Windows Outlook/ Mail & Gmail

Hi all...

I recently switched over to Vista, which despite a lot of preconceptions, I must admit I like. I also have Office 2007 which includes Outlook.

My primary email account is a gmail account and I wanted to solicit your opinions as to whether to use Outlook or Windows Mail to access the gmail account (I have five accounts with gmail set up for various things).

BTW, I also have a Win Mobile phone and I use the scheduling and contacts on that and would like it if I could sync the phone with the laptop.

Thanks in advance for your suggestions/ recommendations.

 

Well sheduling, tasks, notes etc. only work in Outlook.

I would recommend you use Outlook.
(I got it for 150€ - and then started university in England... where I could have gooten office for 40 Pounds... ah well, at least Outlook is in my native language )

Outlook is able to synchronize with several acounts (I have far too many e-mail acounts... don't ask why)

Windows Mail is realy just an e-mail program.

Outlook is a complete organizer - it'll also read e-mail adresses from contacts - so if you have acontact saved with an e-mail adress you can type a name, select the appropriate suggestion and your away.

Go with Outlook, especially as you have it already.

 

I would use either outlook or thunderbird. I would proly pick thunderbird because it is free and has many different plug ins/add ons.

 

OK. Outlook it is because I have it. BTW, should I uninstall Windows Mail? No point in having it around, is there?

 

Another question...can Outlook replicate the threaded email conversations like in Gmail? And, what happens to the folders that I have in gmail?

BTW, are you folks familiar with http://www.xobni.com/. From their website, "Xobni is the Outlook plug-in that saves you time finding email conversations, contacts and attachments." They also claim to have this threaded conversation thing. I should clarify that I am in no way associated with this Xobni...I just came across them here http://www.spyjournal.biz/node/1012 while looking for the threaded solution.

 

it doesnt replicate the threading unfortunately. it woulda been nice. No, it does display them as new messages.

if you try the xobni plugin and it works, let me know so i can start using it too.

as far as folders go, if you set up oulook with imap accounts for gmail, youll see and be able to use all your folders. works very well.


ev

 

In Outlook, it kind of can replicate threaded messages. You can right-click on a message and select "Find All Related Messages", which should pick up emails threaded to the one you selected.

 

Well...I checked out xobni....while it does look enticing and the threaded conversation is there, their privacy issues leave me somewhat cautious. From what I can gather, xobni pings you - this I can understand - they want to update their application on the run etc.; but then xnobi also makes note of your email address - something that I am a bit wary of - who knows where the emails end up - one of the guys on their forum complained about being spammed; and lastly, there are rumours - I stress on the word 'rumours' - that email contacts stored locally are copied and held somewhere. In their FAQs, they claim that this copy is maintained locally. But too many people are asking this question. They also say that they datamine your usage. Check out their FAQ. Personally, I remain wary. Of course you could say that gmail does the same thing - but with over 2 gigs of info/ emails on gmail, it is too late for me to do anything about it as much as I may have a problem with...!

 

You stressed on the word "Should"...not very confidence-inspiring! Is there a problem with this with Outlook in general?

 

One of the things that I am looking for is maintaining the threaded email conversations - I am addicted to it. I first got into this habit using Palm's mobile phone OS (Garnet), which they have ported over to Win Mobile 6. Too bad Outlook does not have this feature. I wonder if there is a plugin for this - aside from xobni, of course.

 

lol, indeed i did use the word "should". i really haven't used it much to be honest since all the messages in the thread usually are appended to the bottom of the most recent message to begin with.

 

Its a curious situation this...on the one hand, if I want the gmail threaded capability, all I have to do is to download and install Gears and use gmail offline. This brings with it the problems with Gears in the first instance, which is one reason why I don't use Chrome. On the other hand, I could use Outlook - but then the threaded deal is a bit of a question AND i have to download 2 gigs of emails...AND I am not sure what happens to the Folders and other filters that I have in place. Maybe I should just stick with gmail, bite the bullet and consider Gears!

What do you guys think?

 

I use Outlook to manage my Gmail account and for the most part it works very well. Many email threads have all the previous messages included in the latest message to begin with. All Gmail does is match up the subject line and the previous text to determine if it is a part of the thread. I haven't tested it thoroughly on Outlook, but I believe the "Find All Related Messages" option would work well for this.

 

I used outlook. It has an ocean of features I don't need. It was heavy, loaded slow etc. Right now I'm using windows Live mail. Don't like it either. probably, will switch to thunderbird. I think it has conversations+it has simple layout and loads fast.

 

Outlook isn't slow - and Windows Live Mail is a barebone e-mail client...

However: Outlook will slow down the larger your inbox gets.
But, if you archive old elements, it speeds up again.

Archiving keeps your file structure by the way, and you retain immediate access, just like your current e-mails.

 

Well...I gotta sync with my win 6 mobile device so that cuts out T-bird.

 

Hmmm...so what I would do is to configure Outlook with gmail using imap. Download all the mails (if I remember correctly, I can be selective about this..correct?)

Then import my contacts from gmail using a csv file. This should populate the Outlook contacts, but also the windows contacts...again correct?

And, lastly, sync my win mobile with outlook...correct?

 

Windows and Outlook contacts are separate from each other.
(But there must be some way to synchronise them or at least import/export them)
IMAP would allow you to download only what you need.

 

Contacts in outlook for gmail are actually pretty easy.

Here's a how to that shows you how to export from gmail and import directly into outlook.

http://blogs.howtogeek.com/mysticgeek/2008/11/17/import-gmail-contacts-into-outlook-2007/


ev

 

Cool! Thanks. I will look it up.

@DetlevCM...Hmmm...that is quite strange. I would have thought there was a high degree of interoperability between Windows contacts and Outlook contacts...I'll check up on it...thanks for pointing it out!

 

Apparently, it is not possible to share contacts between Windows Mail and Outlook...and it is something that is irritating a lot of folks. Even more strange is that this was indeed possible in XP!!!!! But, I'll keep looking!

 

BTW, try zimbra
www.zimbra.com/
Part of it is free, part not. You can get desktop client for free, to get mobile and account on the server for yourselv, you'll have to pay like 10$/month

 

Thanks. I did check out Zimbra. But I don't think it will work for me. The hunt for a service that can allow me to use Outlook (I do need the Calendar and sync function with my Win-Mob-based Treo) with my Gmail remains.

If all fails, maybe I will end up with Gears - but I wonder how that will work with my Treo...probably not well and I am loathed to move to Android - at least now. Of course, if Android became (as is speculated, particularly in the netbook category) a computer OS, then instead of signing my life away to MS, I may sign over to Google...of course, I suppose I could do the same with the MS cloud solution that is apparently unfolding...but picky as I am, I hate the MS Live interface!

Way off topic, I guess! Apologies for that. Still open to suggestions, workarounds, fresh perspectives, alternatives etc etc

Cheers!

 

Lol...I used to use The Bat! (Home Version). It was excellent. But now I need a lot more functionality as I mentioned in my previous posts. But thanks for the suggestion and the reminder of an excellent mail client.

 

Outlook is great software if you are willing to pay. Love it. But if you go overkill on IMAP accounts it'll crash. So I use Thunderbird. Fast and not a resource hog at all when compared to Outlook. But compare features and you'll know why. Even with add-ons, features don't come close.

 

I already have Outlook. I just wanted to (1) port my gmail to Outlook and (2) to combine the Windows Contacts with the Outlook Contacts.

I need Outlook also because I need to sync my Treo (running Win Mob) with it.

 

the scheduling option is in outlook so you can use the outlook.

g mail account is free so you can also use this for the mails.

because i always use g mail as my mail account.

 

As I said in the first post, I want to use my gmail through outlook and this way be able to converge gmail, outlook and the Treo...but it seems that which ever way you look at it, it is not possible to merge the Windows Contacts on Vista with the Outlook Contact in Office 2007.

What I do know how to do is:

Set up gmail to work through Outlook
Convert Windows Contacts to Outlook Contacts (though I do not think you can syn them)
Transfer Gmail contacts to Outlook
Sync Treo to Outlook

I suppose I should just stop messing around and accept the fact that Outlook and Windows contacts will remain independent of each other. This also means that Windows Mail remains useless for me - it anyway does not have a Calendar function so no need to sweat over it. It would have been nice to have a central address book/ contact list on Windows (without needing to open up Outlook).

 

Oh, one of the first things I do is open Outlook.

You'll get used to it

It sounds like a good plan

 

I guess so! Pity though aint it that MS does not want meshing of its own applications and OS?

 

I think it makes it easier regarding compatebility.

What about XP? There are no XP contacts.
Server 08 ? Don't think so.

I suppose they could have coded it to provide an extra feature for MS...

But I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't also a security motive behind it...

 

eh, knowing that a lot of malware is delivered via email, it may not be such a bad thing to keep the two at a distance.


ev

 

Well...based on what I read, I think there is a way to do this in XP. I believe it is based on how Windows Contacts saves the contacts, which can then be imported into Outlook and vice versa. They changed the file extension in Vista, I think. I'll need to find some references to this.

Also, about the security: One would have hoped that with the new security features in Vista, they would have been able to figure something out because as things stand, it really does not make any sense - at least to me!

 

Hmmm...

Maybe you find something. You could bug Microsoft

 

I hardly think they will enterain comments and recommendations from a novice like me.

 

I think its called customer service

Its worth a try.

You bought their Office, you bought a computer using their OS - they may as well help you, accept a suggestion.

Maybe they have a tool to synch them, maybe they could programme one.

If you phrase it well, nothing wrong with contacting them.

 

OK. I emailed them. Let's see what happens now - though I am not holding my breath!!!

 

Good luck Let's hope MS thinks its a good idea

 

It would be ironic if they got back to me saying..."oh we don't have anything like that, but if you write an application and we can verify and test it, we will put it on as an add-on!"

Naturally, I would be lost given that I won't have a clue as to what to do!!!!

 

Well....MS replied...here it is...

"Thank you for contacting Microsoft Connect Customer Service.

I apologize for the delay in our response to your issue. Due to an increase in requests, our response time is longer than usual. I appreciate your patience in this regard.


I understand from you e-mail that you are using Windows Vista operating system and Outlook 2007. You need assistance on importing your contacts from Windows Mail into Outlook 2007 and also you would like to know about any application or how to use the contacts of Windows mail and Outlook 2007 simultaneously.

As a Customer Service Representative, I can assist you with the support options available with your Microsoft product.

I would like to inform you that Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Windows Mail, and Microsoft Outlook Express can send and receive e-mail through the Internet and they are different programs with different capabilities. You cannot synchronize the information stored in these programs and access the contacts simultaneously. If you have an e-mail message or contacts that is stored in Windows Mail or in Outlook Express, that e-mail message is not automatically available in Outlook.

However, I would request you to visit the below link for more information about “How to export e-mail messages from Windows Mail & Outlook Express into Outlook.”

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/196347

I hope the above information would be helpful to you. If you have any other issues or concerns with Microsoft products, please write or call us back. We would be glad to assist you.

Thank you for using Microsoft products and services."

So...basically, it means that what I want to do cannot be done and they intend to keep the two systems independent of each other, which is something that puzzles me. But then again, I don't know too much about how these things are planned and executed!

Cheers!

 

ah well, it was worth a try.

I think one aspect is that it is easier to use just one platform rather than switch betweeen them

I know the university discourages the use of Outlook Express, they say its too closely linked to Internet Explorer - while according to the university Outlook is Ok....

 

Yeah...my univ told me the same! But what I find odd is that why not have a central Windows Contacts database from which you can feed either Outlook or/ and Outlook Express/ Windows Mail. The two mail clients need not be otherwise linked.

 

I think its easier to let Outlook have its own database.

Oulook is a standalone system.

Also - windows XP? You'd need to distinguish between Vista and XP otherwise...

It would have been nice to have an add on to synch the contacts, but well, obviously it doesn't exist.

 

True! For me it means that I will have to ignore Windows Contacts and get into the habit of firing up Outlook as soon as I switch on my machine. Oh well!

 

This is a silly question, but if checking hotmail via Outlook 2007, is it possible to do an "empty folder" function like in regular web based hotmail? Say if i wanna empty a very full junk mail folder?

 

Provisionally, the answer is yes...see this link http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102218231033.aspx

See also http://www.watchingthenet.com/connect-to-windows-live-hotmail-using-office-outlook-connector.html