Mail vs. Outlook

[mitstoshi]

You can use both at the same time, leave mail and just start using outlook instead. You have also outlook for iOS .

For contacts you use microsofts own cloud service. Even using Google account as a go between works with Apple contacts. Have been using outlook.com with contacts connected over a Google account for a user for years. It syncs fine with Apple contacts. Just add it in service to sync with Facebook and the rest.

I will give it a try to use both at the same time on iMac for the time being and decide later which one to use. My question now is what should I do on iPad Air?

 

[nicoverca]

To be honest.. i used to love Outlook.. but then i discovered Mail with MailTags plugin..

Think the performance of Mail (especially in El Capitan) is much better than Outlook 2016, i do miss decent shared calendar views (think calendar.app is not performant enough to use the shared calendars in O365 environments).

So if you need it for "Getting Things Done" and you don't really need the time management tools, i would stick with Mail.app .

 

[kryten42]

I tried to move to Mail and Calendar but had to go back to Office with Outlook 2016. I use categories a lot, multiple calendars including shared calendars from Public Folders, Lync integration etc. Outlook is just so much better for organizing and working with mail, just wish it was quicker, more reliable and reminders was still a separate app and didn't pop up every few seconds :|

 

[nicoverca]

You have a point.. kicked lync out also.. use Adium now with a plugin for O365..

 

[Le Big Mac]

First, Outlook is not only a Mail app. It also integrates contacts and calendars. If you use email to make and accept appointments/schedule meetings on a regular basis, then you'll want to maintain your contacts and calendars in Outlook, too. HOWEVER, Outlook's contacts and calendars do not integrate with Messages/iMessage and FaceTime, so if you're using Messages and/or FaceTime extensively... having your contacts and calendars in Outlook can be a major pain. (And maintaining more than one contacts app and more than one calendar app is just asking for headaches.)

Maybe you'll like Outlook better as a mail app, maybe not. One man's "clunky" is another's heaven. IMHO, "clunky" is the way Outlook does NOT integrate with the rest of the Apple universe.

Both Mail and Outlook offer optimal integration - Mail with the rest of the Mac and iOS world, Outlook with Microsoft's. Which of those worlds is more important to your workflow may help determine which you choose.

If your workplace has an Exchange Server and everyone uses Outlook... that's an excellent reason for you to use Outlook. If, however, you're dependent on iCloud for syncing your contacts and calendars and need very little in the way of integration with your employment environment... Stay away from Outlook - any possible benefits are unlikely to offset the problems. Just because a program comes bundled with Office doesn't mean you must use it in order to get full value from Office.

I liked outlook for years. It's a more robust email/organizer program than Mail.

Unfortunately, I could not get it to play nice with gmail and related services. I believe you can't sync a google calendar to outlook, and that's basically a non-starter for me. Sure, I could use the email and stick with Apple Calendar and contacts, but that's a super hassle. And sync services never seemed to work.

Now, granted, I dropped outlook after either 2007 or 2010 and know there have been iprovements. But so far as I can tell they haven't addressed these limitations.

 

[Ulenspiegel]

Outlook at work. And used it at home when was on the "dark side".
Since the "transformation", have been using Apple Mail. Not perfect, but works. It is a redemption after Outlook.