Entourage Sucks

[wifeofpdx]

I use Entourage 2004 on my iMac at work (I also used Outlook for years) and for the most part it works for me. If Outlook is all that you need then perhaps you could run MS Office 2003 or 2007 under Crossover Office. That would be much simpler (and cheaper) than installing a copy of VMWare/Parallels and Windows just to get Office/Outlook. I have tried Crossover Office for other things and it is quite poor for the things that I have wanted, but I understand that it works quite well for running MS Office by itself.

Could you explain what crossover office is??? I just came from a PC and, I have to say, Entourage for me is not working.

I want to stay away from relying on or having VM running all the time and switching back and forth etc... I really am missing my outlook though!

 

[danny_w]

I just installed entourage 2008 and was really excited about using full exchange features and syncing my ipod touch with calendars similar to what I used to on my XP laptop. Until I found out 2 tragic things. 1) I have student teacher version which does not support exchange 2) itunes does not have an option for me to sync my entourage calendar to my ipod.
So now after spending an hour of making my calendar in entourage, I am faced with having to start over or figure out how to transfer it over to outlook 2007.

Is there anyway to get a calendar from entourage 2008(on my mac) to outlook 2007(on my vm of my old laptop)? I tried exporting the 2008 , but it did not give me near as many options as a 2007 export.
Or is there anyway to make itunes put my entourage calendar on my ipod (similar to the way itunes on windows lets me put my outlook calendar on my ipod)?

Since I use 2004 I don't know if this works, but under Preferences/Sync Services you should be able to get the contacts and calendars from Entourage to sync with iCal and Address Book; unfortunately this is only one-way syncing. I had heard that they removed Exchange ActiveSync
support, but fortunately for me the Student/Teacher 2004 edition does support it, and it seems to work well. However, there are some other shortcomings of Entourage that may cause you to want to run Outlook (you can supposedly run it fine under Crossover Office).

 

[joeljames]

Since I use 2004 I don't know if this works, but under Preferences/Sync Services you should be able to get the contacts and calendars from Entourage to sync with iCal and Address Book; unfortunately this is only one-way syncing. I had heard that they removed Exchange ActiveSync
support, but fortunately for me the Student/Teacher 2004 edition does support it, and it seems to work well. However, there are some other shortcomings of Entourage that may cause you to want to run Outlook (you can supposedly run it fine under Crossover Office).

I actually did get the calendar in to ical, but I would like the updates on my ipod to be reflected in my primary calendar and I don't like the ical as use for my primary calendar. Thanks for you help

 

[joeljames]

Could you explain what crossover office is??? I just came from a PC and, I have to say, Entourage for me is not working.

I want to stay away from relying on or having VM running all the time and switching back and forth etc... I really am missing my outlook though!

get 4gb of ram and vm runs pretty well in backgound... at least it does for me if I am not doing anything to processor intensive.

 

[danny_w]

Could you explain what crossover office is??? I just came from a PC and, I have to say, Entourage for me is not working.

I want to stay away from relying on or having VM running all the time and switching back and forth etc... I really am missing my outlook though!

There has been an open source project for Linux for quite some time called WINE with the goal of running Windows programs under Linux. Crossover Office is a commercialized version of this open source project, and there are versions for Linux and Mac (and maybe others). Its primary goal is to run the Windows Office suite, and others as they get to them. With Crossover you don't have to install a VM (VMWare or Fusion or ...?) and Windows; you just install Crossover and it "emulates" the Windows calls natively. You can get it from the developer (http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/) or from Best Buy or any number of places; I think the developer has a trial version that you can download and try out.

 

[wifeofpdx]

get 4gb of ram and vm runs pretty well in backgound... at least it does for me if I am not doing anything to processor intensive.

Thanks, but I just don't want to have 2 OSs to switch between. For me, being new to the Mac, I'm liking it a lot. The last thing I want to do is look at Windows....

 

[joeljames]

Could you explain what crossover office is??? I just came from a PC and, I have to say, Entourage for me is not working.

I want to stay away from relying on or having VM running all the time and switching back and forth etc... I really am missing my outlook though!

Thanks, but I just don't want to have 2 OSs to switch between. For me, being new to the Mac, I'm liking it a lot. The last thing I want to do is look at Windows....

I understand. I just made the switch a while ago as well. I used to trash mac's but after Windows release of an OS that has more of a rep like a virus I decided to make the switch. VM gave me the courage to do and I love every second of it. I barely use VM now...

 

[MooneyFlyer]

Frustrated by Entourage hence the nasty headline. But here's the problem. My company is implementing Exchange and I'm trying to stay strong using my Mac. However, I am having extreme difficulties with Entourage. Our company is not using it via SSL and the default Mail app with Leopard works fine. But for whatever reason using the same settings and credentials Entourage still just fails. Has anyone else gotten it to work without using SSL? The connection looks right in Entourage but I cannot see the folder lists where I can in Mac Mail.

Thanks in advance. Jg

I have it working but it took a lot of doing. My IT guy claimed that we don't use SSL but I still had to check it for the "Server Information" section on the first page of the settings. Also, for directory settings on Advanced I had to check Server requires me to log on and requires SSL. (I don't check it for the public folder settings).

Don't ask me why -- I just had to fool with it until I got it to work...

 

[wifeofpdx]

There has been an open source project for Linux for quite some time called WINE with the goal of running Windows programs under Linux. Crossover Office is a commercialized version of this open source project, and there are versions for Linux and Mac (and maybe others). Its primary goal is to run the Windows Office suite, and others as they get to them. With Crossover you don't have to install a VM (VMWare or Fusion or ...?) and Windows; you just install Crossover and it "emulates" the Windows calls natively. You can get it from the developer (http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/) or from Best Buy or any number of places; I think the developer has a trial version that you can download and try out.

\

Thanks!! I'm headed there to check it out now.

One question.. I have already discovered WINE for use with IE6 (I need that program for a website I access) and IE 6 looks very, raw I guess would be a good way to describe it. It works for my needs... but if Office is as rough as IE 6 with wine, I wouldn't want to use Office using crossovers.....

Do you know of any down sides??

 

[wifeofpdx]

Just from reading, I can tell it is too buggy for me. Bummer!!!

 

[nadyne]

I just installed entourage 2008 and was really excited about using full exchange features and syncing my ipod touch with calendars similar to what I used to on my XP laptop. Until I found out 2 tragic things. 1) I have student teacher version which does not support exchange

If your school or employer uses Exchange, you should ask your IT guys about whether they make the full version of Office (either Standard Edition or Special Media Edition, both of which include Exchange support) available to students/faculty/employees. Most institutions that use Exchange make this available to their people for a very inexpensive price (much cheaper than you'll buy it at retail).

If your school or employer uses Exchange, you can likely sync your iPod Touch directly with it. First, make sure that your iPod Touch has at least v2 of the iPhone software (which you can see in iTunes -- hook up your device to your computer, click on it in the list of devices, and you'll see the version number). Then, on your iPod Touch, go into Settings. Select "Mail, Contacts, and Calendars", then on "Add Account". Enter the information on the page, and your iPod Touch should do the rest. This requires that your Exchange server has ActiveSync enabled, and of course requires you to have a wifi connection to be able to download/upload, but if you know anyone else who is connecting their mobile device (such as a Windows Mobile phone), then you've got it. For more information about this, check out Apple's support document about how to get hooked up to Exchange. Your IT guys can also likely answer any questions about how to hook up mobile devices to your Exchange server.

2) itunes does not have an option for me to sync my entourage calendar to my ipod.

Syncing works differently on your Mac than it does on Windows. On Windows, everything has to go through iTunes. On your Mac, everything's built in to the operating system. I just answered this same question on my blog: Q&A: How do I sync from Entourage to my iPhone? If that doesn't help you out, let me know where I lose you so that I can update that to be better/clearer/whatever.

Is there anyway to get a calendar from entourage 2008(on my mac) to outlook 2007(on my vm of my old laptop)? I tried exporting the 2008 , but it did not give me near as many options as a 2007 export.

If you're using your Exchange calendar, you shouldn't need to use an export from Entourage at all. You can just point both Entourage and Outlook at your Exchange server, and both will upload/download without a problem.

Regards,
Nadyne.

 

[nadyne]

Since I use 2004 I don't know if this works, but under Preferences/Sync Services you should be able to get the contacts and calendars from Entourage to sync with iCal and Address Book; unfortunately this is only one-way syncing. I had heard that they removed Exchange ActiveSync
support, but fortunately for me the Student/Teacher 2004 edition does support it, and it seems to work well. However, there are some other shortcomings of Entourage that may cause you to want to run Outlook (you can supposedly run it fine under Crossover Office).

I just wanted to clarify a couple of things here.

Exchange ActiveSync is how mobile devices, like the iPhone and the various Windows Mobile phones out there, connect to Exchange. It is not for desktop applications like Entourage. It is only for mobile devices.

In Entourage 2008, we made some changes to the different versions. In the Home and Student Edition, it doesn't include Exchange support. In the Standard Edition and Special Media Edition, they do include Exchange support. The home edition is just that: it's intended for home use, not professional use, so the vast majority of home users don't need to connect to an Exchange server. If your institution (school, university, employer) does use an Exchange server, ask them if they make Office available for students/faculty/employees. When we made this change in our licensing, we made sure that institutions (especially universities) that use Exchange participate in this program so that their people aren't left high and dry. The benefit of going through your school/employer is that getting Office is usually much cheaper than buying it yourself at retail.

Leaving aside Exchange, all versions of Entourage 2008 support syncing your mobile device with your calendar and contacts. That syncing is totally unrelated to Exchange, you can do that regardless of what kind of server hosts your mail. For more information about how to sync your calendar and contacts with your iPhone or iPod, check out my blog post: Q&A: How do I sync from Entourage to my iPhone?

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Nadyne.

 

[danny_w]

I just wanted to clarify a couple of things here.

Exchange ActiveSync is how mobile devices, like the iPhone and the various Windows Mobile phones out there, connect to Exchange. It is not for desktop applications like Entourage. It is only for mobile devices.

In Entourage 2008, we made some changes to the different versions. In the Home and Student Edition, it doesn't include Exchange support. In the Standard Edition and Special Media Edition, they do include Exchange support. The home edition is just that: it's intended for home use, not professional use, so the vast majority of home users don't need to connect to an Exchange server. If your institution (school, university, employer) does use an Exchange server, ask them if they make Office available for students/faculty/employees. When we made this change in our licensing, we made sure that institutions (especially universities) that use Exchange participate in this program so that their people aren't left high and dry. The benefit of going through your school/employer is that getting Office is usually much cheaper than buying it yourself at retail.

Leaving aside Exchange, all versions of Entourage 2008 support syncing your mobile device with your calendar and contacts. That syncing is totally unrelated to Exchange, you can do that regardless of what kind of server hosts your mail. For more information about how to sync your calendar and contacts with your iPhone or iPod, check out my blog post: Q&A: How do I sync from Entourage to my iPhone?

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Nadyne.

Sorry, I meant Exchange support was removed, not ActiveSync.

 

[DiamondMac]

I used Entourage for a few days and liked it but Apple Mail is still the best mail option, imo

But several friends who used Ent in Windows for years LOVE IT for Mac

 

[buzz4biz]

entourage calendar question

I need to export my Entourage 2008 calendar to an xls spreadsheet. HELP -

In my PC days I could export Outlook calendar to xls. How do I do it using Entourgae 2008, Leopard?

I do this so I can calculate mileage for my appointments.