP
I have even posted stuff to myself so I could access it at home and then it hides it from me. I woulda been sunk without Mail.
SNaP