Outlook is #2 in Top 10 Email services

Positions in ratings

#2 in Top 10 Email services

#4 in Top 20 Productivity software

Alternatives

The best alternatives to Outlook are: GMail, Microsoft Exchange, iCloud Mail, Google Calendar, Zoho Mail

Latest news about Outlook

2022. The new Outlook client is a collaboration hub



Microsoft has started to roll out the updated Outlook for Windows that the company has been working on for over 2 years. The main idea of ​​the new version was to unify the interface of the Windows program with web version - Outlook.com, and it was successfully implemented. The upcoming Mac version will have the same interface. It allows to see the list of emails, tasks and calendar on one screen. And thanks to integration with the new service Loop, you can, for example, send messages to Teams, open files from SharePoint, or work with projects (from the Loop itself) right in the email body. In addition, in the new version, you can quickly convert emails into tasks or events, attach files using @mentions, pin emails to the top of the list, connect a Gmail account and manage it.

2022. Microsoft launches Outlook Lite for low-powered Android phones



Microsoft has launched its lightweight Outlook Lite Android app, which is suitable for low-end Android devices and regions with data connectivity issues. The app has a download size of less than 5MB compared to more than 80MB (depending on the device) for the regular version. The app is currently available only in select countries. Microsoft said it will consider adding more countries to the list in the future. The company added this app to its Office 365 roadmap in June, so this launch hints toward a broader release. Users can access emails, calendars and contacts for Outlook.com, Hotmail, Live, MSN, Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Exchange Online accounts.


2020. Microsoft Outlook is getting text predictions, 2 years after Gmail



Microsoft's Outlook is getting a new feature that will suggest words and phrases while the message is being composed, allowing users to easily autocomplete emails. The feature will work on both Outlook.com and Outlook on the web. As you compose an email, Outlook will sometimes suggest some text which you can accept by pressing the Tab key or the right arrow key. To ignore the suggestion, just keep typing. Users will also be able to turn off the text predictions by going to Settings – View all Outlook settings – Mail – Compose and reply, and clearing the "Suggest words or phrases as I type" check box under Text predictions.


2019. Microsoft integrated its personal organizer app To-Do with Outlook


Microsoft has released a new version of its Microsoft To-Do personal organizer. It features full customization of color scheme and background, 2-factor authorization, smart recommendations for creating today's task list. Finally, the integration with Outlook is implemented: the Flagged Email list in the app displays flagged messages from Outlook.com. Also, it features integration with project management service Microsoft Planner, voice assistants Alexa and Cortana. At the end of the blog announcement, Microsoft hinted the closure of the Wunderlist service, which was acquired by the company 4 years ago and became the base on which To-Do was built. After that the Wunderlist founder Christian Reber asked Microsoft (via Twitter) to buy it back to make an open-source product.


2017. Outlook.com gets LinkedIn integration



LinkedIn integration within Outlook.com is now going live, allowing email users to view insights, profile pictures, work history and more from within their inbox. This would not be the first time that LinkedIn data found its way into email. Before being bought by Microsoft, LinkedIn itself acquired a smaller company called Rapportive which made a then popular Gmail add-in that integrated social profile data into Gmail’s web app. It later revamped the app to focus more heavily on the LinkedIn integration, and less on connections to other services like Facebook and Twitter. With the new Outlook integration, customers can click on an email contact’s name right in their inbox then view a rich contact card that includes a link to their LinkedIn profile.


2017. Microsoft launched faster and smarter Outlook.com



Microsoft launched a new Outlook.com with better and faster search interface, along with other frills. One of those frills is a conversation-style inbox. The new layout makes it easier to keep track of a longer string of messages and everything that was sent previously. This is a much-needed change for Outlook, which has garnered a reputation for being a stodgy, older email service compared to alternatives. Another addition is Quick Suggestions. This brings up nearby locations of restaurants or bars you type out in your email. So, if you're sending a message to a friend to get drinks after work, the nearest location of that chain will pop up in the email. And Microsoft also wants you to feel like you've got a personalized email account. Users can now mark contacts and folders as favorites to make them easier to find in a search.


2017. Mobile Outlook gets much smarter search



Microsoft unveiled a redesigned version of its popular Outlook mobile app for iOS and Android, which most notably includes a more intelligent search feature, powered by Microsoft Graph, along with other changes to navigation and conversations. Microsoft Graph is being used to turn Outlook’s search feature into a tool that can surface more than just emails – it will be augmented to include things like contacts, attachments, flight and travel itineraries, package deliveries and more. Search is also becoming a more central part of the experience in the new version of Outlook. When you tap into search it won’t be a blank screen, but will include proactive suggestions of your top contacts and recent files, as well as showcase things happening ‘today,’ like your travel plans – all before you even kick off your search. Plus, when you start typing, the auto-complete suggestions will display names from your most frequently contacted recipients first.


2016. Office 365 gets its own built-in lightweight CRM


Microsoft rolled out a new tool for business owners using Office 365 and Outlook called Outlook Customer Manager, a lightweight CRM for companies that need to track their customer interactions and history, but aren’t yet ready for a more robust platform like Dynamics 365. The new tool lets businesses track tasks and deals in progress directly in Outlook, and will pop-up reminders aimed at helping them stay on top of their customer relationships. Once enabled, Outlook Customer Manager will automatically organize customer information, including emails, meetings, calls, notes, files, tasks, deals and deadlines. This information – which is collected from email, calendar and call log data – is presented in a timeline format next to the inbox. Users can associate certain tasks with a contact, company or deal, so they can interact with their customers in a more timely fashion. It’s also able to present lists of deals by stage, close dates, priority and amount.


2016. Mobile Outlook gets built-in meeting scheduler



Mobile Outlook now has a new scheduling assistant that helps you find a time that works for everyone. The feature, which is rolling out today to the iOS version of Outlook’s mobile app, will show your coworkers’ availability so you can quickly pick a date and time when everyone can attend the meeting. To use the new scheduling assistant, you’ll first create an event from the app’s included calendar, then add the coworkers to the People field. You then tap on the date picker, and the app will automatically show you the times that work best, as color-coded suggestions.


2016. Microsoft updates Outlook for iOS and closes Sunrise



In 2015 Microsoft acquired Sunrise, the popular calendar app. Now Microsoft has closed this app and delivered a major update to the calendar features in its Outlook app for iOS. New Outlook's calendar has a design that looks much more like the old Sunrise app than previous versions. The in-app calendar uses colored icons that will look familiar to Sunrise users. The update also added a few new ones with event-specific graphics. Outlook is also much better at handling specific locations for events. It now uses Bing to fill in locations for meetings and appointments and you can open maps and directions directly from calendar entires as well.


2015. Microsoft to replace Sunrise calendar with Outlook



Microsoft will discontinue its multimillion dollar acquisition Sunrise after Outlook fully absorbs all of the calendar's existing features, Microsoft's Outlook chief. Javier Soltero, who joined Microsoft when the company acquired his email app Acompli, which became the basis for the current Outlook app, didn't say when the transition would happen but said Outlook's calendar would be steadily gaining new features during the next few months. It's not totally surprising. Microsoft discontinued another acquired app Acompli when it launched the new Outlook app at the beginning of the year.


2015. Microsoft unveiled big update to Outlook.com



Microsoft previewed several major changes to its email client Outlook.com, including a redesigned inbox, new support for Skype and third-party apps and new calendar features. The revamped Outlook.com will be available over the next few weeks.  Outlook.com inboxes will now support Microsoft's Clutter tool, that is a lot like Gmail's priority inbox feature in that it automatically sorts messages based on what it predicts will be most important to you. Messages identified as unimportant are automatically sent to a separate folder that doesn't appear in the main inbox. Microsoft is also launching its new "add-ins" feature, which allows third-party apps to run within Outlook. The feature, first previewed during the company's Build developer conference last month, works with Uber and email scheduling service Boomerang and PayPal right now.


2015. Microsoft's mobile calendar Sunrise makes scheduling meetings easier


Mobile calendar app Sunrise, recently acquired by Microsoft, has unveiled a new feature called Meet - a third-party keyboard for both Android and iOS that lets you pick time slots and send them to someone without ever leaving your current app. Here’s how it works. Let’s say you are reading an email and someone wants to meet you. You hit reply, type your response and then switch to the Sunrise keyboard. You pick time slots that work for you in your calendar, and hit done. Sunrise will generate a link and add it to your email. And it works exactly the same way in your favorite messaging app or in any other app. When your recipient taps on this link, there are two different scenarios. If you are using Sunrise, this link opens Sunrise and shows you meeting suggestions inside your calendar. You can confirm or suggest another time.


2015. Microsoft acquired calendar app Sunrise for $100M



Microsoft has acquired calendar app maker Sunrise at least for $100 million. Sunrise has a suite of calendar products for mobile and desktop users that connects with and consolidates calendars from different providers. It’s available on the iPhone, iPad, Android devices, and on the Mac App Store, as well as offering a web client. Users can access their calendars from Google, iCloud, and Microsoft Exchange, as well as connecting to a wide range of other third-party apps. That cross-device and cross-platform support has helped it gain significant traction among users. The purchase furthers Microsoft’s push into supporting the platforms of rival technology firms. Microsoft made waves when it released a touch-friendly version of Office for Apple iOS, for example, before it did so for its own Windows 10 platform.


2015. Microsoft launches Outlook for iOS and Android



Microsoft already provided two Outlook-branded but rather limited apps: Outlook.com app for Android and OWA apps for Android and iOS that only work for paying Office 365 subscribers. The new Outlook for Android and iOS phones and tablets, based on the application Acompli it acquired (for $200) last December and has look and feel quite a bit like the original Acompli app. It will support Office 365, Exchange, Outlook.com, Yahoo! Mail and Gmail, as well as most other email providers. The Outlook app also allows you to send attachments through many cloud services, including Microsoft’s own OneDrive, as well as Dropbox and others. Similar to most modern email apps, the new Outlook apps now also support various swipe gestures, which you can customize to your need.


2014. Microsoft acquires Acompli email app



Microsoft to buy Acompli for its slick iOS and Android email and scheduling app. Acompli is a mobile email application for professionals. It focuses on helping people find the most important emails in their box, quickly. Acompli addresses some of the shortcomings in Microsoft's Outlook offering for iOS. Its standout features for any user are an integrated calendar and simple methods to share files from various cloud accounts. But for Microsoft users, the big plus is Exchange support. The app also has some of the smarts that Microsoft has been implementing through its Clutter feature for its Outlook Web App for iOS and Android. Besides Exchange, the app also support Office 365, Google Apps, Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo, Outlook.com, Hotmail, and Live email services, as well as Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive.


2014. Microsoft rolls out Clutter - a new smart email filter for Outlook


Microsoft don't wont just to sit and watch Google's Email 2.0 initiatives. That's why Microsoft is rolling out Clutter, an inbox tool for Office 365 business customers that helps users prioritize email within Outlook. Much like Google's Priority Inbox for Gmail, it learns from your actions over time to surface the most important email while weeding out the messages it thinks you're most likely to ignore. These messages get separated into a designated "Clutter" folder; they can be viewed at any time but don't appear in your main inbox. You can proactively train Clutter by marking items as Clutter or simply move the items to the Clutter folder. Clutter continuously learns and will adapt to your new patterns within days when you begin working on new projects or a new role.


2014. Sunrise Calendar lets you connect third-party apps



Sunrise introduced integration of third-party apps to its calendar platform. You can now connect your Evernote, GitHub, Songkick, TripIt and Asana accounts to Sunrise to see your relevant data directly in your calendar, and interact with it. For example, with the TripIt integration, you can see your future flights in your calendar without having to manually add this info. With Evernote integration you can actually edit your notes in Sunrise or change the due date. And the GitHub integration shows your milestones in your calendar. Sunrise calendar is available on three different platforms — iOS, Android and the web.


2014. Microsoft launched Outlook for Android



Microsoft continues to implement its new strategy on releasing applications for competing platforms. Last year they released free Outlook (or rather Outlook Web App) app for iOS, and now the Android version is launching. OWA for Android allows to work with e-mail, calendar and contacts on your phone. All these items are synchronized with the online version of Outlook. However, here the positive ends. The fact is that the app only works with Office 365 service, and only with its business version (even Premium is not supported). It doesn't work with Outlook.com and even with private Exchange servers. Moreover, it's supported only by limited number of smartphones with Android 4.4 and certain screen size. Besides, judging by the first reviews it's terribly slow.


2014. Outlook.com ads smart filters like in GMail. Zoho Mail increases free limit to 10 users



Leading small business email services continue to delight us with new features and free options. Today Microsoft has released a major update to Outlook.com. The main new feature is smart filters that can automatically sort new emails or perform operations with them depending on different parameters. It allows even to build filters that you can't set in GMail. For example, you can set a rule that if the message is not read within 3 days, it's automatically moved to some folder. Besides you can now reply in-line to emails, remove the need to shunt to a new view to do so. Meanwhile the main Outlook.com and GMail competitor - Zoho Mail increased its free limit to 10 users. You may say that GMail and Outlook - are completely free. But it's not exactly true. Personal versions - are really free. But the business versions, which provide similar features with Zoho Mail (like own domain, admin panel) and are included in Google Apps and Office 365 respectively - cost from $5/month per user.


2013. GMail, Outlook.com, Yahoo Mail and Zoho Mail: small business email news



Over the past few days the number of interesting news came from the most popular email services for small business - GMail, Outlook.com, Yahoo Mail and Zoho Mail. First of all, last week Yahoo Mail together with website-hosting Yahoo Small Business was down for several days, and of course left a lot of small business customers mad as hornets. Now many of them are going to move to another service. And Microsoft (shortly before this event) decided to entice users from GMail and Yahoo. But, unfortunately , they began with GMail and now can't fully seize the moment. However, their new tool for importing emails and contacts from GMail to Outlook.com is already working. ***


2013. Microsoft launched Outlook for iPhone and iPad



Until now, iPhone and iPad users in companies that use Exchange mail server had two options - to set up access to the mail server in built-in iOS mail client (via Exchange ActiveSync), or open the web-interface Outlook Web App in browser. Of course, both options had a lot of restrictions for working with Outlook, and Microsoft has finally decided to release the native apps OWA for iPhone and iPad. Why only now? In order to give advantage to Windows Phones and Surface tablets. Why they ventured to take this step now? Because there is a catch. Although Outlook for iOS is free, it can be only used by Office 365 subscribers, who pay $100/year. So it's the same story as with MS Office for iPhone. What advantages will get the users and companies who are authorized to use Outlook for iOS? ***


2013. Outlook.com users will be able to chat with their Google contacts



Having read the title of this news you could thought that the miracle occurred and IT monsters finally stopped building walls around their empires and decided to implement open standards for the overall happiness. But in fact the things are much more pragmatic. Microsoft still doesn't like Google, and Google still doesn't like Microsoft. Microsoft just wants to move GMail users to its Outlook.com, and one of the reasons that keeps them from moving - is the loss of the ability to chat with contacts "that stuck on GMail" (it's a quote from Microsoft's blog). Within few days, Microsoft will add this feature in Outlook.com. By the way, Outlook users already can chat with contacts from Skype and Facebook.


2013. Skype comes to Outlook.com


Finally Microsoft begins to integrate Skype into its products. The main  competitor Google already for a long time provides the chat with voice and video in the email service GMail. Therefore from the Microsoft's side (having the Skype) it would be a crime not to add the same functionality into the Outlook.com. And that's exactly what they done. True, for now this feature is only available in UK and only in few weeks it will appear for the rest of us. To enable chat, voice and video calls in your Outlook.com inbox, you'll have  to install the browser plug-in (for Internet Explorer, Chrome or Firefox) like in the GMail. You can use Skype with your existing Microsoft account, so you don't have to create a new account. If you already have a Skype account, you can link it to your Microsoft account - your Skype contacts will appear in your contact list and you can call or message them directly from Outlook.com.


2013. Outlook.com adds two-factor authentication, new Android app



Microsoft is working hard to entice GMail users to Outlook.com. And not only with the help of funny videos. Outlook.com constantly adds new features and improvements. At this time it added two-factor authentication - the ability to log into your account after you enter the confirmation code (which is sent via SMS, Email or generated by special application.) Of course, this feature greatly improves the security of your Outlook account. Like in GMail you can set the "trusted" devices and computers, so you won't have to enter the confirmation code every time. Two-factor authentication will be available to all Outlook users in the next 7 days. In addition, Microsoft has updated Outlook.com for Android. Now it looks more clean and adds conversation threading. This application is strategically important for Microsoft, because Android doesn't support the Exchange ActiveSync protocol and business users (in the companies using Exchange server) suffer from it.


2013. Microsoft trolls Google with funny videos again


Specially to the St. Valentine's Day Microsoft prepared the present to its beloved Google - one more video on its favorite topic: "How Google is reading people's emails in order to show them relevant ads." This video is a sequel to the successful musicals GMail Man and Googlighting, and to the new series Scroogled, in which a couple of friends is constantly suffering from Google's bullying. Who knows, maybe Microsoft will soon produce the full-length movie about the battle on Outlook and GMail (Good and Evil).


2012. Microsoft rolls out Outlook.com to replace Hotmail

Microsoft loves to rename its applications and services and even the untouchable email service Hotmail will soon become Outlook.com. Yesterday, Microsoft has launched a preview of Outlook.com. What's new in comparison with Hotmail? First, the interface, which (like in other new Microsoft systems) is adapted to finger-controlled tablets. Secondly, it's tightly integrated with SkyDrive. After registration user automatically gets 7 GB of storage. Document attached to coming messages can be viewed in the online Office Web Apps or photo viewer. Files that you want to send can be quickly uploaded to SkyDrive and sent as download links (by the way, GMail still doesn't provide this feature for some reason). The third new feature - is integration with Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, LinkedIn, which allows to automatically update the contact list and see the social profile of the user who sent you a message. ***


2012. Windows Live Hotmail provides the best spam protection


This is the conclusion of the analytical firm Cascade Insights. According to their report, Windows Live Hotmail is slightly ahead of GMail by this parameter. Yahoo Mail is on the third place but it's far behind the leaders. The rest of the Email-services are far-far behind. We believe this report because the guys from the Windows Live team are fanatically enhancing Hotmail's anti-spam during the last couple of years. Almost every month the Windows Live blog reports that they have reduced the SITI (spam in the inbox) by X%. Moreover, except the anti-spam filters, Hotmail developers recently added some other features to save user's attention. First, (like in GMail) they made the flagged messages displaying at the top of the list (video above). Second, they added categories (video below). ***


2011. Xobni turns Email into universal access point to business apps



We have already talked about the competition between Email and corporate portals/social tools for the right to be the primary workplace. Initially, this role was fully owned by Email. Then appeared the web-based collaboration systems and social tools that were intended to replace the "outdated" Email. And it seemed that they would kill Email soon. But some clever people invented social Email plug-ins (Xobni, Rapportive, Harmon.ie, Gist, Etacts), that gave the second life to Email-clients. They added social and file-storage functions to the Email. And they're not going to stop. Today Xobni has opened the Xobni Gadget Store - the marketplace for apps, that can be embedded to MS Outlook and turn it into the universal interface to all business systems. ***


2010. Microsoft adds Facebook and Windows Live Messenger to Outlook



Microsoft has updated its social Outlook plug-in - Outlook Social Connector, which can now can fetch the contact's data from Facebook and Windows Live Messenger (formerly the plug-in by default only supported LinkedIn, MySpace and Sharepoint). The Outlook Social Connector is intended to provide users with the actual information about a contact to better understand his mood and interests, which is very important when communicating with customers. The plug-in can display only publicly-available information from the profiles in social networks. Meanwhile it can only receive data but doesn't allow to post messages or statuses to the social networks. Microsoft says that soon the plug-in will be integrated with some local social networks.


2010. Socialwok uses Gmail and Outlook as its clients



Socialwok (known as the "social layer for Google Apps") like the online organizer Producteev, shows us the new meaning of "cross-platform" definition. Realizing that users most of time spend in email clients (such as Outlook and GMail), Socialwok simply decided to get inside these email clients. Socialwok was one of the first services to use the new GMail API and has created the gadget that can be expanded on the entire GMail workspace (see screenshot) and allows to post messages to microblogs, share Google Docs files, images, Youtube videos and events from Google Calendar, search for Google Docs, post to Twitter or Facebook right from your GMail interface. ***


2010. Lotus Notes also becomes social



The world's most popular enterprise Email client, MS Outlook, is already equipped with various Enterprise 2.0 tools. Outlook is already integrated with social networks (Xobni and Outlook Social Connector), Google Apps, Google Docs (Harmony), Remember the Milk, etc. Now, when this place is crowded, the developers switched their attention to the second most popular enterprise Email client - Lotus Notes. Thus, the new plug-in + service Gist makes the same for Lotus Notes as Xobni for Outlook - allows you to see the social profiles of those with whom you communicate. Gist pulls the latest information about a person from Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as recent news about his company from blogs and news sites. In addition, the plug-in displays in suitable form all correspondence with selected contact and files sent to/from him. It should be noted that Gist also works with Outlook, GMail, iPhone and may also be accessed as a web service.


2010. Harmony - a lot of pleasure for Outlook and Google Docs users



Harmony, the new plug-in for MS Outlook by Mainsoft gave us a lot of positive emotions, which we want to share. First, is its video presentation, which is really cool. Secondly, Harmony - is really useful tool that allows to access and collaborate with documents stored in Google Docs or MS Sharepoint, without leaving MS Outlook. In particular, you can open and edit office documents directly in Outlook, search in docs content and share documents with co-workers instead of sending them back and forth. And it's not necessary that your co-workers have this plug-in installed and have Google Docs account - they just click the link in the email and the document will be shared to them automatically (for viewing or editing). ***


2010. Outlook Social Connector - the social layer for MS Outlook



Recently, we often see the software vendors integrating their enterprise software with public social networks. And Microsoft also wants to participate in this trend. Last year they released the Social Networking Accelerator for MS Dynamics CRM, which allows you to monitor the social networks for mentioning specific themes. And this year, along with Office 2010, they will release the social plugin Outlook Social Connector, which lets you see the social profile of the person who sent you email. Initial Microsoft's partner in this project is the business social network LinkedIn. If a person who has a LinkedIn public profile sent you email, you will be provided with the current information from his profile, including his connections and recent activities. ***


2009. Exchange 2010 - unified messaging in the Cloud



Microsoft officially released the new version of its enterprise email server Exchange Server 2010. It's desktop client Outlook 2010 will appear only next year together with other Office 2010 applications. What is the most interesting about Exchange 2010? First, thanks to Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 (details here), and some new features in the new version, Exchange 2010 is now completely adopted for the cloud deployment. Of course, Hosted Exchange 2007 has been already provided for some years, but the latest version is much more secure, reliable and suitable for administration, when installed on the remote server (or in data-center). ***


2008. Microsoft Makes Calendar Sync Work



It seems that Microsoft has finally given the people what they want and have provided a calendar sync tool that actually makes all of Microsoft's calendaring programs work together. The new tool providing this functionality is the latest version of the Outlook Connector public beta. This downloadable software works to sync Outlook's calendar with Windows Live Hotmail's Calendar with the Windows Live Calendar Beta. Such an integrated offering is a surprise considering that Microsoft is a company that's sometimes known for launching what are perceived as too-similar, parallel solutions (think FolderShare, SyncToy, SkyDrive, Mesh). The previous version of this connector allowed you to sync email and contacts data between Outlook and Hotmail for free, but calendar sync required a subscription service. With this new version, however, calendar sync is now free and it includes the ability to work with Live Calendar beta. And because Live Calendar also supports calendar sharing, those shared calendars will sync back to Outlook, too.


2007. Microsoft launches Windows Live Calendar



Windows Live is slowly rolling outs its new Calendar, which can be seen on some accounts. But here are some of the features that you’ll find once you do get access to the Calendar. There are customizable reminders with options for timers, and these alerts can be delivered through your Windows Live alerts. There’s also the ability to make multiple calendars, which can be organized by name and color. These calendar’s can be shared with other Live users, for both editing and viewing purposes. This functionality is similar to sharing access for your SkyDrive folders, and is extended by the new Co-Owner role, which provides admin options for calendars. Other sharing options for calendars include XML, ICS support and feed reader compatibility. With ICS import you can also integrate files for Outlook and Google calendar. Events can be edited in this manner as well, for overwriting duplicate events and adding new details.


2006. Microsoft Exchange 2007 bets on unified messaging



Today Microsoft has officially announced the new version of its Email collaboration solution Exchange Server 2007. The main concept of the new Exchange version is unified messaging. It means that employees can work with e-mail, voice mail and faxes in a single interface. And thanks to the integration with MS Office Communications Server, text-to-speech and voice recognition technologies now you can dial to your mailbox and listen to the new email-messages. But these features are available only in more expensive edition Exchange Enterprise. In addition, the new Exchange version includes antivirus and antispam protection, tools for backup and data replication (that significantly increase the mailbox size), the new feature Outlook Anywhere, that lets you connect Outlook to the Exchange server via the Internet. Besides, Exchange 2007 only runs on 64-bit architecture .


2004. Microsoft links Outlook to Lotus

Microsoft released a software add-on Monday for the 2003 and 2002 versions of Outlook that allows the e-mail clients to work with a server running IBM's Lotus Domino software. The Notes Connector is available now for free download. It works with versions 5 and 6 of Domino and allows Outlook to retrieve messages, calendar items, address book entries and to-do lists stored on the server. Lotus includes an e-mail client of its own, but IBM has found that many customers prefer to work with Outlook, which is part of Microsoft's widespread Office productivity package.


2002. Microsoft switches users from Lotus Notes to Outlook

Microsoft has introduced a free software for companies that use Lotus Domino as their e-mail server, which enables users to work with their email in Outlook rather than in Lotus Notes. Microsoft Outlook 2002 Connector is compatible with the latest version of Lotus Domino and allows you to access your mail, contacts and calendars. Thus, Microsoft is taking customers away from IBM, first switching them to Outlook, and then offering to switch from Lotus Domino to Exchange .


1997. Microsoft Exchange 5.0 adds web-access, new desktop client MS Outlook



The new version of Microsoft's mail server Exchange Server 5.0 includes the Web interface Exchange Web Access, which enables users to access information in the Exchange via Internet browser. However, to get this opportunity you'll have to pay for a client license, even if you do not have a mailbox on the server. In addition to the new web client, Exchange Server now has a new desktop client - MS Outlook 97, which is a part of MS Office 97 and replaces the calendaring app Schedule+ and e-mail client Exchange Client. In addition, the new Exchange features support of messaging protocols SMTP and POP3, as well as directory access protocol LDAP. The standard version of Exchange Server is priced at $ 999 for the server license.