Mac OSX email sw

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Aloha

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Ultimate Geek

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#6404 23-Jan-2006 16:13

Hi,

We just bought a new Powerbook, so I will have thousands of questions in the following weeks. (Actually we are giving up our desktop PC and changing to Apple)

Which email sw is better? The normal Apple email sw (came withthe laptop) or the Microsoft Entourage (came with Office 2004 for Mac)?

Can I import MS Outlook email file (pst) into Apple email sw or into Entourage?

I is a kollege stoodent. Bee nice.

alasta

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#26944 23-Jan-2006 17:30

I've never used Entourage personally, but I understand that it's a more powerful alternative to OS X Mail. Having said that, I have used OS X Mail for over three years and it suits my requirements fine, so I think you'd be quite happy with it unless there are specialised features which you require.

I'm not sure of the answer to your question regarding importing data into Entourage, but you should be able to find out easily enough by playing around. I should also point out that one of the first things you should learn when switching to the Macintosh platform is that online help is your friend. It's a resource that's well worth using.

cokemaster

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#26947 23-Jan-2006 17:39

I use Mail personally because of its good integration with the OS and its tools. Things like Spotlight support, address book support and also the ability to tie into Ical for calender stuff is quite cool. Remember that Address book is a seperate program (but is tied into Mail) and so is Ical (the calender app).

I have both installed. Office installed Entourage by default though I don't use it that often.

I mainly use POP3 and IMAP mailboxes all with SSL access. It does complain a bit if the cert is unsigned and also if the cert is for a different domain (like with my webhost) and while there is an option to turn off the unsigned domains for a per domain basis, it doesn't work if the domain is different to the domain you connect to.

Isync that runs with both 10.3 and 10.4 does contacts and calender events.

Having said that, it has Exchange support and I have used it. Though one of the problems I found was that it was great to recieve mail but sending them was a bit of a problem... likewise for the address book. I haven't used it in 10.4 though (10.3 only) and I know Mail had a few changes since then.

Entourage is the MSs mac answer to Outlook. I believe they stopped outlook around 2001 or even earlier (runs in a classic environment) and replaced it with Entourage. Some of the diehard Outlook users may say that some of the Outlookish features are missing but I'd expect that as MS would rather you use their OS as well as their programs.... Apart from that it appears to have its own address book and calender so if you are thinking of using Isync - you may have problems. The missing sync can do it from Entourage and also supports PPC devices.

There is supposed to be a patch or something coming out that allows Entourage data to be indexed by Spotlight as well.

As for the importing...
Mail supports importing from Entourage, Outlook Express, Claris Emailer (who uses that now days?), Netscape/Mozilla, Eudora, Mac OS X Mail and mbox files.
Entourage however does Entourage X, Entourage 2001, Outlook Express 5, Eudora (4+), Mac OS X Mail, Netscape communicator, Claris Emailer, Claris Organizer, MBOX, tab/comma delimited and Entourage archive.

If you are doing contacts I have used commar delimited files and vcards in the past and it goes like cake.

You should be able to import the bulk of your mailbox into either application.

Hope this helps....

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Aloha

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Ultimate Geek

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#26948 23-Jan-2006 17:51

Thanks, I am impressed!
I have never seen so helpful people in other forums like here. That's why we like GZ, isnt it?

I checked already the online support, it seems great. However asking questions is always easier then look after it. :) And some people might know the asnwer by heart, like Cokemaster..

Thank you again.

Can I have one more question?
Is it normal that I cannot open ppt (Powerpoint) presentation files in the mail, however I have the program installed on my Mac?
Like in Outlook, I receive a mail with an attachment (ppt) I just double-click and it opens automatically with Powerpoint. I tried this in Mac and nothing happened. Sometimes even the attachment didnt came through.

I is a kollege stoodent. Bee nice.

cokemaster

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#26959 23-Jan-2006 18:52

Are you using Maill or Entourage?

I have Office 2004 for Mac installed here on Mac OS 10.4 (run using installer rather than drop'n'method) and it opens PPT files on a doubleclick. Do the files have the .PPT extenstion on them as sometimes that can cause problems.

I may try it out on Entourage with some test accounts to see if it doesn't work on there.

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Aloha

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Ultimate Geek

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#26970 23-Jan-2006 20:49

Ok it was on the first day. We configured everything, mails started to come, some with attachments. Then I tried one email with a ppt attachment and it didnt open.

Maybe I did something wrong, I'll try again later.

But basically it should open, isnt it?

Ohh btw we were using Mail, not Entourage.

I is a kollege stoodent. Bee nice.

cokemaster

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#26981 24-Jan-2006 02:06

Have you tried using Finder to locate the file, select it and active the context menu by holding down CTRL and click (right click if you have a 2 button mouse). Once it comes up hold down ALT/Option and it should have an item saying "Always open with"

You should be able to select the application (in this case powerpoint) to open it with. However I think this does it on a per-file basis...

I'll check tomorrow.

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Mostly Harmless

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#27759 3-Feb-2006 09:57

Incidentally, Entourage should be getting an update with Spotlight and iSync support for addresses & calendar around March. Or so the Mac BU claim :-)

Cheers,
James