Using Entourage or Outlook

[macman4789]

Hi guys,

I've recently got a new job as a lecturer. As expected the college is using Outlook 2003 and windows based. I was wondering what options I have to access my emails from home. They provide a web based outlook but I'd prefer a setup where I use a program like Mail, Entourage or outlook on my home imac. I'm not very knowledgeable about this so if you guys could answer some questions that would be a big help.

1. Is entourage the mac equivalent of outlook that comes with office?
2. Would I be able to set up entourage to access emails from home like I do at work but obviously at work I use outlook.

I'd prefer not install windows on my imac but if outlook is the only way then I guess I'd have to. I'm running 10.5.5 at the mo.

Thanks for your time

 

[MisterMe]

Entourage and Outlook are both Microsoft programs that can be used to access Exchange servers. They have similar features, but are incompatible with each other. If your school uses Outlook Web Access, then you are probably required to use it for Exchange access outside the LAN. This means that it is likely that neither the standalone Outlook nor Entourage will access your school email from home.

 

[Sesshi]

Hi guys,

I've recently got a new job as a lecturer. As expected the college is using Outlook 2003 and windows based. I was wondering what options I have to access my emails from home. They provide a web based outlook but I'd prefer a setup where I use a program like Mail, Entourage or outlook on my home imac. I'm not very knowledgeable about this so if you guys could answer some questions that would be a big help.

1. Is entourage the mac equivalent of outlook that comes with office?
2. Would I be able to set up entourage to access emails from home like I do at work but obviously at work I use outlook.

I'd prefer not install windows on my imac but if outlook is the only way then I guess I'd have to. I'm running 10.5.5 at the mo.

Thanks for your time

Entourage - an inferior program to Outlook, as are most Mac-based general business apps - is the nearest you'll get and if you don't want to switch to Windows then the only choice in terms of accessing the major features of an Exchange Server.

The method of access that Entourage uses is different to Outlook, and access may be restricted by the systems administrator although if webmail access is enabled, access to the server through a VPN should not be a problem. Best talk to them first and they might be able to help you out. Microsoft has extensive documentation on rolling out Entourage which your IT guys may be better able to address than you.

 

[John Jacob]

You will have to check with your college, whether:

• Your college's exchange server is configured with POP3 enabled. I know Exchange server's can support POP3 for those unable to use an Outlook client.
• And whether you can VPN into your college from home and access the Exchange server through the VPN.

If the answers to both of the above are YES, then you could use Apple Mail, Eudora, Mozilla Thunderbird or any other email client of your choice from home.

 

[macman4789]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have entourage with office 2008 and so if possible would prefer to use that than switch to windows.

Am I correct in saying that if I use vmware I could use outlook integrated in OS X?

Thanks

 

[Sesshi]

Personally, if I had to use OS X over Windows most of the time I'd use Entourage. It would integrate better with whatever other calendar/etc based tools you'd use.

 

[jc1350]

Entourage basically uses Outlook Web Access (and LDAP for the GAL), so pop3 is not required. I use it at work and it's ok. I can tell you Outlook is far superior to Entourage, but in typical MS fashion, Mac programs from MS are treated as red-headed step-children.



I used to run Outlook via WinXP in Parallels and it worked just fine, but it was using enough RAM (the VM in general) on my lil' ol' Macbook to slow the thing down enough to bug me.

So, bottom line - if OWA is enabled, then you shouldn't have a problem with Entourage 2008. Universities also tend to be more open/support more things than corporations. We get to pick our own machines and OS where I work. Pretty sweet deal.

For everyone else, Entourage 2004 isn't worth the time it takes to install.

 

[macman4789]

Thanks for the replies guys. What sort RAM would be needed to use the VM? 2Gb? without it being slow on my system?

What is OWA?

Thanks

 

[Sesshi]

OWA - what they're already offering, web based Outlook. 1Gb should be sufficient for Outlook only if you're running it in a VM.

But as I said, if you're set on continuing with OS X and not switching to a better OS then you're probably best served using Entourage - since it'll provide calendar & contact integration with other OS X apps. An Outlook VM install won't.

 

[jc1350]

My systems are a macbook 2.16 GHz core 2 duo, 1 GB ram and a mac mini 2-something GHz and 1 GB RAM both running Leopard. The VM worked - it just caused a lot of paging when switching between the VM and Mac apps (the paging caused the slowness).

So, it is definately doable with 1 GB RAM. But, maybe I didn't state it clearly - I now use Entourage 2008 exclusively. I miss some Outlook features not in Entourage, but they don't stop me from doing my job or using Exchange.

FYI - OWA = Outlook Web Access - the web gui to Exchange. When using OWA in Internet Explorer, the GUI is very Outlook-like. It's pretty impressive for being run in a web browser. In firefox and such, OWA is more like a traditional web-based email gui (less bells and whistles).

My opinion: go with Entourage 2008 and if you can't stand it, then go for Outlook via VM.

 

[macman4789]

Thanks for your replies guys. Yeah I understand now, the college provides OWA access at the moment but if possible I'd prefer to be able to access my emails using a program like outlook or entourage like when I'm at work.

I am leaning towards Entourage 2008 (because I've already got office 2008!). Will this enable me to use the majority of exchange features? Like will I be able to access my calendar and emails from home?

Sorry not very knowledgeable about all this

Thanks for your help

 

[Sesshi]

Are you reading my posts

Follow them in order, starting with confirming with your campus / company IT people that they can support Entourage access if you're not sure about this. Point your IT guys to this link: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/itpros...rget=fb4ff5c7-0333-454b-9cec-c7263f594b9b1033

 

[MisterMe]

...

I am leaning towards Entourage 2008 (because I've already got office 2008!). Will this enable me to use the majority of exchange features? Like will I be able to access my calendar and emails from home?

...

No one is trying to conceal anything from you. With Entourage 2004, there were two major things that it could not do that Outlook could. They were autodiscover Exchange server settings and administer an Exchange account. With Entourage 2008, the deficit has been reduced to one feature: administer an Exchange account. As a practical matter this means that you cannot use Entourage 2008 to change your password, but you can use it for everything else that a Windows user can do in Outlook. This includes accessing your Exchange-based calendar and contacts.

Whether you run Windows or MacOS X, you probably have to use the Exchange webclient Outlook Web Access to access your Exchange server outside your LAN. This includes your home. You will be able to access any messages, contacts, calendar, and everything else that you leave on the server. With Outlook Web Access, you can even administer your Exchange account.

 

[jc1350]

There are other things missing from Entourage 2008 that I would really like to have:

1. Entourage has zero support for SharePoint. My boss (and her boss) shove sharepoint down our throats and we use the calendar - outlook can load the calendar as a plug-in. Not so with Entourage.

2. Shift-delete in Outlook. I delete all things to the trash and keep 1 months worth (just in case I need to go back to something). However things that are truly junk I want to remove completely. In outlook you can hold the shift key and delete a message - this permanently deletes the message. No such thing in Entourage.

3. Can't create server-side rules in Entourage.

4. Personal groups/contacts stored on server - Entourage doesn't recognize the contacts or groups I made in Outlook that are stored on the exchange server. They are available to all installs of Outlook (I had Outlook installed at home and at work), but Entourage ignores groups in server-side contacts because it uses the GAL and local contacts only - I had to recreate them on each local machine (home and work Macs).

5. File format for archived mail, .pst, etc. They don't mix. Entourage can't read any .pst files you made in Outlook.

6. Newer versions of Outlook run in "cached" mode by default, but you can turn it off. Cached mode downloads all messages to your local system. To me, that wastes disk space. If I can't connect to the server, then I really don't care if I can or can't read a message I already received. Entourage doesn't allow you to turn off cache mode, so I'm wasting disk space AND it doesn't always sync with the server in a timely fashion - meaning deleted messages or messages marked a read may not appear that way on the server and some other symptoms. This causes conflicts with what I see on my work-provided windows mobile phone.

Entourage has a long way to go to be considered on-par with Outlook. But it has come some way compared to earlier versions. Entourage 2004 couldn't do the simple "out of office" autoreply setup - Entourage 2008 finally added that feature that's been in Outlook since at least 2000.

From what I've read, the Mac version of Outlook 2000 was exactly on-par with the Windows version. Too bad MS decided to drop that and give us this inferior product. But, with 2008, the shortcomings aren't big enough to make me want to run a VM all day every day.

Bottom line for this post: Entourage 2008 isn't perfect (with perfection defined as true equality to Outlook), but it is good enough that I don't hate it like I did Entourage 2004. This post may seem very negative, but overall these are annoyances and not "deal-breakers" for me. I'll take Entourage 2008 over sluggish performance of VMs in a system with 1 GB.

 

[Sesshi]

I have no problems using Outlook natively since Vista is now my primary OS.

Flipping the typical forum member's comments on it's head, I guess you'll have to switch to a better business app platform to get the benefit of better business apps

 

[rhett7660]

Yeah I understand now, the college provides OWA access at the moment but if possible I'd prefer to be able to access my emails using a program like outlook or entourage like when I'm at work.

You need to check and see if your college allows you to connect outside the network? Does this make sense. It won't matter what you use if you cannot connect to their network. Make sense?

 

[danny_w]

I use Entourage 2004 both at work (via ActiveSync) and at home (via OWA). If you use a VPN to access your work then you could use Entourage ActiveSync, but that won't work hen you close the VPN. My company is almost exclusively Windows, and I am the only one that I am aware of that uses Entourage. It works for me, but I would prefer Outlook if I had it.