Entourage vs. Mail

[~Shard~]

Just a general question regarding Entourage - what are some of the main reasons people use it over Mail? Or is it just a personal preference? Mail is good enough for me and is nice, clean, simple and easy to use, so I’m not really sure what more I would want. I have yet to use Entourage though, so perhaps I’m missing out on something.

Just curious on what other people think and recommend...

 

[Bedawyn]

I use Mail for actual mail, but I'm still using my OS 9 version of Entourage for contacts, tasks and events, and the newsreader. I'm not happy about this solution, but I'm also not happy with Calendar (tasks aren't flexible enough) or Address Book (not customizable enough). And it's not unusual for me to find things I want to do in Mail that I can't... although I'm sure the reverse is also true, that there are things I take for granted in Mail now that I couldn't do in Entourage. Still, if I weren't trying to get away from Microsoft as much as possible, I'd probably still be using Entourage entirely. And if I needed my contacts and task manager more than a few times a month, you'd better believe I'd still be using Entourage for everything. It's clunky and it doesn't do things the way I want it to... but at least it does them. Mail, Calendar, and Address Book just don't yet do all of what I need them to do.

 

[Foxer]

Hotmail - pure and simple. Yes, I know there are "patches" out there to allow Mail to download hotmail, but that is where 75% of my e-mailing takes place. If Mail (which I use only for my .Mac account) added hotmail support, I'd switch over in a minute. I dislike the look and feel of Entourage, and I really hope that the possibly upcoming Office XI updates that.

 

[howard]

i've been back and forth, used to swear by entourage, now i like mail...there both good really doesn't matter what you use if both have all the feature you need. just go by what interface you like the best

 

[Le Big Mac]

1) More info for contacts on Entourage (e.g., birthdays)

2) No "next" button in mail (last time I checked--or is it doesn't go to next message on delete).

I really would like to use mail and address book, but they just don't have as many features.

 

[mwjd299]

I like both, am leaning towards Entourage. I'm only using the test drive right now and will have to buy M$ Office soon. One problem I'm having in both is inserting live hyperlinks. I manage to send them in Mail by typing in the http:// and pasting the rest, but it still won't send a live link to AOL. In Entourage, I can't get a live hyperlink to go anywhere. Anybody have a method?

 

[rjrufo]

I use Entourage almost exclusively because of the linking capabilities, and the color coordination.

I have several hundred contacts, and color coding the categories makes it easier for me to prioritize the e-mail I read and respond to. Examples of my categories are: Customers = Green, Employees = Blue, Friends = Red... etc.

As for the linking capabilities, every e-mail I send and receive is linked to the contact that sends/receives a particular message. If a question arises from say, a customer, I can go to that customer's contact card, look up the e-mail linked to him/her, and see when the topic first arose.

Also, any appointments or tasks I set up can also be linked to a contact card, so I have a record of when and who I meet with or talk to.

I've found a better solution to the appointment and tasks aspect, but unfortunately, it doesn't include e-mail. Maybe someday it will.

 

[peterjhill]

Originally posted by Le Big Mac
1) More info for contacts on Entourage (e.g., birthdays)

2) No "next" button in mail (last time I checked--or is it doesn't go to next message on delete).

I really would like to use mail and address book, but they just don't have as many features.

The addressbook in Panther is fully customizable. It lets you add event fields with any name, as well as standard birthday and anniversary. You just need to look further into the app. The default view is simple, but look a little deeper and it will solve all your problems.

Entourage, yuck.

I use mail.app for email. Cyrusoft Mullberry for newsreading (it is also a powerfully imap client). I use a combination of iCal and Oracle Calendar.

 

[~Shard~]

Cool, thanks guys for all the useful feedback. I think I'll probably give Entourage a try, just for kicks, and see for myself. It sounds as though Mail will still be good enough for me though - I don't have hundreds of contacts, require a lot of micromanagement, etc., but it's nice to know those features are available if I ever need them!

Thanks again!

 

[Bedawyn]

Originally posted by peterjhill
The addressbook in Panther is fully customizable. It lets you add event fields with any name, as well as standard birthday and anniversary. You just need to look further into the app. The default view is simple, but look a little deeper and it will solve all your problems.

Nope, sorry. Yeah, you can add custom fields. But if you do, or even if you use all the given fields, the interface starts to become horribly cluttered and icky. Or at least in pre-Panther versions, and I haven't heard anything about Panther having a different version of Address Book. And the editing of those custom fields was annoying -- fine for one or two contacts, but not if you're adding five custom fields to each of 200 contacts.

Address Book -- like too many of the other OS X apps -- seems to me like it was designed for people with professional-level systems but only consumer-level needs. I'd still like to get away from Entourage and Address Book has the potential to be a nice app -- but it's not there yet.

 

[edesignuk]

Currently I'm using Mail, but I may go back to Entourage, why? To be able to compose HTML mail! Why oh why will Mail only let you complose in plain or rich text!?