Discussion on:

Five top alternatives to Microsoft Outlook

Once you go in, you can't get out. Also, it does not use longstanding internet standards for quoting and a lot of other things. I prefer to avoid it at my work, but have to use it sometimes. Can't archive those files except for use in GW. Real nuisance. I just ignore things if they aren't really important, and if people complain (mostly management) I tell them to phone me if it is important.

Others mention Google Apps. As a competitor, this is likely the #1 escape route for ex-Outlook users. Outlook isn't an email client, it's an address book, Calendar, notification center, and all around business planning console. Google Apps comes closest to handing all these features to the user.

Jack, thank you for introducing new alternatives in the start of my IT career i used Outlook i think 2 or 3 days but never used it again. Now i'm in love with Gmail and it's new sleek and stylish look i'm also thinking to checkout Thunderbird's feature!

I think the key word is mail clients. I think even in a corporate environment any of these clients can be used- sometimes without IT even knowing about it, users should just be aware that there are not missing anything as sometimes mailbox rules are not enough.
we have had some users setup forwarding rules (usually store and forward) - they don't do any maintenance on the actual mailbox though. I like thundebird

I wish we had Outlook but it is doubtful.

You seem to be talking about Outlook Express, which is just an email client
and not Microsoft Outlook.
Outlook is a complete customer/contact relation management suite.

One of it's coolest features is the ability to track all correspondence with a person
including documents that you have sent.

I use Outlook at work because I have to and Gmail for everything else. Here's my two cents:

Contact Management: Both Gmail and Outlook have pluses and minuses. With Gmail, they are always available no matter where I check my mail and it is really easy to add contacts. Downer is that the default setting for Gmail is to keep ALL your contacts in the contact list, which can get top-heavy. Outlook only adds those contacts you want, since it's a manual process, but they are a pain to move to another client when you get a new PC. Advantage: Gmail

Conversation tracking: Outlook is restricted to the search, which just brings up all the emails it thinks are related to the one you search on. Gmail, on the other hand, tracks conversations as a matter of course. It's pretty easy to collapse and manage things and to review even lengthy back-and-forth sessions involving multiple threads and multiple people. Advantage: Gmail by a mile.

Folders vs Tags: For personal use, I prefer Gmail's tags, but for business use, folders are more convenient. I don't want to have to search through eighty tags to find what I want, and I hate having to use the generic "Archive" to get things out of my Inbox. Advantage: Outlook.

Tasks and calendaring: Without using a separate tool (Google Calendar), Gmail doesn't even do this, so chalk up a + for Outlook here. If you don't use this feature much, it's not a big deal.

For business use, Outlook may still be worth the money. For personal use, there is no way I would shell out for Outlook.

Just allow me to provide you with a tip. In Gmail, you do not need to sort emails in folders or after tags. You can just use the search function. The amount of time I have saved by skipping archiving, which you had to do in the old Outlook days, is simply amazing.

While the search in Gmail is way better than in Outlook, it's the clutter factor that drives me nuts. I only want stuff in my inbox that needs my attention. It's a huge time waster to re-read old emails searching for things. Thus folders are really useful because I can compartmentalize all the conversations relating to a given topic into a single folder and date it for removal. If I have to search, I have to remember two or three things about that particular message to find it without a lot of searching. Gmail's lack of folders force me to do a search, which means spending time typing when I could be looking through the folder in a click. It's all about efficiency, and search adds a painful step.

This is the same reason I don't use the "search" function from the Windows start bar more than once a month - I already have things organized according to how I use them. If I have to search to find it, it means that I'm trying to find something I never thought I'd have to keep around.

Obviously missing for corporate environment is Lotus Notes...

Almost every mail client that I've ever used had the ability to leave messages on the server. IT departments like to set up desktops to download and not leave a copy because it reduces their storage requirements, but this setting is easily changed.

How do the various alternatives handle archiving old email, searching it and retrieving as necessary? This is becoming an increasing issue as the archives become larger and larger.

Email archiving is dangerous for a couple of reasons:
1) Legal. Any email you still have can be subpoenaed in a lawsuit. If you have a corporate policy that allows unlimited archiving of email, I'd strongly advise that you revise your policy. If you really need a record of a conversation, save the email to file and store it in a timed-delete folder. There is NO transaction that has an indefinite history, and you don't want old matters coming back to bite you in a lawsuit. Our standard policy is 30 days. If you need to keep it longer, it goes to file.

2) Storage: How many times do users keep old emails they don't need? That's the default behavior. The problem is trying to FIND anything in that mess and underlies the real problem: disorganization. Train your users to categorize emails into things I need to _do_, and things I need to _know_. Read and delete as much as possible and set a time limit for EVERYTHING. The real question is: what is the real possibility I will EVER need this email again?

Do not not keep emails....it's so expensive en case of troubles.
And don't put any thing on any digital medium you don't want it to be public.

Payroll records (including e-mail) must be kept far longer than 30 days. Check with your attorney.

Maybe i am the only one.... i do not like outlook because i have to pay for it! Even though i am not an exchange user! For the record i use MDaemon and access my mail from ANYWHERE via the World Client.. it even provide an admin console over the web.

All for a fraction of what you pay for exchange and it integrate well with Blackberry. In reality i do not see any reason why you should tether yourself to any POP email client and by the way extend that to the whole MS office suite...why not? there are more than capable replacements i.e Open office etc..

Regards

I think one issue that hasn't been addressed is whether email can be recovered after corruption. I know with outlook there are many recovery programs available, does anyone have experience with recovering files used by these outlook alternatives?

Lotus Notes, although up front is a complete replacement to Exchange, does NOT have to be used in that fashion. You can purchase Lotus Notes for the Rapid Application Development platform that it is, and integrate Exchange using Lotus Notes as a front-end. You can then use the rich features of Lotus Notes database development tools, integrate Email functionality for work-flow and forms-management, and still keep an Exchange back-end. Exchange's database is slightly more powerful than Lotus Notes (back a few years ago, not sure about today). Lotus Notes Email front-end matches perfectly (almost 100%) to Outlook.

Used Outlook in the corporate world for a decade but switched to Thunderbird at the home office years ago and have been very pleased with it. I liked Outlook Mail but it was frequently riddled with viruses until the company where I worked got more aggressive with security. After getting acquainted with TB, I never looked back. I love the program; it does everything I want and well.

Here's a little secret, there's a better backend than Exchange, it's called Domino and it runs on just about anything.

Please STOP using Lotus Notes - every time anyone tries to send us an attachment from Lotus Notes .... it fails, we can't read it. Luckily, very few of our customers use it.

Your Exchange server/client is setup to incorrectly. You will have issues with any Exchange alternative if that is the case.

Can't remember the exact setting, used to have to fix this every once in a while back in the day.

I use Thunderbird simply because by using Mozback up I can save everything,settings passwords and email,or just one of them and use that to transfer everything to another computer or use it as a backup.
Its so simple to do and don't know if any other email client can do that with such ease.
Certainly reading archived outlook mail has been, for me, impossible and Id never go back to it.

I've been working with Thunderbird for a couple of years and I do not miss Outlook at all. I have pop client, archives, contacts, events, etc. and all can be sync with my phone (Windows Mobile first, Android now). Yes, it is not as simple to configure, but Outlook is not a piece of cake either.

Cheers,

When considering the things that Jack did not have the space for...I would like to add one small things that may need be considered one day...there is room now for the office software edition that is not compatible with anything else and only adds security by doing so. So those who know the routine can just compile whatever equals that and deploy it out as the norm.It's important though that individual not make the same mistakes Microsoft does.

This article is looking down the wrong end of the telescope in my opinion. Organizations should be looking to displace their corporate email systems, not replace their email clients.

Here are five email "displacement options" (in alphabetical order) to consider:

IBM Connections
Jive Social Business
Salesforce.com Chatter
Socialcast
Yammer

I have used it for years - One ridiculous flaw. If you switch folders while it is downloading it will frequently crash. You then cannot restart pegasus. I discovered the cure after numerous crashes.. In the mail directory there would be a file with suffix cnm and zero length - delete this file and Pegasus functions perfectly again. Previously I had find dlete all files in the directory and find last backup and restore.

Thunderbird is great but it does not work well with Google Apps mail and newer Windows 7 for some reason.

We have over 30 email accounts (personal, business, and one for each case we manage). We have tried several times to migrate to Outlook but find it very difficult to setup and manage multiple email accounts. Multiple account setup in Thunderbird is quick and easy to manage. We use Outlook for contacts and calendar but not business email. We have one outlook email account setup to work with our databases for special email blasts to claimants in cases we manage. If we could do this with Thunderbird we would. The biggest problem we have with Outlook is that all email accounts are stored in one .pst file which gets blotted. Thunderbird creates a separate file system for each account which allows for easy archiving when a case is complete (also better email compliance management). Outlook has some good features (Sharepoint connections etc.) but needs a complete redesign.

Believe it or not, my many friends and I sitll believe good old AOL has the easiest and finest e-mail account one can buy. I use the paid version. I've had many friends grump and complain when some rare glitch takes place. I've been on AOL since 1996. These friends complain, leave AOL and then every single one of them has come back. They found the grass isn't always greener and they like AOL's easier than anybody's mail system and free security. E-mail is all a matter of choice but I'll take AOL's paid plan hands down and so will my friends.

How did you even get on this site? Seriously?

Tell me about it...!

AOL certainly has the advantage that it is "tried and true."

Another advantage is that, if you can keep users from clicking on links in an e-mail or downloading and running attachments it seems pretty bulletproof to embedded malware, just because it *is* a non-standard client.

There are plus and minus sides to it.

Plus:
- The AOL desktop client is free,
- Installs pretty simply
- Uses a broadband connection without a hitch
- Embedded links and images are disabled in incoming e-mail until the person receiving the mail allows activation -- eg: they can't just "click" or view - they have to request the enabling of the click or display
- The above mentioned non-standard mail structure prevents a lot of malware issues (if you can keep people from clicking on links or opening attachments!)
- The old restriction of 1,000 unread messages in yur inbox is now gone
- you can offload the mail (inbound and outbound) into AOL folders with ease
- It has had really high availability to the e-mail servers at AOL over the life of the product
- Will happily connect to other clients (like outlook ) through IMAP/POP3/etc (H*ll, it even works with the Blackberry e-mail application without special configuration)
- Truly accessible anywhere you can get a broadband connection

Minus -
- The non-standard file structure makes it a major hassle to archive outside of AOL, even between releases of AOL on the same machine
- To offload the mail file folders you have to go around Robin Hood's barn, such as connecting through an OUTLOOK client and saving to a PST file or forwarding all you old mail to yourself through AOL
- Well-nigh impossible to access the offloaded "File Cabinets" if you have to move to a new machine (or even a new major release of AOL)
- Adware in the mail directory page
- becuase the desktop client isn't *just* an e-mail server, it can turn into a tiome sink when users look at other things
- the "anti-AOL" sentiment that many geeks have because they percive it as "un-kewl"

Lets face it, AOL was one of the first (and I think the oldest surviving) e-mail clients aimed at consumers, and proved that connecting to the interwebs didn't need to be the sole province of "geeks" or "nerds."

Just because you might not like AOL itself, it *does* work well for the overwhelming proportion of its users. (Another advantage I've found -- if my jobsite e-mail is down for whatever reason, but I still have connectivity, I can have someone send me a file or link though my AOL account and I can easially keep on working)

Friends just don't let friends do @hole! I can't tell you the nightmares that I've experienced trying to get my client's computers cleaned up after one AOL disaster after another. It is hard to believe they are still in business! Of course most of their customers refuse to install the AOL client software; so that is probably part of the reason they have survived. My brother, who is still a customer, learned this years ago, as well.

I don't even allow the existence of AOL software on any of my client's machines, if they refuse to uninstall it, I simply delete them from my client list. Not to mention it takes using REVO uninstaller to get it off the machine properly.

troll?

I set up separate folders for clients and projects in outlook. At the conclusion, I create a new appropriately named outlook data file, movre the corresponding folder to it, then close it in outlook. There's my archive.

I wish more software developers would clone the PST file structure and make their software work with it. Maybe some day the Libre Office or OpenOffice.org developers will find a way to integrate their database or spreadsheet moidules with Thunderbird and Writer. The world needs a real knockoff of Outlook .

How does that PST file work on .. oh say Unbuntu? .. or iOS?
I prefer a more OS agnositc file structure like the nsf in Notes.

I use Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail. I'm considering Zoho.

For me, the email is secure enough (though most things are not critical). The great advantage is that if my PC crashes, or I need to check something somewhere away from home (usually using my laptop), I don't have to worry about things getting lost or not synching up.

But then, I'm not that social.

I use Thunderbird with several email addresses at several servers, and I use the Lightning calendar plugin synced to my Google calendar. If I make an appointment on my Android phone, it shows up in Thunderbird, and Vice versa. I've used Thunderbird for a decade, and give it my highest compliments. Some of my customers, however, have had problems with Thunderbird. Sometimes they're not aware of the tabbed user interface and get lost; sometimes it's issues that go beyond user training. I'm well versed and deal with issues as they come. Most users, though, just freak and say "It doesn't work", I've removed Thunderbird and put in Windows Live Essentials Email for a few users that just got too frustrated with Thunderbird.

I am using windows live email.
All's well in the eastern front.

While not free except to try, I've found IncrediMail a great email client. Better still it does everything I need, a couple of things I had them add, while still being as simple to use as Outlook Express.
One thing it allows, after I requested it, is you can input a group into an email and then expand it and delete one or more of the entries for that email only. I have a circle of about 30 friends with whom I exchange emails. When I get one from one of them I forward it to the rest, if it's interesting or funny enough to pass on. I put in the group and then remove the sender so only people who haven't seen it receive a copy.

It also allows unlimited number of signatures, formatted any way you like with pictures, sound anything.

It also has the best emoticons of any email program.

Honestly, that is probably the worst email out there - buggy and full of spyware. If one of my clients wanted that on their network I would ask them to go elsewhere for IT support.