Outlook for iOS works with Microsoft Exchange, Office 365, Outlook.com (including Hotmail and MSN), Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and iCloud.--To make an in-app purchase of an Office 365 Home or Personal subscription, open the app, go to Settings, and tap on Upgrade next to your Outlook.com or Hotmail.com account. Outlook for Mac 2016 preview Increasingly a gem in the Office crown to rival big-hitters like Word, Outlookâs new-found performance is almost worth the price of admission alone.
Microsoft Outlook for Windows offers a thoughtful way to organize your inbox and ties into the power of Microsoft's formidable email services.
Pros
Nicely arranged inbox: Outlook uses what Microsoft calls the 'Focused Inbox' to help you sort through your emails. The Focused Inbox gathers email into two tabs: Focused (of course) and Other. The Focused tab shows email from coworkers, family, friends -- email Outlook thinks you need to respond to. The Other tab holds email from mailing lists, social apps, marketing messages -- anything that Outlook thinks doesn't require a response.
Manage your calendar: From Outlook, you can view your linked calendars. Schedule meetings, see available meetings for others, and get reminders. And you can sync Outlook with other calendars, such as Google Calendar.
Outlook is part of Microsoft Office 365: Microsoft Outlook fills the the email slot in the Microsoft Office suite. For $69.99 a year, get the Office 365 Personal edition, which along with Outlook, offers Word, the word-processing workhorse; PowerPoint, the cross-platform slideshow app; OneNote, for note-taking; Excel, the industrial-strength number-cruncher; OneDrive, Microsoft's cloud storage service; and Skype, for voice and video calls.
For $99 a year, subscribe to the Office 365 Home edition to share Microsoft's productivity apps with four other family members. Or, for $149.99, you can just buy outright the Office Home and Student 2016 for PC edition, which includes Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote.
Or available all by itself: If you don't need the other Office apps, you can download Microsoft Outlook 2016 separately for $129.99. The standalone Outlook for Windows includes bug fixes and improvements but not the next major edition of software, like you get with the subscription. The standalone version also doesn't include OneDrive services and Skype. But, really, for 20 bucks more, why wouldn't you just buy the whole Office suite?
Works with Microsoft Exchange: The Outlook app can sync your email, contacts, calendar and all your files from Microsoft Exchange servers, Exchange Online, Office 365, and Outlook.com. And it can even handle your Hotmail, Live, and MSN email accounts. Setup is easy for a personal account. For a work or school account, you may need to do a bit more to get the email account set up, so have your server setting details handy when you start.
Syncs across Outlook platforms: You can access your Outlook email anywhere you can find Microsoft's email app: On your Android phone and iPhone, through the Microsoft Office 365 suite, or via outlook.live.com.
Cons
The desktop version is pricey: If you need the official Microsoft software for Exchange, Outlook is it. And if you want a standalone email app instead of using your browser, Outlook is a solid choice. Otherwise, it's hard to justify spending $129.99 on an email program. The good news is, the Outlook apps are free.
Bottom Line
Microsoft Outlook does a great job of organizing your email messages. If you are looking for a full-featured desktop email app, Microsoft Outlook may be just what you're looking for.
See also
Microsoft to give Office 365, Office.com apps a makeover (ZDNet)
Three tips for using Excel's conditional formatting more efficiently (TechRepublic)
10+ things you should know before buying Office 365 (TechRepublic)
Outlook App For Iphone
Microsoft Outlook update: The 7 features business professionals need to know (TechRepublic)
What do you need to know about free software?
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Microsoft finally added IMAP support to its free Web e-mail service, Outlook.com. Using IMAP is preferable to POP, because it offers a way to keep your e-mail synchronized when using third-party clients.
Outlook For Mac App Support
You can use Outlook.com with Apple's Mail app on OS X, but its new account wizard is preconfigured to use POP whenever you enter 'outlook.com' as your e-mail address. Here's how to set up Mail to use IMAP for Outlook.com instead of POP, so you can take advantage of the new IMAP support.
Step 1: If you're using two-step verification with your Microsoft account, you need to go to https://accounts.live.com/proofs/Manage and create an app password to use. If you're not using two-step verification, move on to Step 2.
Step 2: Launch the Mail app in OS X and start the add account wizard by going to File > Add Account. If you've never used Mail and you're opening it for the first time, the add account wizard will appear automatically.
Step 3: In the address field, enter a bogus e-mail address and leave the password field blank, then click Continue.
Step 4: For incoming mail server settings, make sure that the account type is set to IMAP, then enter 'imap-mail.outlook.com' as your incoming mail server. Enter your real Outlook.com e-mail address and password in the username and password fields. Remember to use your app password here if you're using two-step verification. Click Continue to move on to the outgoing mail server settings.
Word For Mac App
Step 5: Under outgoing mail server, enter 'smtp-mail.outlook.com.' Check the box to use authentication, then click Continue.
Mac Free App
Step 6: At the account summary page, double-check the mail server settings to make sure that everything has been entered correctly. You'll notice that your e-mail address shows up as the bogus address you entered in Step 2. We'll go back and fix this after the account's been created. Make sure to uncheck the box next to 'Take account online,' then click Create.
Step 7: When the Accounts window appears, select the account you just created from the left pane. When your account information appears, replace the bogus e-mail address with your real Outlook.com e-mail address. When you're all done, close the Accounts window and make sure to save your changes.
Step 8: At the main Mail menu, go to Mailbox and select 'Take All Accounts Online.'
That's it. Within a few moments, your Outlook.com folders and e-mail messages will show up and be in sync with the Web and mobile clients.
Outlook For Mac App
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