Microsoft Outlook
Is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available as a part of the Microsoft Office suite.
Although often used mainly as an email application, it also includes a calendar, task manager, contact manager, note taking, journal, and web browsing.
It can be used as a stand-alone application. There are third-party add-on applications that integrate Outlook with devices such as BlackBerry mobile phones and with other software such as Office and Skype internet communication.
Outlook 2013
Features that debuted in Outlook 2013, which was released on January 29, 2013, include:
- Attachment reminder
- Exchange ActiveSync (EAS)
- Add-in resiliency
- Cached Exchange mode improvements
- IMAP improvements (although it has a lot of bugs in IMAP)
- Outlook data file (.ost) compression
- People hub
- Startup performance improvements
- Weather bar
Internet Standards Compliance
HTML rendering
Outlook 2007 was the first Outlook to switch from Internet Explorer HTML rendering to Microsoft Word 2007 HTML rendering. This means HTML and CSS items not handled by Word are no longer supported. On the other hand, HTML messages composed in Word will look more or less as they appeared to the author.
This affects publishing newsletters and HTML/CSS reports, because they frequently use intricate HTML and/or CSS to form their layout. For example, forms can no longer be embedded in email.
Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format
Outlook and Exchange Server internally handle messages, appointments and items as objects in a data model which is derived from the old proprietary Microsoft Mail system, the Rich Text Format from Microsoft Word and the complex OLE general data model. When these programs interface with other protocols such as the various Internet and X.400 protocols, they try to map this internal model onto those protocols in a way that can be reversed if the ultimate recipient is also running Outlook or Exchange.
This focus on the possibility that emails and other items will ultimately be converted back to Microsoft Mail format is so extreme that if Outlook/Exchange cannot figure out a way to encode the complete data in the standard format, it simply encodes the entire message/item in a proprietary binary format called Transport Neutral Encapsulation Format (TNEF) and sends this as an attached file (usually named "winmail.dat") to an otherwise incomplete rendering of the mail/item. If the recipient is Outlook/Exchange it can simply discard the incomplete outer message and use the encapsulated data directly, but if the recipient is any other program, the message received will be incomplete because the data in the TNEF attachment will be of little use without the Microsoft software for which it was created. As a workaround, numerous tools for (partially) decoding TNEF files exist.
Calendar compatibility
Outlook does not fully support data and syncing specifications for calendaring and contacts, such as iCalendar, CalDAV, SyncML, and vCard 3.0. Outlook 2007 claims to be fully iCalendar compliant; however, it does not support all core objects, such as VTODO or VJOURNAL. Also, Outlook supports vCard 2.1 and does not support multiple contacts in the vCard format as a single file. Outlook has also been criticized for having proprietary "Outlook extensions" to these Internet standards.
Security Concerns
As part of its Trustworthy Computing initiative, Microsoft took corrective steps to fix Outlook's reputation in Office Outlook 2003. Among the most publicized security features are that Office Outlook 2003 does not automatically load images in HTML emails or permit opening executable attachments by default, and includes a built-in Junk Mail filter.Service Pack 2 has augmented these features and adds an anti-phishing filter.
Outlook add-ins
Outlook add-ins are small helping programs for the Microsoft Outlook application. The main purpose of the add-ins is to add new functional capabilities into Microsoft Outlook and automate some routine operations. The term also refers to programs where the main function is to work on Outlook files, such as synchronization or backup utilities. Outlook add-ins may be developed in Microsoft Visual Studio or third-party tools such as Add-in Express. Outlook add-ins are not supported in Outlook Web App.
From Outlook 97 on, Exchange Client Extensions are supported in Outlook. Outlook 2000 and later support specific COM components called Outlook AddIns. The exact supported features (such as .NET components) for later generations were extended with each release.
Hotmail Connector
Microsoft Outlook Hotmail Connector (shortened Hotmail Connector, formerly Microsoft Office Outlook Connector), was a free add-in for Microsoft Outlook 2003, 2007 and 2010 that allowed users to access Hotmail accounts through Microsoft Outlook. It uses DeltaSync, a proprietary Microsoft communications protocol.
In version 12, access to tasks and notes and online synchronization with MSN Calendar was only available to MSN subscribers of paid premium accounts. Version 12.1, released in December 2008 as an optional upgrade, used Windows Live Calendar instead of the former MSN Calendar. This meant that calendar features became free for all users, except for tasks synchronization which became unavailable. In April 2008, version 12.1 became a required upgrade to continue using the service as part of a migration from MSN Calendar to Windows Live Calendar.
Social Connector
Outlook Social Connector was a free add-in for Microsoft Outlook 2003 and 2007 by Microsoft that allowed integration of social networks such as Facebook, Linked in and Windows Live Messenger into Microsoft Outlook. It was first introduced in November 18, 2009. Starting with Microsoft Office 2010, Outlook Social Connector is an integral part of Outlook.
Importing from other email clients
Traditionally, Outlook supported importing messages from Outlook Express and Lotus Notes. In addition, Microsoft Outlook supports POP3 and IMAP protocols, enabling users to import mails from server that support these protocols, such as Gmail. Microsoft Hotmail Connector add-in (described above) helps importing email from Hotmail accounts.
There are some ways to get the emails from Thunderbird; the first is to use a tool that can convert a Thunder bird folder to a format that can be imported from Outlook Express. This method must be processed folder by folder. The other method is to use a couple of free tools that keep the original folder structure. If Exchange is available, an easier method is to connect the old mail client (Thunder bird) to Exchange using IMAP, and upload the original mail from the client to the Exchange account.
