Outlook type Email client for Mac ?

Les McLean

Les McLean

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I'm looking for an Email client for Mac that has similar functionality to outlook, specifically I'd like to see something like this, with Mail, Inbox, Message, Calendar and 'To-do' list all on one screen.

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The native mac mail application is a bit weak in this functionality, downloaded the trial MSOffice 2011 for mac, but the outlook program is still a bit limited in the mac version , although a bit more flexible than the native mac mail.

Any suggestions?
 
MS Office for Mac comes with Entourage, which is the Mac equivalent of Outlook.

Oops, seen you've already tried that, that'll teach me to read threads fully before replying!
 
I use Thunderbird, but it has no native Calendar or To Do List.
While it may be possible to find plug-ins/extensions/add-ons to provide these facilities, I'd have no idea about the quality/functionality/integration of such extras.
 
If you are switched on enough with computers then Lotus Notes for Mac as a stand alone client would probably be your best bet. It retains equal functionality across platforms.
 
Thanks all for your suggestions.

Mark, Lotus Notes is excellent, I downloaded a trial version, and it does what I want, although very much business orientated, couldn't find a price for the software, but I guess it's not cheap.

Vicky/Matt, thanks for the Thunderbird suggestion, and is the route I took, Thunderbird has a couple of excellent extensions, 'calendar tweaks' and 'lightning', which add a calendar with a todo list (events) and task panes added to the interface.

I used 'Chandler Hub' (an open source organiser) to sync my calendars between Thunderbird, Ical and my Iphone.

It's all mundane stuff with items like 'pick up Zimmer frame' to be entered in the to-do list, (helps prevent those senior moments) :)

And doesn't Apple make things darned difficult, it was a few mouse clicks to get my 'to do' list in outlook to sync with Iphone (In windows) it took me hours to get similar functionality on the mac :(
 
Les McLean said:
And doesn't Apple make things darned difficult, it was a few mouse clicks to get my 'to do' list in outlook to sync with Iphone (In windows) it took me hours to get similar functionality on the mac :(
Click to expand...

No! I keep everything synced between an iMac, a MacBook, and iPad and an iPhone without ANY mouse clicks. It just happens.

For about 15 yrs, everything I did revolved around Outlook. Then I switched to Entourage for a while but have now settled on Postbox & iCal. Have a look at Postbox.
 
2blue4u said:
No! I keep everything synced between an iMac, a MacBook, and iPad and an iPhone without ANY mouse clicks. It just happens.

For about 15 yrs, everything I did revolved around Outlook. Then I switched to Entourage for a while but have now settled on Postbox & iCal. Have a look at Postbox.
Click to expand...

Just downloaded a trial version of postbox, but (I don't think) it will do what I want it to do , that is, integrate a calendar/to do list in the viewing pane like outlook provides?, although it looks an excellent E-mail client.

Perhaps I'm missing something with it?
 
i realise you have probably tried this already, but i have something fairly similar to what your asking for (unless i misunderstood).
I have mail on the left column, the contents of the selected folder in the next column, then the reading pane on the right. Coupled with that you can turn on "my day" on outlook mac 2011 (and even tell it to open on startup so you can see it without needing to open mail) which gives me the calendar /to-do list you are after.

piccie here -

http://img146.imageshack.us/i/screenshot20110403at201.png/

I realise that my day is outside the main window, i havent tried to add it in, although i quite like the ability that i can see my calendar without needing to have outlook open
 
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ptholt said:
i realise you have probably tried this already, but i have something fairly similar to what your asking for (unless i misunderstood).
I have mail on the left column, the contents of the selected folder in the next column, then the reading pane on the right. Coupled with that you can turn on "my day" on outlook mac 2011 (and even tell it to open on startup so you can see it without needing to open mail) which gives me the calendar /to-do list you are after.

piccie here -

http://img146.imageshack.us/i/screenshot20110403at201.png/

I realise that my day is outside the main window, i havent tried to add it in, although i quite like the ability that i can see my calendar without needing to have outlook open
Click to expand...

Now that does look promising, I didn't know you could do that, back to the drawing board :)

Sent from my iPad using TP Forums
 
Yes I think if you would like Outlook like functionality the closest you will get is 2011 Office for Mac Outlook.

Been trying to replicate my Exchange bound Outlook on my work PC on my Macbook but can't 100%, the closest I have ever come was with 2011 Office.
 
Les McLean said:
Now that does look promising, I didn't know you could do that, back to the drawing board :)

Sent from my iPad using TP Forums
Click to expand...

Ms Office 2011 on the mac is very nice i have to say, prefer it to the last windoze version i was using (2010 iirc) and much better than the office xp i get to use at work lol.

I had a play with 'my day" i havent found a way to embed it inside outlook, but then as i say its quite nice to have your calendar/to do loading on startup and not needing outlook to be running to view it tbh.
 
Having tried Entourage and Mac Outlook I find the best solution on a Mac is a combination of Mail, iCal and Address Book!

For "to-do" I use OmniFocus which integrates with both Mail and iCal really well, and all sync though MobileMe so I always have everything up-to-date on my Macs and iPhone.
 
Finally arrived at a solution I'm generally happy with, using Thunderbird as my main E-mail client, with 'Lightning' extension which adds a small calendar/to do list as panes within the front page. So have more or less functionality as I had with windows outlook.

grab.jpg


The additional hardship was getting a 3 way synch between thunderbird calendar/ical and iphone, so I could add an event on my iphone that would show up in my Thunderbird 'todo' list(and vice-versa), unfortunately, while ical/thunderbird would two way synch, I could only get one way sync to my iphone(i.e an added event in iphone would not sync with thunderbird), after a lot of googling, the answer was to use google calendars as a conduit, so instead of the iphone syncing directly with ical via itunes, it syncs directly with google calendar, as does ical and thunderbird, so entering an event (todo or appointment) in either thunderbird calendar or on my iphone shows throughout the sequence.

Mac's are great for a lot of things, but they do make life hard on occasion.
Alternatively I could take out a subscription to 'mobileme, and pay £60 a year to avoid the hassle :)
 
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