Microsoft Outlook 2007 worth buying: Email Software Review - MSFT

Among vendors of email software, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is one of the most popular. Of Internet functions, email is the most widely used. I know many people who use free Microsoft bulk mailer
clients like Outlook Express or Windows Mail. It surprises me that hardly any people I know—including IT professionals—are willing to pay for Outlook.

I bought Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 as a standalone program, began using it four months ago, and couldn't be happier.

Here are the features I like best, in order of value:

1. Interoperability between Outlook and Word

I often copy text from Word and paste it into Outlook: the formatting is preserved. Previously, when I did this using Outlook Express or Windows Mail, the result was typically a disaster. I had to spend time reformatting the text I had already created in Word. There is nothing less efficient than having to do exactly the same thing twice.

Conversely, when I copy from Outlook and paste into Word, formatting is preserved. Furthermore, when I receive messages from others, and I don't like the way they look, I can clean them up—much faster than with either of the free programs.

2. Tagging messages

Outlook 2007 lets you tag any message in your inbox or any other mailbox, using a feature called "categories."

Do you have time to deal with each message as soon as you receive it? Of course not. Outlook's categorization feature allows you tag the message with a character string of your choosing. I use phrases like "do now," "reply later," "do research," and "read." What's more, you can colour-code each category. This is a huge time-saver, and I don't lose messages anymore. Neither Outlook Express nor Windows Mail has this feature. Nor does the previous paid version, Microsoft Office Outlook 2003.

3. Finding messages

Windows Mail has a wonderful search feature. I could find anything. But when presented with the results, I had to open each message individually to see what was in it. Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 provided the solution. Now I turn on "preview" so that every time I select an item in the message list, the text of the message appears in a separate pane. I save minutes every time I have to find something; that quickly adds up to hours.

4. Editing inbound messages

How often do you get an email message with a useless subject line like "Re," "Fwd," or blank? Or almost as annoying, a subject line from an old message, after which the topic changed to something completely different? With Outlook, you can edit the subject line. What I do is preserve the original, but add [in square brackets] something meaningful, so that when I see it in a list, I know exactly what the message is about. Outlook also allows you to modify any other visible portion of the message.

These are the main benefits I've acquired by paying for email.

In Canada, Best Buy is currently selling Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 for C$159.99. Or you can download a free, 60-day trial of Office Professional 2007—in English or French—from Microsoft itself.

Enjoy!

Howard Earle Halpern, the author of this review, has been using email since 1995. MyITVendor.ca is Canada's directory of information technology companies, products, and services. Located in Toronto, Ontario, MyITVendor.ca is owned by IT World Canada, an IDG affiliate.