Thunderbird 2 vs Outlook 2007

How does the new Thunderbird 2.0 hold up against Outlook 2007? Is anyone using it? If so, would you recommend the switch?

 

It depends on what you want from e-mail client. I personally like/use Thunderbird. I don't like the complexity of Office Outlook 2007. I don't need those calendars and planners and stuff. Thunderbird is simple and good e-mail client.

 

I have 2 gmail accounts, a google apps account for my radio station and a .Mac account. i find that outlook handles multiple addresses better and is a lot more powerful.

thunderbird has a lot of neat features, but the overall product just didn't do it for me when compared to Outlook 2003/2007.

 

As said above, Thunderbird is *just* an email client. Outlook is a calendar as well as two dozen other things.

So decide what you need.

For me, it's fairly simple.
I need an email client.
Thunderbird is free. Outlook is not.
Thunderbird starts up a lot faster than Outlook.
Both can display and send emails.

So I use Thunderbird.

 

Thunderbird is great. If you also need some kind of calendar, then go for Thunderbird + Lightning plugin. Works like a charm and is free of charge.

 

I am using T2.0 and have 10 email accounts and I have no problem with them all. I used to use O2007 and I am a recent convert

 

I am using Thunderbird 2.0 and it is great for the 5 email accounts I have on it.

Three Yahoo and Two Gmail work flawlessly although it took a while to configure the whole thing. All I did was make a backup of the profiles folder so if I ever need to configure it again I do not have to to. I just paste it.

There are several extensions which can add a calender to thunder bird or use sun bird which I think can be integrated into thunder bird.

 

Thunderbird is extendable while Outlook is not. You can always add the calendar. Take a look at the Sunbird project from Mozilla. They created a version which acts as an extension to Thunderbird although I don't know if it is compatible with Thunderbird 2 yet.

 

i never used most of the features that outlook offered. thunderbird is simple and efficient. handles gmail well too. being free just makes it that much better.

 

For me, both are free---one thru the web, the other thru MSDNAA. I use Thunderbird though.

 

I'm looking at the directory structure ....\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles\???.default\Mail for Thunderbird. If I backup the entire folder, how do I go about restore them? In Outlook, everything is neatly contained in a .PST file.

 

You need to backup and restore the entire Profiles folder which has all emails and everything else such as Thunderbird configurations, Add-ons, and Account settings. I have restored the Profiles folder many times without any problems.

 

You can also uninstall Thunderbird and reinstall a newer version. Every data (mails, accounts, addressbooks) stays intact.

 

Yeah, just copy the profiles folder somewhere, put it in a .zip or something. To restore it, just put it back where it was.

 

does anyone know if there is a desktop gadget for vista that will tell you when you get new emails? i know there is a tb gadget for g-mail and such, but i use a cox based email through thunderbird. Just wonderin if i can get email notification w/o opening up thunderbird

 

You cannot go wrong with Thunderbird and Firefox.

 

Bump

I've been using TB for a while and there is a round-a-bout way to get e-mail alerts.

There is a add-on which will minimize TB to your system tray. A slide notification will appear when you have new e-mails. The only downside is that it takes up about 40mb of memory. Best of all, no TB2 compatibility issues.

Link

 

Lightning is a scaled down version of Sunbird, addoon for Thunderbird and is compatable with v2.

Too me, TB just has a clean look to it and is very simple to operate. I use Sunbird over the addon to Thunderbird tho. Plus there is a portable version of sunbird which is nice to carry on my usb thumb drive.

 

I never use Outlook for e-mails. I just use Outlook to sync my contacts, tasks and Calendar with my smartphone.

I use POPPeeper on Windows. Can't get no more compadiable and simple than that. I tries Windows Live, which I loved, until it had it gave me problems with sending e-mails.

 

Sunbird is not really reliable at this point, at least not if you are totally dependent on it. I've lost appointments unexpectedly with it more than once. While it would be nice to have an all Mozilla triumvirate, Sunbird is not yet at the level of Firefox and T-Bird. I would suggest EssentialPIM instead. It's not open source, but it works.

 

Do I need to use paid Yahoo Mail Plus to access my yahoo account mails in outlook 2007 ?

 

I all depends on what you need... if you are a home/student user then thunderturd is fine.

If you are a business user or one that requires more from your app then outlook 2007 is the way to go.

Hard to compare which is "easier" or better in this case. Both are two different products, aimed at two different types of people. My business and personal life relies on outlook and so far I've been more than impressed with outlook 07... it is the best total solution I've seen so far.

 

I don't need all the features offered in Outlook 2007 on my home laptop, so I use Thunderbird because it loads quicker and is simpler.

 

I just need an e-mail client for my 3 e-mail accounts. So Thunderbird is just perfect.

 

Thunderbird is really light. Outlook is bulky, that's why it loads slow. Nothing beats Thunderbird.

 

Email clients such as thunderbird & Outlook work only for POP3 accounts..
they dont work for Web-based accounts.

Gmail is free but POP3. ...google is exceptionally great company

Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, Rediff, etc etc etc all those free accounts dont work with Email clients because they dont have SMTP based configs

 

My Dad uses Outlook as it has greater features he needs for business..
I use Thunderbird ..its simpler, lighter, customizable, free, easy to setup......list goes on

 

uhmmm no offense... but...
there's actually a nice plugin for the most common web-based "only" accounts which allows you to d/l these emails within thunderbird!
so honestly, how great is thunderbird uh?

look here: http://webmail.mozdev.org/installation.html
It works just fine for yahoo, didn't try the other ones yet...

maybe i should cook up a lil tb faq one of these days...

 

gmail in thunderbird works even without additional plugins.

 

I actually switched to Outlook 2007 from Thunderbird this year after having used Thunderbird for many years (and Netscape before that and MCIMail before that).

I got tired of not having Tasks, Contacts, Calendar, and sync integrated nicely without having to manage several other add-on products.

 

This may have already been addressed, but which one is more of a resource hog?

 

I personally use Outlook 2007. The company I work for requires me to add telephone numbers, notes and dates to my phone. It works brilliantly with the Sony Ericsson Smartphone software that I use

 

They both take the resources they need. Unless that constrains some other program or process that is somehow more important, it is irrelevant. I mean, it is not like you are going to save up those computer resources and use them later; they are quite time-dependent - use them in the moment or they are forever gone.

 

Thanks, J.D. What I was aiming at, and I guess I could have worded my question differently, is which one runs more efficiently? People have complained that the programs in the Office 2007 suite are slow to load and tend to run a little slow at times, so I was wondering if Thunderbird offered a difference in speed and efficiency.

 

They are not mutually exclusive. You can run both Outlook 2007 and Thunderbird on the same machine. Try them both out on your machine and see which you like better. Of course, the data stores are different, so take that into consideration.

 

LOOOOOL thats hilarious and true too

sure the office suite is eatin up its fair share of resources while running.. but it won't be a biggie unless you got a really old machine... switching to open source software doesn't necessarily mean that you will actually feel a difference while using it... as said before... try it out, get a feel for the daily tasks... then ditch the one you like the least...

 

Condescension does tend to run rampant in the tech community, huh?

By the way, thanks again, J.D.

 

No worries. I ran Thunderbird for years. There is a new development effort just beginning for a new Thunderbird.

 

Well, n00bs, pwned, and other similar terms weren't invented by celebrities you know, if you catch my drift

I use Thunderbird and, unlike Firefox, doesn't seem to eat much resources at all [of course the two fundamentally different programs with different purposes but that's not the point]. I've never used Outlook though as I've never felt the need for the extra features such as a Calendar. I have my cellphone for that

 

What is condescending about giving you the only honest and useful answre there is?
1: Try it and see how they work for *you*. Thunderbird is free, install it and see if its resource usage is acceptable for *you* on *your* system. See if you *notice* the resource consumption from either. See if it has the features *you* need. No one else can answer that for you.
2: Both Thunderbird and Outlook use the resources they need. Thunderbird is an email client (and to some extent, contact list), Outlook is email client, contact list, calendar and a million other things.
Outlook is, in my experience, a bit more sluggish. But it also does a lot more.
So which is "best"? Depends on your needs. At work I use Outlook, because I need to, to connect to our Exchange server, and because I need the shared calendar and a couple of other features.

At home, I use Thunderbird because I just want an email client which works well, is easy and efficient to use, and is free.

 

Dude, calm down. The answer was already given. My remark about it being condescending was between me and the person I was addressing. I made the remark halfway kidding anyway, which is why the person I was addressing took no offense to it. You internet dudes kill me with the way you are so quick to jump on someone and most of the time, it's because you misinterpret something you read. Chill out.

 

I already had Outlook, using it to sync my WM PPC PDA so just converted my ThunderBird folders to Outlook PSTs and switched over.

 

Indeed. I was already using Outlook. I'm going to give Thunderbird a whirl and see what it has to offer.

 

hahaha! well, thats the way she goes

and Thaansa3, you should definitely give thunderbird a shot! especially the portable version, it makes backing up your emails/profiles sooo easy and you can carry it around on your usb stick, as i so love to do it.... right next to my portable firefox and whatnot...
but i'm losin myself here... to go back on topic, i prefer tb

 

Be aware that it is easier to go from Outlook to Thunderbird than it is to go from Thunderbird to Outlook.

Thunderbird can import the Outlook .pst files directly; however, to take a Thunderbird file into Outlook you will need to go through Outlook Express (not always available anymore) or through a conversion utility such as the Transcend Migrator.

 

Well, I have outlook 2003 & Thunderbird & I prefer thunderbird way more then outlook, its just simple & fast.....

 

I'm configuring both Thunderbird and Outlook. I figure that I can use Outlook to sync everything that I need, and I can just use Thunderbird for strictly e-mail.

 

I did that for awhile, too, but email and contacts are tightly coupled.

 

I dont like complicated things and I bought Office 2007 Student which had a bundle but not Outlook. Office 2007 as a whole I find is very valuable but very complicated. Value for money? well thats obvious Thunderbird is free and works perfectly for me since its simple

 

I have used both, but I prefer Outlook for a few reasons. Outlook will sync with my palm phone and has a better contact system. It also integrates seamlessly with other Office products (as it should), which is great because I use OneNote like it is my job. Its great to have that button and it sends it right into the window with no hassles.