I use Entourage....

One thing I like with Entourage is that it will PROPERLY use Outlook Web Access as the conduit to connect to Exchange Server. So I don't need to run VPN to sync up and my IT guys don't have to open up IMAP ports. Apple Mail works a little more smoother but isn't usable if you have to work with Exchange Rules and/or Exchange Calendars.

It's fine, but not versatile and advanced enough -- esp. w/ filters, searching options, etc.

I also vote for Apple's Mail.app. I have been using it without too many issues against different kinds of mail servers for many years.

I would caution against Entourage, as the code is buggy and it can be a resource hog.

When I see proper Exchange Support (using Exchange Protocol) in Snow Leopard then the built in mail app will be more useable. Until then there are gaping holes for Exchange support and it's flaky when using Exchange servers across IMAP.

See: Apple's marketing bullet for this at: http://www.apple.com/macosx/snowleopard/

If the support was good today they wouldn't need to highlight this as a major upgrade for Snow Leopard.

I think Apple is referring there more to calendar and address book support with Exchange rather than just email.

If full Exchange support is important to you, then I would have to agree that, unfortunately, Entourage is the only real option at the moment.

What about Powermail? Or Thunderbird? Or even Mailsmith's 2.2 beta version...?

Any thoughts...?

I've tried them all. I found each one of them to either be clunky, non-intuitive, or completely unaesthetically pleasing (which is part of the equation).

I do not need full Exchange support at the moment, so maybe that's part of it. But I use IMAP and find the searching to be more than adequate for my needs.

If you update an address book entry in Entourage on Mac #1, then sync Entourage to Apple's Address Book, then, using Plaxo to synch Apple's Address Book 'up' to Plaxo, then synch 'down' from Plaxo to Apple's Address Book on Mac #2, how do you synch Apple's Address Book back into Entourage on Mac #2?

I tried Apple Mail, and found it worked well. I used O2M ($10 and well worth it) to transfer my windows MSOultlook .pst to .mbox. The only thing missing for me was that when you open a mail message in a separate window, there is no way to navigate to next or previous messages.

I installed Entourage and found it also lacked my favored method of navigation--and it seems to be a much messier interface. so back to Apple mail.

After a few days, I am getting pretty used to using 2 finger scrolling to scroll through the email and 3 finger scrolling to advance to the next mail.

I would still like it if I could navigate from message to message when viewing the mail message in a nice large window.

It's all completely 100% automated.

In Entourage, open Preferences and click the tab for "Sync Services." Then, check the boxes to synchronize contacts and events/tasks with Address Book and iCal.

That way, you can make changes ANYWHERE....any Mac in Entourage, any Mac in iCal or Address Book, on the web by logging into Plaxo...ANYWHERE.

And the data will be pushed automatically! It's really awesome!


Here are a couple of examples:

1) I edit a contact or event in Entourage on Mac #1.
2) Sync Services syncs the change to iCal or Address Book.
3) Plaxo uploads the change to its servers.
4) Plaxo pushes the change down to iCal or Address Book on Mac #2.
5) Sync Services on Mac #2 syncs the change to Entourage.



1) I edit a contact or event in Plaxo on the web.
2) Plaxo pushes the change down to iCal or Address book on BOTH Macs.
3) Sync Services on BOTH Macs syncs the change over to Entourage.

Entourage does not provide full Exchange support today. It is pretty good for mail, but the other features of an Exchange environment are not well supported.

Can you be more specific on what futures are not well supported?

Like ? If you want Outlook, install VM Ware Fusion and run Outlook in Unity... You will get Outlook windowed running on top of other Mac apps.

n.b. - I'm not a heavy Entourage user at all but these are the issues I ran in to integrating a MacBook Air into a client's Exchange environment. There's a decent chance I got some things wrong, but this was how they worked when I was setting them up.

GAL lookups in Entourage are actually LDAP queries against the AD server, not lookups against the GAL. If you're not inside the corporate network you have no lookups available.

No free/busy search against other users' calendars. Sure, this is an advanced feature, but it is a very useful one when scheduling meetings.

Public Folder support is limited. Maybe a big deal and maybe not, but not available.

I found this web page with some additional missing features, including:
# cannot edit server-based global distribution lists
# cannot access nor edit personal distribution lists stored on the server
# voting buttons are not supported
# cannot edit server-based rules
# cannot sync tasks and notes with the server
# cannot easily request delivery and read receipts

I actually had a client deploy VMware Fusion and Outlook to support their large Mac install base when they migrated to an Exchange server platform.

These are both problems when using the OWA access method. If you are using the web URL's to connect then NEITHER of these above items are available. Which BTW: Unless I'm going nuts, Outlook doesn't even allow you to connect via the OWA URL's on Windows Office Outlook.

However if you connect to the server directly or via VPN and NOT via OWA then both of these above items work.

For those who don't know about the OWA access method for Entourage, you need OWA for your company to be available from the Internet

Under Edit Account, Server Information, Exchange Server enter the URL: http://webmail.yourcompanyname.com/exchange
(WILL VARY, but make sure the /exchange is on the end - this URL will be the one you see once you are logged into OWA)

You *CAN* access Public Folders and Calendar from this method as well under Edit Account, Advanced Settings, Public Folder Settings, Public Folder Server:
webmail.yourcompanyname.com/public
(ENSURE NO http:// is in front of this - this URL will be the same as the above one, minus the http:// (or https:// and will have a /public at the end instead of a /exchange )