Discussion on:

Dealing with Windows 8 Mail

report it to Hotmail...........

... who declared the Playbook a disaster for not including a 'native' mail app. At least it could be paired with a phone for sophisticated mail functionality. Can W8?

I believe that the Windows RT mail app is probably comparable to the Microsoft Mail app in Windows 95/98. It got people in the door, but it is not a substitute for a full-featured suite like Outlook.

Microsoft is expected to release a Windows 8 RT release of Outlook. When? Who knows.

At least that should allow you to install Thunderbird if Mail is not to your liking. Unfortunately RT users don't get that option (unless I am wrong and it is in the store)

Not having bullet/number lists and indents is the biggest frustration for me. Even Live and Outlook Express could handle that. But I'v ebeen using it as my only email program for 3 months now so it is workable.

I imagine someone will create a better mail app for RT. I also imagine MS will upgrade this 1.0 application and include some of the missing features.

I don't like the mail app as it is too limited. Must set up folders on web account before you can use them in the app. Also no empty button to get rid of deleted/junk emails. Cannot set up a group mailing. Cannot figure out how to sync Outlook 2010 calendar with the calendar app either. Hope Microsoft makes some changes in the next updates.
So I will continue to use Outlook 2010.

I don't get Windows 8, and I don't get this new Mail app. I am at the moment setting up a new PC for a little old lady who was challenged enough as it is with WinXP and Outlook Express - how in the name of all that's sacred do I explain to her that so shut down the computer, instead of clicking Start - Shut down - Shut down, she now has to find the Start menu screen (whatever the hell it's called - the Big Blue one with all the tiles, and who knows how to get to that *consistently* and simply? Sometimes hitting the Windows key gets me there, sometimes Esc, sometimes I bang and swipe around all over the place before I find it) THEN it's a simple matter of moving the mouse a-a-a-a-l-l the way over to the right, carefully going down the bottom corner, waiting for the so-called "charms", clicking the "Settings" one, then clicking "Power" and only *then* "Shut Down". How bizarre. Can someone please explain how this is more productive?

And as for Mail - "sorry, we don't do POP3". Actually, they don't even say sorry. You just have to use IMAP, which is great if your ISP happens to support it and better still if they let you keep a big mailbox; but her in the Third World a 50 MB limit is more or less typical, with some offering larger (2 GB is the biggest I have come across) but at a price. More to the point, a little old lady who doesn't have a tablet or smart phone and pretty much only uses the PC to communicate with the grandchildren across the ocean, hardly has a need for IMAP or anything fancier than the POP3 she has been comfortable with for 10 years.

Why go to the trouble of creating a whole new mail client when they have only just started getting Windows Live Essentials into a decently workable state? Seems to me the whole "change for the sake of change" brigade has well and truly taken over at Redmond and they are forcing it down our throats. Not that that is anything new, of course.

I've adapted pretty well to Windows 8 on my Surface and phone, but here's my whinge - the mail app really sucks. I keep Outlook on it's tile next to my mail app, and at least once a week I deal with the uninvited spammers and add them to blocked lists, clear deleted files and generally do the housework! Really hoping Microsoft get this sorted in future upgrades, it's really letting the side down!