Microsoft Outlook Vs Mac Mail
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A fresh install of Windows 10 offers a number of software solutions, including one for email and calendar. Windows Mail is one-half of an email account and calendar offering — the other being Calendar — and is a lightweight app designed to handle multiple accounts and fairly moderate email use.
But is it worth switching to Outlook, and who is suite designed for?
To those who have already used a version of Outlook in the past, the Windows Mail app will come across as a lightweight variant with some features omitted from the experience. The main difference between Outlook and the Mail app is the target audience. The bundled app with Windows is meant to cater to consumers and those who check their emails on a daily basis. Outlook on-the-other-hand is for business and professionals who rely on email.
But just because the Windows Mail app is more basic than Outlook, it doesn't necessarily mean that it's a worse experience. The app itself is a solid client for email, and the accompanying calendar app will handle events, subscriptions to cloud-based calendars just fine. A neat feature of the Mail and Calendar apps is the design language, which fits in comfortably with Windows 10.
Various accounts can be added to Windows Mail, including Outlook.com, Exchange (Office 365), Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, iCloud, as well as usual POP and IMAP accounts. Using Microsoft's hosted email services like Outlook.com will ensure everything is configured and synchronized without much effort. Simply enter your account credentials, and the app will handle everything else. Other service providers may require additional steps.
Thanks to its free, basic feature set, the Windows Mail app has been designed and developed to take full advantage of touch support on tablets and laptops. It's possible to utilize the on-screen keyboard and use the app to filter through messages and reply to contacts.
One issue I continue to experience, as well as other Mail app users, is the problem with mail synchronization. Attempting to synchronize all accounts can result in errors, which is not only irritating but requires troubleshooting. Contact integration from connected profiles isn't perfect either, but again this is a more streamlined app and it's possible to hit up contacts when creating (or replying to) emails.
I also dislike the fact you need to switch between apps for mail and calendar appointments. But it is free, so there's that huge plus, and not everyone shares my view.
Pros:
- Great touch support.
- Easy to use.
- Free, bundled with Windows 10.
- Fluent Design.
Cons:
As an illustration, you can contrast Gmail and Microsoft Outlook for their functions and overall scores, in this case, 8.3 and 8.3, respectively. Furthermore, you can compare which software has superior general user satisfaction rating: 98% (Gmail) and 77% (Microsoft Outlook) to learn which one is the better option for your company. Apr 01, 2020 To configure your Apple iCloud email account in Microsoft Outlook for Mac, follow these steps: Start Outlook for Mac. On the Tools menu, click Accounts. Click the plus (+) sign in the lower-left corner, and then select Other E-mail. Enter your E-mail Address and Password, and then click Add Account. Sep 13, 2013 Erik Eckel takes a look at how Mac Mail performs next to Outlook for Mac. Which do you prefer and why? Microsoft Outlook: The dirty truth. Microsoft Outlook. Mail is simple.
- Basic.
- Issues with mail sync.
- Separate apps for mail and calendar.
Microsoft Outlook Vs Mac Mail Login
Professional Outlook
Outlook is Microsoft's premium email client and is regarded as one of the best in the business. There's a good reason for this as the suite has been around for many years as part of Microsoft Office. The company has had time to invest in developing improvements to take the experience to the next level and increase productivity. While the Windows Mail app may just do the job for daily or weekly email checking, Outlook is for those who rely on email.
As well as the powerful email client, Microsoft has packed in calendar, contacts and task support. Simply switch between tabs and everything is loaded up. Office integration is also present, as one would expect from a more connected suite of productivity tools. Then there's the Ribbon system that hides away the countless buttons and features that do pretty much everything one would require.
Take a look at some of the feature discrepancies to see if there's anything you require that cannot be done in the Windows Mail app:
| Feature | Outlook | Windows Mail |
|---|---|---|
| View/Send mail from Shared Mailboxes | Yes | No |
| Access to Public Folders | Yes | No |
| Categorize messages | Yes | No |
| Ignore conversation | Yes | No |
| Clean up thread | Yes | No |
| Apps for Office | Yes | No |
| Unsubscribe to mass emails | Yes | No |
| MailTips | Yes | No |
| Follow Up Flag (creating email) | Yes | No |
| Send email as plain text | Yes | No |
| Create Inbox rules | Yes | No |
| Local Email storage | Yes | No |
| Contacts list | Yes | No |
| Highlight terms in search results | Yes | No |
| Open colleagues' calendars | Yes | No |
More information and comparison between the two apps can be found on Microsoft's website.
There are downsides to Microsoft's more advanced email program. The first being the plethora of features that may never be used. Do you really need to categorize messages? That and the new Ribbon UI system that Microsoft has implemented into the new Office suite isn't to everyone's liking. It can also feel rather bloated when tasked to handle thousands upon thousands of emails from multiple accounts, but that's a case of not effectively managing clutter.
And don't get me started on some of the account setup issues. I've experienced the following a few times before it starts magically working for some reason. Outlook just can't seem to connect and log in when initially setting up some accounts that require manual labor, asking you to re-enter credentials a few times before finally accepting defeat and connecting everything up.
That said, it makes sense for Microsoft to offer more features in the Outlook suite to entice businesses and consumers to upgrade and pay the Office subscription, but if you don't need many of the more advanced features the Mail app will do just fine.
Pros:
- Superb feature set.
- Handles mail, calendar, contacts.
- Great filter, search and flagging.
- Integrates with other MS Office products.
Cons:
- Requires Office 365 subscription.
- More complicated.
- Setting up accounts can be a pain.
- Not designed for touch.
What say you?
Do you prefer the simplicity of Windows Mail (and Calendar) or are you a fan of the more feature-rich Outlook suite? Sound off in the comments!
Updated on July 24, 2018: We updated this guide to take into account the latest releases of Outlook and Windows Mail and to make sure all information is up to date.
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Frankly, there are so many mail apps for the iOS platform that it can be difficult to zero in on one. More challenging is sticking to the one you have chosen. I am guilty of hopping around productivity apps for some time now. I recently tried Outlook app after using Apple Mail for the past few months.
The experience was pleasantly positive but don’t take my word for it just yet. Read the below analysis to learn more about how Outlook is a better mailing app.
Let’s begin.
1. User Interface
When you open Apple Mail, you will be asked to enter email ID details with options for some popular providers.
Outlook automatically detected my email ID as I am using other Microsoft apps on my iPhone. You can also add email IDs from other providers, including IMAP and POP in Outlook.
Outlook has some additional options at the bottom — Search and Calendar, that we will explore in detail later.
Both the apps will ask for certain permissions to function correctly. The layout is simple and intuitive enough with everything easily accessible on both apps.
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Read More2. Reading Mails
Apple Mail comes with a bunch of mailboxes pre-configured like Drafts, Sent, and VIP among others. Contacts added as VIP will be given priority. That means you have the option to receive mail notifications for these contacts only. A time saver as you don’t have to pick up the phone every time you receive a newsletter.
To add a contact as VIP, open his/her mail and tap on the email header to mark as VIP. At the bottom, you will see regular options like reply, delete, write, flag, and move.
You can swipe right to mark the email as unread and swipe left to delete, flag, or respond to it. While you can change swipe settings by heading to Settings>Mail instead of from the Mail app directly.
Outlook also supports swipe gestures but offer more options while configuring it like schedule, read & archive, move, and more.
Outlook app has all the folders in the sidebar which you can open with a simple right swipe. There is also a Focused mailbox where important mails will land. You can manually decide which mails land there as well, and the app will learn from your behavior. All remaining mails are available under Other tab. No need to go back and forth.
Clicking on the three-dot menu icon will reveal options like delete, reply, and more. At the bottom, you will again find Search and Calendar options. They seem to be universally present.
Tapping on the three-dot menu at the top will reveal different options. You can use the Schedule button to remind you of important mails at a later date and time. It is useful when you receive a vital mail but don’t have the time to deal with it. Also valuable if the same mail has an event associated with it.
The reading experience remains more or less the same on both Apple Mail and Outlook app for iOS. However, I liked the Focused mailbox more because I don’t have to mark contacts VIP manually. Schedule option is a real lifesaver for it turns mails into a to-do list.
3. Sorting Mails
Apple Mail comes with a bunch of mailboxes as we saw earlier, but there are more hidden beneath the menu. Tap on Edit to reveal more mailboxes. Some of them are pretty useful.
Mailboxes like Attachments and Unread or Today can be very handy. Makes it easier to sort mails depending on what you are looking for. Outlook app by Microsoft removes the guesswork out of the equation by offering a Filter button. Tap on it to sort emails by attachments or Unread. There is a handy option called Mentions Me. What’s that?
It works just like in any other app. If the mail has you mention by name, you will find it here. Just another filter but more useful when you are working in a team.
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Read More4. Calendar
Both Apple Mail and Outlook are smart enough to recognize calendar events in the mail and offer to save it. In Apple Mail, you can tap on the time or date link to open a new menu. That’s where you can create or copy an event or view it in the calendar.
Where Apple offers a separate Calendar app, Outlook comes with one built-in. You can access it from the bottom bar menu, which is present on every screen. Following Apple’s design policy, you will tap on the date or time to open a menu to create events.
The difference here is that Outlook also works on other platforms like Windows and Android, whereas Apple Mail and Calendar apps are restricted to the Apple ecosystem.
Then there is the search tab where you can quickly search for mails by contact names, events, and even file names. Makes life that much easier.
5. Platform and Pricing
As mentioned in the point above, Apple Mail, or any other Apple App for that matter, doesn’t work on Windows and Android. Outlook is available on all popular desktop and mobile operating systems.
The iCloud offers 5GB free storage while Outlook offers 15GB of free storage which is three times more. That’s on par with what Google offers to Gmail or Drive users. Note that Office 365 users get 50GB storage. The iCloud storage plans begin at $0.99 for 50GB and go up to $9.99 for 2TB.
Outlook or OneDrive storage plans begin at $69.99 per year for 1TB, but you also get access to Office 365 suite of apps like OneDrive, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, among others.
Outlook Determines Outcome
Cross-platform compatibility is a must in this day and age, even for die-hard Apple fans. It might save the day one day. Plus, Outlook is easier to use with all the options and settings easily accessible from a single app. The calendar is baked into the app, which makes it more usable. And enterprise users will definitely want to benefit from Microsoft’s robust suite of exchange apps, which means it’s scalable.
For personal users, Apple Mail is a solid option, but Outlook is more flexible. Both are equally reliable.
Next up: Have you heard of Spark mail? Click on the link below to know how Outlook mail app for iOS fares against Spark mail app.
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