A New Outlook on Calendaring
If you haven’t heard yet, it’s here! Office for Mac 2011, which now includes Outlook for Mac, is finally available. It’s been great to see all the interest in Outlook since the announcement and the team will be here showing off some cool things we’ve built in the coming weeks. To get things started, let’s take a look at new tools that will help you manage your Calendar in Outlook for Mac.
Talking with customers, we frequently hear about the pain of managing personal and work calendars. It’s important to be able think of your Calendar as a single schedule that details all the stuff you have going on, without resorting to awkwardly merging your personal and work data. On the other hand, it’s useful to be able to slice and dice all the different types of things you have planned, whether it’s school, work, sports, personal, etc…and look at them in their unique context. For Exchange customers, it’s also critical that core folder considerations like sharing, delegation, public folders, and data integrity remain intact.
To address these diverse and sometimes competing workflow goals, we looked at the strengths and weaknesses of a variety of approaches and worked through a string of iterations, incorporating feedback from usability testing to hone the design. I think we landed on the right approach, one that will support both intuitively managing your schedule as a single Calendar and breaking apart its distinct parts, without sacrificing fundamental Exchange folder expectations.
With Outlook for Mac, you’ll find a new take on the navigation pane (aka Folder List). You can instantly toggle the visibility of specific parts of your calendars or look at the whole thing in one shot. You can also expand or constrict at the account or folder level to take a more traditional look at your calendars. With these simple controls, modifier keys for power users, and touches like focusing and dimming the event tiles as you switch contexts, we think you have the right tools to get creative and take control of your schedule.
note: The focus here is on Calendar, but you’ll be able to use these same navigation pane tools to manage your contacts, tasks, notes and when it’s time to print.
A large part of my day is spent attending meetings. When I’m not in a meeting, I find myself working through invites for even more meetings. I live in my inbox and when invites arrive, it’s always annoying to having to stop down, switch to my Calendar, just to take a peek at my day to see if the time works. I might not necessarily have a direct conflict, but it helps to look at the context of the day before deciding to attend. Hearing similar stories from customers, I know I’m not unique in this frustration. Our friends on the Outlook 2010 team came up with a smart solution for this inefficiency. We liked the approach and made some tweaks we thought made sense from a Mac perspective, like moving the preview side by side with the content. In Outlook 2011, you’ll now be able to instantly check your schedule right from the invite:
I’d like to conclude with something we don’t yet have in the Outlook for Mac, Sync Services support for Calendar. If you’re interested in hearing more about why this is the case, head over to my last post on the Mac Mojo blog.
Richard Kmieciak
Program Manager, MacBU
Calendaring in Mac Office 2011 is really good. The only thing I’m missing so far is the option to propose a different time for a meeting as reply option for a meeting invite. It’s an option available in the Windows version.
Is there a way to upgrade from a 2008 home and office edition to the 2011 home and business? The entourage application has never worked for me and has only ever kept on crashing. I still have PST files that I haven’t accessed via entourage – would be great opening them in outlook for mac.
i would only consider upgrading to 2011 because of the Outlook promise. However, since I bought my 2008 before August 2010, it seems that I would need to buy the entire 2011 suite, and render my 2008 useless. Such a waste. It’s just not a good deal.
@Eden Hernandez You have the option to step up to Home & Business from Home & Student 2008 for $119, instead of paying the usual $199 for that version.
Wish I could join you in your growing admiration of Outlook; however, I’m a Technology Guarantee paid patron with no Outlook, and to the best of my knowledge, a single upgrade to get Outlook at $279.99.
Will there be a sync between Outlook calendars and iCal – specifically so that my calendars will sync to my iPhone. Failing that, do you think there would be a chance of iTunes supporting sync between Outlook and iPhone?
Just like Microsoft to provide a free upgrade to a package where only 3 of 4 programs in the package are upgraded or charge you more, a lot more to upgrade and get 1 program (Outlook) extra. $279.00 to add Outlook to the 3 programs I got upgraded to for free? And its the 2008 Entourage I was looking forward in getting a 2011 upgrade for because it’s the one program that keeps rebooting on its own in the middle of my work flow. Things like this were the reason I switched to Mac after 30 years with Windows. The only issues I have is when I have to use a Microsoft program in my work flow. :0(
In my inbox in Outlook 2011 I have 8 unread messages that are just blank spaces that can’t (easily) be deleted. This is irritating because I have the number 8 on my Outlook symbol in the dock, etc. Any tips on how to remove these mysteries?
I bought Office for Mac 2011 expecting to be able to use Outlook 2011 with iTunes as it would save me switching to Windows to sync my iPhone and iPad. It does not seem to work with iTunes, very disappointed.
Just bought Office 2008 three months ago and no cheaper upgrade? Shame on you!
My little business uses SBS 2003 so I guess that I cannot use the new Outlook. I’m bummed.
Love Outlook and Office 2011… I have multiple calendars that I view on a regular basis. Is there a way to change the default color of calendars – similar to how the native Mail application functions?
Will there be “add-in’s” for Excel… specifically the data analysis tool pak?
Richard:
Any chance that I can export an “iCal Calendar” to Outlook 2011?
Also – how does one save an entourage 2008 calendar that’s in iCal for Outlook 2011? Or does Outlook import the Entourage 2008 calendar at installation/update?
If iCal can be the main calendar, exporting it to Outlook 2011 and my iPhone would certainly work until you integration of the calendar syncing is complete.
Please advise. Thank you.
I am also one of the Technology Guaranteed patrons and as far as an upgrade is concerned, here in Canada it will cost minimum $150.00 for an email program that should be included in the home and student version of Office 2011 as Entourage was included in Office 2008.
Can you honestly tell me that only business’ use email?
Any chance of bringing (proper) Hotmail support to Outlook 2011?
Does Microsoft not understand that most people that use Office wanted Outlook as their email program?
I also say shame on you Microsoft.
Hi Guys
Is there any way at all to get calendar information back out of this product?
A simple csv export would be nice… it would go a long way for the compatibility that was promised.
Dave
I’m enjoying using the new update particularly Word which is the program I use the most. But like Doug I am surprised that the home and students version is missing Outlook.
This version’s pricing and editions are totally bogus. Having been with MS stuff since DOS 4.2 as a sysadmin and DBA, I switched to mac about a year ago BECAUSE of these very problems. I can’t live without Entourage/Outlook, so I won’t be upgrading. My partner is an accountant and was completely dismayed at no VBA in 2008, so we have to upgrade that one, but must pay an extra $179 for it as they can’t live without Entourage/Outlook either.
Are they TRYING to push people over to Mac/Linux/Star or Open Office?
@Mac Mojo Team:
Are you saying that if I stepped up to Home & Business from Home & Student 2008 for $119, I would be able to upgrade my Office suite (for free) to 2011 in order to get the Outlook? Bottomline is, I want the Outlook, NOT an Entourage upgrade – since I really don’t trust the application. Please clarify.
Thanks.
Office for Mac 2011 does not seem to allow Outlook to interact with older versions of Exchange Server (e.g. 2003). This seems unusual, in that there are lots of organizations still using this software. Is there a work-around? The version that I upgraded from Office for Mac 2008) did provide Entourage support.
This seems like a real mistake.
Don’t waste your money on Office Mac 11
Outlook is included but will not work unless you pay more. PowerPoint has less functionality. It won’t save as web page. I f you were an entourage user you will be really stuck!
If you did buy it do not remove your former version. You are going to need it! Why does Microsoft persist in breaking formerly useful software?
Dan
Drdanelliott@gmail.com
I just bought a Mac (1st time – have used PC’s for 20 years) and I got the Office for Mac with Outlook. My emails are automatically sending when I hit “send’ – they used to sit in my “Outbox” until I manually sync. I have set the schedule to “manual” and unchecked the “enabled” box but it still does it. Any ideas please??
It would also be nice if I could get my Outlook files(calendar, address, etc) to sync with the IPad.
Not including Outlook in the 2011 upgrade to replace faulty Entourage is the last straw. No, I take that back. The fact that when I contacted customer service with a question about why it wasn’t included, I got a response telling me someone would get back to me within 24 hours. That was 3 days ago and no response.
I’m going back to a PC as soon as possible. The “benefits” of being a Mac person are turning into the reasons to stay away.
How do I import calendar events into my exchange calendar? I’m trying out Office 11′s calendar options (paired with hosted exchange from Rackspace). I exported my calendar, and tried to import it again (hoping that the import would import all the events into exchange). However, it just duplicates the caendar events in the ‘Imported’ folder. So I now have 3 root folders – Exchange, My Computer, and another My Computer (which has the .ost underneath it). Every time I try to import the calendar events, it just duplicates it again in that folder. I’ve searched all over the web for an answer over the last 2 weeks, and just cannot get it working.
Sorry this question is unrelated to the post. When not using the message pane in the e-mail view, is it possible to get the horizontal lines that separate each message in the list?
Kenny – If you’re connecting to Exchange, can you sync your calendar in Outlook 2011 by creating an Exchange account? You’ll only be able to copy appointments (not meetings) from a local Calendar to an Exchange calendar.
Ron, you won’t be able to show lines in that view. It’s a good suggestion though, thanks.
Apart from choosing “Work Offline” from the Outlook menu, sending a message will send it right away. Thanks for the suggestion about delaying send.
Ross, there’s no workaround to connect to Exchange 2003 from Outlook 2011 apart from using POP or IMAP, but that would limit you to mail only (no calendar, contacts, etc…). Our recommendation is to continue using Entourage 2008 if your mailbox is on Exchange 2003. Entourage 2008 is supported running alongside Office 2011 (PPT, XL, Word) if you choose to upgrade.
Re: exporting the Outlook 2011 Calendar to iCal, when we release the update with Calendar Sync Services, your Calendar data will sync over to iCal. We do not have a release date to announce at this point. thanks for you patience, we know it’s important to many of you. Right now, you can drag events to Finder and open in iCal or export to olm.
I purchased MS Office 2008 Mac Home & Student on Oct 1, 2010 with an eligible upgrade to Office 2011 (paid $149.95 at an Apple retail store). I now find out that the Home & Student upgrade will not include OFFICE and to continue using Entourage 2008.
I want OFFICE. Is it true that I can pay a reduced fee to upgrade to the full version without purchasing a full version? If so, what is the fee and how do I go about making that purchase? I can’t find any information on either the Apple or Microsoft web sites. Thank you.
Correction: I purchased MS Office 2008 Mac Home & Student on Oct 1, 2010 with an eligible upgrade to Office 2011 (paid $149.95 at an Apple retail store). I now find out that the Home & Student upgrade will not include OUTLOOK and to continue using Entourage 2008.
I want OUTLOOK. Is it true that I can pay a reduced fee to upgrade to the full version without purchasing a full version? If so, what is the fee and how do I go about making that purchase? I can’t find any information on either the Apple or Microsoft web sites. Thank you.
Yes you can step up to Home & Business which will give you Outlook for just $99. This can be done from within the product.
@Stuke If you received Home & student for free through the TechG program then you can to step up to get Outlook for Mac 2011 for $119.
Just loaded Office Mac home & Student 2011, already had the 2008 version on the machine with Enturage.
a. No Upgrade, just full installation?
b. Possible to get Mac version of Outlook to replace Enturage?
Where and how much?
I cannot get the “arrange by” feature to work in Outlook 2011. Does this feature work for any other field than first and last name??? There is a drop down menu where you can select dozens of fields, personally I need to be able to sort my contacts (clients) by date and by custom fields that sort both Alpha and numerical. Entourage does this and it’s clear that Outlook was designed to do this but it doesn’t work. Am I doing something wrong? Is this going to be fixed in the near future? This feature is 100% the reason why I bought Office for Mac 2011.
Thanks!
-David
Mojo Team, where do I find this version for purchase?
” You have the option to step up to Home & Business from Home & Student 2008 for $119, instead of paying the usual $199 for that version”
Where are the ISO week numbers? Many contries use week numbers instead of dates, and outlook is useless without it for us.
Basics before coloring options please!
We love Office 2011. Outlook is especially a nice refreshing change from Entourage. However, we have a couple of questions.
1st, is there a way to change the color of your over all calendar, (not the categories), like what can be done in Outlook 2010 for windows. Reason: When viewing several calendars at one time, it becomes a little confusing when event belongs to which calendar unless you click to highlight each calendar separately.
2nd: On the windows version of Outlook XP, 2003 and 2010, you can see when someone places a private appointment or meeting on their calendar. It’s placed, but the contents of the event are kept private, which is fine. However on the mac version, Outlook 2011 does not even show the event and in fact the free/busy area under the scheduler also does not show if that person has blocked out a portion of time for a private appointment. Since this makes it very difficult to set up appointments for someone based on what you can or cannot see on another calendar, we need to see the free/busy area accurately. What is the trick to get Outlook 2011 to show this?
“Just like Microsoft to provide a free upgrade to a package where only 3 of 4 programs in the package are upgraded or charge you more, a lot more to upgrade and get 1 program (Outlook) extra. $279.00 to add Outlook to the 3 programs I got upgraded to for free? And its the 2008 Entourage I was looking forward in getting a 2011 upgrade for because it’s the one program that keeps rebooting on its own in the middle of my work flow. Things like this were the reason I switched to Mac after 30 years with Windows. The only issues I have is when I have to use a Microsoft program in my work flow. :0′”
This was written by Gary Puckett above, and he’s absolutely right.
This is bulls**t. If you’re going to advertise a free upgrade to the latest version of an application suite, then every component of the suite should be upgraded. Outlook/Entourage is the backbone of “OFFICE” and shame on you for this confusing, unfair, mishmash of hoops, time, and expense to upgrade to it.
Everything Microsoft touches turns crappy in short order, and now Apple’s sullying their brand by going along with this fakery and accelerating the rot at the bottom of the barrel.
MICROSOFT DOES, AND APPARENTLY ALWAYS WILL, SUCK.
Larry M. Gray
@Greg Outlook doesn’t support iCal at this time. Find out more on our latest blog here: http://blog.officeformac.com/the-download-on-sync-services-in-office-for-mac-2011/
When will the free update be available from Office 2008 and Office 2011.
Thank you
You did it.
” think of your Calendar as a single schedule that details all the stuff you have going on, without resorting to awkwardly merging your personal and work data. ”
In the past I had an iPhone and iCal / AddressBook / Mail for personal use and a BlackBerry / Entourage for company use.
I just cancelled my iPhone now, the added functionality and ease of use of tOutlook 2011 plus the excellent implementation of Contacts Sync Service has allowed me to use Outlook 2011 at the office and Mail at home, while keeping my Contacts al in sync and everything on my BlackBerry.
Note to readers: We have Exchange 2007 and BES Express at office.
Having VBA back is yet another great feature, all in all I feel like finally Office for Mac has achieved it’s deserved place.
To finish off, I must admit the pricing is very good and even though (being a MPN Sliver ERP partner) I can get the app thru an MSDN download I chose to purchase one 2 seat Home & Office and one Family Pack.
Rock on!
Nice upgrade,but:
1. Outlook with no Calendar Sync is a NO GO, sorry…it’s a mobile erra
2. Why the Outlook Database is still sooo huge and slow ?
I use IMPA (2000 emails), 8G of disk space ? (Mail app is only 2.4G for the same account)….
Is there a support website for grownups? The ten or so problem selections do not seem to provide for the possibility that the offered solution fails!
@Ross On the Outlook Ribbon, try to select the Filter E-mail and select Unread from the drop down options. This will filter out all emails except those which are unread. View/delete the unread messages as desired and you should no longer have the number indicating there are unread messages.
“… there’s no workaround to connect to Exchange 2003 from Outlook 2011 apart from using POP or IMAP, but that would limit you to mail only (no calendar, contacts, etc…). Our recommendation is to continue using Entourage 2008 if your mailbox is on Exchange 2003. Entourage 2008 is supported running alongside Office 2011 (PPT, XL, Word) if you choose to upgrade.”
Do we can buy Outook 2011, but it’s useless? Are you serious?
What about the option to import / export email rules and to archive ?
When I enter my Exchange account information into Outlook 2011, I get the green light stating I’m connected. However, mail will not go through and no other information is exchanged (with the exception of information I had placed in my Out of Office Assistant.) The only folder that shows up is “Public Folder” which is empty.
When I try to empty the cache as suggested in the online help, as soon as I choose any options in the drop down menu, the program crashes and I have to restart. This happens every time. I cleared out the info and deleted all of Office 2008 wondering if that was causing the problem, but no luck. Fortunately, Apple Mail and iCal still work fine with my Exchange account.
Any ideas about what is going on?
I need to export the email from Outlook 2011 Mac, to Windows Outlook. Can anybody help me? Please!!!
I echo David Ogden’s comment, copied below:
“Is there a way to change the color of your over all calendar, (not the categories), like what can be done in Outlook 2010 for windows. Reason: When viewing several calendars at one time, it becomes a little confusing when event belongs to which calendar unless you click to highlight each calendar separately.”
Colors for shared calendaring is key. At the very least, maybe? a tool-tip on hover to indicate the corresponding calendar?
No Microsoft Communicator for Mac 2011 ??? I lost one of the most important features in my personal Mac to communicate whit the company. Maybe i’ll go back to the 2008 version.
Do you think an outlook version not syncing to mobileme will be a good solution ?
We’re in 2010, and (quite) everyone in business – that is why we buy office – need to sync between a mac, an iphone…
When, but when, will it be possible, and no bullshitting on how beautifull outlook is… it’s useless without sync functionality.
Jeremy, David – Good suggestions about using color to further distinguish calendars. thanks.
Harry – are you connecting to Exchange 2007 SP1RU4 or higher?
I just upgraded, but can’t figure out how to get iTunes to recognize Outlook (from Entourage) so I can sync my iPod! I’d hate to have to return to Entourage just so I can get my calendar and contacts on my iPod!
I purchased Office 2011 primarily to get the new Outlook for Mac program. Entourage, while a capable program, always seemed like a dumbed-down version of the Outlook Windows program. I use the Windows version of Outlook at work, and I must say – despite my great preference for the Mac OS – that it is an outstanding piece of software. One might reasonably expect that in bringing the Outlook name to the Mac side, you would finally grace us with the exact same interface and features you provide to windows users.
Of course not. That would be way too easy. Why, oh why, must you always try to make the Mac version of your software “special” and “uniquely designed for Mac users” as your marketing says. Inevitable, this translates to “dumbed down” software once again. Just give us the exact same program and functionality you give your PC users. That ‘s all we want. A common interface and consistent behavior regardless of which version one is using.
As others here have noted, features one would think would be provided in any email program are inexplicably missing. No control over the colors of the calendar. No visible progress bar display when one clicks the “Send/Receive” button to tell you if the send/receive function is actually working (this was present in Entourage, why did you remove it?). The inbox is forced to all black and white; in Entourage, the unread email appeared in a different color and bolded type, making it east to identify. No “Unread Mail” folder in the list view, also a feature that was in Entourage. No ability to change the title of emails that have been opened – a feature that exists in the PC version.
At least you gave us the “Ribbon,” but again, it is extremely limited. In the PC version of Outlook, users are presented with literally HUNDREDS of items that we can add to the Ribbon. In the Mac version, you’re giving us less than a dozen. WHY??
Mark me profoundly disappointed. We’ve waited three years for the new version, and for what? You’ve given us a slightly better interface – on the surface – and the ability to forward HTML documents to other parties with the content being mangled (a particular irritation of Entourage). But you’ve taken away several Entourage features that wee useful, denied us the full range of features you provide to your PC users, and given us minimal ability to customize the application the way we want.
Maybe you’ll get it right when you release Outlook for Mac 2014 in the next version of Office 2014. Whether many users want to wait that long is another story.
Just curious. Doesn’t anyone from Microsoft know people who share an email program? Like a husband and wife who used Entourage separate identities to access their email? If so, why would they “improve” Office by eliminating that simple process? Having everyone’s email show up at the same time is ridiculous. The offered solution? Set up separate Mac OS accounts or use the DataBase Utility to manage multiple identities. If I had not paid nearly $300 to get Office 2011, I would throw it across the street.
I am generally liking Outlook for Mac be a recent convert from Windows.
I have one annoying issue I cannot figure out. In Windows I often dragged a Message into the Calendar on the left side banner. That would open an Appointment with the Message content in the notes section while leaving the original Message in the Inbox. Is there a way to do this in Mac 2011? I sure can’t find it.
JBrettB
I have just received my Academic version of Office:mac 2011. I haven’t opened it, and will not install it, at least not yet. I may even return it.
Here is some initial feedback-
I purchased Office:mac 2004 Home & Student Edition the month I switched from using PCs for 15-odd years and purchased my first MacBook Pro in December 2007. I managed to make the transition from Outlook to Entourage. I knew I’d get a free update in January 2008 when Office:mac 2008 was released. I was a long time Office/Outlook user on a PC. At that time I was using a Palm Pilot and I was able to sync my Palm to the Mac with Office 2004. I (foolishly, as I later learned to my regret) did not do any searching for feedback when my copy of Office 2008 arrived-I just installed it. Much to my shock and horror you removed the conduit that allowed me to sync my Palm. Why? I’ve no idea. But I had to buy additional third party software in order to do what I’d been doing the day before. That lesson alone has convinced me to not just go ahead and install Office:mac 2011 without reading feedback first.
In fact, it was fortunate I looked into what Office:mac 2011 Home & Student edition included, or more precisely, didn’t include before I ordered it. ALL previous versions of both PC and Mac Office Home & Student suites included either Outlook or Entourage. But not Office:mac 2011! No, the H&S edition removes the new Mac version of Outlook and instead you only get Word, Excel, and PP. Fortunately I still have my academic credential that allowed me to purchase what is essentially the Home & Business edition, which includes Outlook, at about the same price as the hobbled H&S edition. I wonder how many people don’t realize what MS has done and will buy the wrong version and get stuck.
But bringing it to today, before I open the box and commit to owning it, I decided to read some feedback. Imagine my surprise to find out that Outlook apparently doesn’t sync with either iCal/Calendar or MobileMe! I am a home user. I do not use Exchange for my mail or calendar. I rely on being able to sync my calendar between my iPhone and MobileMe and that not being available is a deal breaker for me. I read that the sync ability will be forthcoming in an upcoming Service Pack. No one is saying when this Service Pack will be released. Until it is released, and until it is vetted by others to make sure that the sync does work, I will not be installing Office:mac 2011.
And after reading all the comments on this page, I hardly know what to think. I’ve not even seen a copy of Office:mac 2011 running, so I can’t address the Outlook issues I’ve read about here for the first time (no bold for unread messages? no color choices? disabled or removed functionality? etc, etc) that seem awfully numerous.
I am very disappointed, Microsoft. Even as a home user, I’ve purchased thousands and thousands of dollars of your products for me and my family to use. I realize that Mac users are a small percentage of your market share, but that is no excuse to treat us as less than your PC users.
These shortcomings need to be fully explained to consumers so we can make informed decisions about whether to “upgrade” to 2011 or not.
So, would it be possible to skip the Outlook in 2011 and only install Word, Excel, & PP 2011 and keep Entourage 2008? I suppose that is asking too much.
I guess I’m going to wait on SP1′s release.
Thank you,
Kristina Hall
I CAN’T SEE ALL OF MY EMAIL ATTACHMENTS!
I imported a .pst file from my PC (Windows 7, Outlook 2007) using “import” in Outlook Office:Mac 2011 on my new MacBook pro I purchased Sept 29, 2010.
I can see attachments from emails that originated from PCs but not from Apple Entrourage 2004….. Arrrrrggghhhhhh!!
IS ANYONE ELSE EXPERIENCING THIS? ANY FIXES?
I called tech support for Outlook Office:Mac 2011: no answers yet!
I too have experienced problems with Entourage rebooting repeatly during work sessions.
But I biggest problem is that I can not Sync my Blackberry calendar with Office for Mac 2008. Blackberry knows of the problem but the last 6 months they can not make a fix. Is problem corrected in Office 2011???
You asked, “Harry – are you connecting to Exchange 2007 SP1RU4 or higher?”
The answer: yes.
And still no mail, calendar, etc. Just a green light that says I’m connected. And I installed the update and it still crashes if I click Folder Properties.
Harry
Annoyed on several levels – first that it was a serious abuse of trust to promote to purchasers of Mac Office 2008 that we would receive a full upgrade when it was released. As said by many before me – what a disgrace to exclude the opportunity to replace the weakest mail program in history; Entourage.
Entourage has caused me nothing but grief. Continual crashing and despite errors being sent, no repairs received. I had been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the upgrade notice only to be bitterly disappointed.
I was especially pleased to discover that if I wanted outlook, I had to purchase the entire product software again. This means I’ve gone from acquiring 3 product keys (only 4 months ago for $250) to one user license for 2 macs ($340) …. another rip off as I now also get less for more!!!
The second issue I have is that many mac users have become fully integrated with the WONDERFUL suite of products that Apple continually produces (ahhh, I remember when MS used to be this customer focussed…). Not the least of which is their mobile me program which seamlessly syncs everything, all devices that individuals and businesses use together. Well, not anymore. Outlook 2011 isn’t supported which makes no sense at all. Why only half release a product??
So thanks MS. I now have the displeasure of reverting back to using Entourage until you guys decide to listen to your customers, work out ways to stop ripping us off AND deliver a product that includes the features that people actually use. This is called customer focussed.
Really annoyed customer >_<
Still have Office 2011 for Mac/Business Edition sitting in a box. Does the new update/patch fix Outlook synching with Ical?
I agree with Ron above….I don’t use the preview pane and would like to see the separator lines between messages
I’d also like my calendar work day start and end times to be selectable on the half hour instead of only on the hour
Really liking Outlook for Mac
Couple of quick questions though…
1. Like Brett above can you please enable dragging of an inbox item to calendar to create a new appointment that embeds the body of the email into the new appointment.
2. When doing shift+cmd+m to move a message from inbox can you please make it so that a new folder can be created at this point, i.e. you can only move a message to an existing folder right now
3. Running multiple windows is great but rather than having to open a new main window from file>new>new main window in the the main bar, can you enable right click to open a calendar/contact/task/notes screen from within the mail view?
4. When creating an appointment can we have the option to include a signature within the body of the appointment?
Cheers
CHF
Had I known in advance of Outlook’s inexcusable inability to sync calendars with iCal and iPhone, I would never have purchased Office 2011. Rest assured I will advise my friends and colleagues of this terrible shortcoming and I would guess they will refrain from buying the product altogether.
Would like to know when I will be able to Sync Outlook Calendar to a Blackberry. As of right now – Microsoft only allows contacts. This should have been thought out in more detail before releasing.
I do not understand why Outlook in Mac Office 2011 will not sync with iCal. iCal is really incorported into many programs I use. So, if I add a calendar event in iPhone – it would sync with iCal but not Outlook.
Please let me know if I am seeing things wrong on this.
Thanks
Rob
@Jose Furst You can choose to step up from within your current copy of Office for Mac 2011 Home & Student to Office for Mac 2011 Home and Business. Find out more about the product step up here: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/faq
@Eden Hernandez and @Stuke – Apologies for any confusion, but we’d like to clarify that there is actually no upgrade pricing for Office for Mac 2008 unless you qualify for the Tech G. program, meaning you purchased your copy of Office 2008 this year between August 1st and November 30th http://bit.ly/dfQ88b. The $119 step-up price is only available for those moving from Home & Student 2011 to Home & Business (with Outlook) 2011. Please let us know if you have any further questions!
I have only recently changed from PC to Mac. What a great experience! Until, I changed from Office 2008 to 2011. Now my smartphone will not sync with Outlook and after only 10 days (since purchase) my systems are completely out of whack. I simply CANNOT believe that Microsoft would have left this facility out. What ON EARTH were you thinking?!!?! Please fix this ASAP or I will be leaving Microsoft for good.
Wow! There are some great comments here. I hope the MS folks making future decisions try to incorporate some of the ideas here.
What I don’t understand, is why MS would choose to make and release its newest version of Outlook with so many holes. Can anyone explain this?
Outlook 2011 seems like a newer version of the clumsy and anemic Entourage. Why would MS want to dilute the brand identity of one of their “flagship” products by putting its name on this recently released version?
asf66
There are a lot of frustrated users here. I guess when you produce a product as widely used as Office, your bound to get a lot of both happy and frustrated users.
I can and will wait for ical sync, that should solve some of my problems like other users who can’t open my ical meeting request. But what I can’t deal with is the fact that I have to reinvite all meeting participants just to add one or two people to the meeting. I used Outlook 2003 for years and really can’t remember anything that it wouldn’t do, it had a ton of user configurable options. But now I feel like i just have idiot lights and no gauges to know exactly what’s going on. So, now everyone is my office is just as frustrated as I am due to the 50 million meeting invites just to add or remove people on a regular basis. HELP??
I upgraded to Office 2011 for Mac primarily for Outlook.
Outlook looks great, except that it will not sync with my corporate calendar which is online. I kept trying to find a way to make it happen, but couldn’t find anything anywhere, except in BLOG comments, that it isn’t even supported. That is a HUGE short-coming.
I trust sync will be forthcoming shortly, or I may need to migrate away.
@ Mac Mojo
…regarding H&S –> H&B (just to get email/calendar/contacts back)…KEEP IT.
I do have a qualifying TechG purchase and the upgrade to 2011 was an exciting day until I learned I don’t have Outlook. Therefore, I wrote a few comments here on the Blog (and actually someone, human I hope, replied).
But, over the past two weeks, I’ve had time to reflect on my needs and discovered that either $119 or $279 or whatever it will cost (because electronically everytime I follow the “buy an upgrade” I arrive at $279) is more expensive than the following approaches:
((( IF Outlook must be had )))
… pay the neighbor college kid $20 to buy the academic version at $99 (might be why you say $119, which I find no upgrade link anywhere online…WHY NOT POST THAT IN YOUR REPLY ABOVE?)
((( IF Outlook will never be part of the H&S Office, ever again )))
… move on to Apple technology, for good. Mac OS 10.7 (aka “Lion”) should cost $29 (like the last upgrade…time will tell) + next version of iWork at $60 (say $20 per app at the new Mac App Store). Mail comes with OS so for $89 I get truly native Apple software to completely replace Office on my Mac. Oh, and it syncs (out of the box) with Sync Services, MobileMe, iPod touches, iPhones, etc. And for those gray, rainy days when I really need to access a work file from Office 2010, OpenOffice or NeoOffice to the rescue ($0, but I’d donate $29 for it).
So, Mac Mojo, thank you but no thank you. Keep it. Unless you issue all TechG, in fact all H&S owners who upgraded to 2011, a copy of Outlook in the next few days or even weeks, goodbye and good luck. It’s been an interesting love/hate relationship but hate is the last feeling after being cheated of Outlook (lite, express, whatever) 2011 to replace Entourage 2008.
Drag-n-drop to iCal is a bit of a pain, but I can make do until sync is available. A bit of a disappointment, so looking forward to the update soon. Otherwise very happy with Outlook as I never really got on with Entourage.
I really wish the “My Day” feature worked more like the “To-do Bar” in the PC version of Outlook — integrated into the primary GUI instead of in a separate window. Any plans for this?
@Dave: Hear your frustrations and appreciate your patience. Regarding meeting requests, you can send to only the updated attendees rather than everyone. When you click “send update” a prompt box should appear with the choice to “send to all” or “send to changed”. Does that come up when you try to update a meeting request?
@asf66: We are absolutely listening to all of the comments here and always looking to incorporate the feedback from our users.
@Rob: If we can get a little more information on your issue we can flag for customer support and see if we can get it resolved.
@Stuke: Thanks for your feedback and sorry you’ve had trouble locating the link. To step-up from OFM 2011 H&S to H&B it’s only $99. You can do this from within your current copy of H&S, find out how here: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2393959
@Mike W: We hear your frustrations w/iCal sync and really appreciate your patience. Happy to hear that you’re enjoying all other aspects of Outlook 2011!
A quick note for Kristina H who asked “So, would it be possible to skip the Outlook in 2011 and only install Word, Excel, & PP 2011 and keep Entourage 2008? ” The answer is YES, it is possible. After finding out just how many deficiencies Outlook has, I elected to go back to Entourage 2008 for email, while leaving the three 2011 apps in place. All of them coexist just fine.
Outlook without calendar sync to iTunes/iPhone is useless. Another reason why I switched to the Mac OS and never looked back from windows and microsoft. That’s just plain insanity.. You jokers (oh, that’s right-the jokes on us) in Redmond, WA. should get a grip on reality. Disgusted.
This is absolutely just plain disgusting. The Mac BU just spends too much time tweeting, Facebooking, Flickring and whatever else. They are the posh, cosmopolitan, anti business, anti average worker type. They don’t read/listen to the 98% of the comments of 100% feature parity of OUTLOOK (and everything else) for the last *4 years!* I have demanded for Outlook (because its the primary medium of communications.) And when I have to buy a Dell box to the tool to communicate, instead of using my nice looking Mac, just speaks volumes.
I use Mail.app, not because its made by Apple for use by an Apple, its because its the lesser of the two evils, even when Mail is an evil. And PSTs are just as a common file just like a .DOC, but the Mac division can continue their teenage rebelious attitudes as people go back to Windows. Hell, the IBM Selectric is more superior to this childish piece of crap.
I just upgraded from Office 2008 for Mac to Office 2011 for Mac and find Outlook very confusing (I am not a Windows user and never have been one, so the interface and all of the extras are a bit overwhelming). I do use Mac Mail, iCal and extensively use an iPad and iPhone and it sounds like Outlook is a mess if tying to synch all of these (like, it won’t work?) and this makes Outlook fairly useless anyway. Shouldn’t MS be warning people about this? Looks like a waste of money and Outlook is a total failure.
I’m disappointed. Disappointed that Entourage was dropped in Mac Office 2011. Disappointed that Mac Outlook 2011 (as an addition) does not include the same functionality as Entourage. Disappointed that the pricing structure of this new version of Mac Office doesn’t compare with the prior version, or even the Windows version.
Now I disagree with others who want an application on the Mac that “must” function the same as one on the PC. I’d prefer a Mac application that behaves like a Mac, not an application that makes my Mac behave like a PC. This is one of the fundamental reasons I use a Mac instead of Windows.
While I think that Entourage had issues that needed addressing, I am very annoyed that it was completely removed, and Outlook added, which is not even an equivalent application. I understand that there are people who apparently want an application to behave the same as their PC, well that is not me.
As for the functionality, I understand Outlook 2011 doesn’t even have the ability to sync with iCal which allows the calendar to sync to an iPhone or iPod Touch. This is insane. Even Entourage had that. Does this mean it doesn’t sync with address book either? And what about MobileMe sync? What good does it do to say that there is an update on the way? This should have been included at the time of initial release. And hearing a comment that the workaround to the lack of this functionality is to drag events to the finder, or import is nowhere near a workable alternative to sync.
Well, all this doesn’t matter anyway. I am using Office 2008 (Home and Student) and unless something phenomenal comes along this will be the last version of Office I ever own. There are plenty of packages with similar functionality at a fraction of the cost, and sometimes even open source alternatives to the offering in the Office 2011 (Home and Student). Since this version doesn’t even include Outlook, it’s not even similar to the 2008 version. It’s not even the same as the version released for Windows that includes OneNote. So even if you’re looking for applications that match the Windows release, there’s no equivalent.
When it comes time to update, I will end up moving to either Open Source, or other non-Microsoft Word Processing and Spreadsheet applications. I might even just use the native Mac applications that already sync to MobileMe and the iPhone, including Mail, Address Book and iCal.
What I will miss most about Entourage is Project Center, which I used extensively and wasn’t even included (apparently) in Office 2011. I guess I’ll keeping using this until I have to move on.
Stephen,
While you are cheerleading Apple, why if you are so much a Mac user, and hate the PC, why don’t you just use iWork? In terms of Outlook, that was something that was desperately needed, not in a UI perspective, but the Entourage client was just one too many band aid fixes just to connect to an enterprise email server that the vast majority of users. In fact, I can still see parts of Entourage in some of the UI, that you probably didn’t notice since you see Outlook clearly as like a dirty word or something like that.
Again the people that think like you Stephen, are the 2% on average of every post. 98% needs the most comprehensive feature parity because people WORK for a living and need to be communicate effectively, not childishly. (because Entourage was a childish PIM) If are such a Mac head, why would you be supporting Microsoft if you don’t support a Windows box?
Mac BU, as you can tell, you still have a long way before you really woo me into using Outlook for the Mac. Instead of whining about the decline of Windows/Office users, why just adapt with the change and just suck it up and make the Mac Office the best Office suite out there.
Thanks
Hello,
The email product is missing some key features:
– ability to ReSend a message that is in sent items
– ability to display mail headers of messages
– ability to ask for Read Replies
– Simple way to post new items in Public Folders
There is a bug in the “per thread” display that sometimes displays the messages with the wrong subject (pertaining to other threads).
Regards,
Pascal Fuks
Microsoft MAC 2011 – Outlook – Automatic Spellcheck: how is it that developers missed the auto spellcheck on this new Outlook verion for Mac 2011? The “correct as you type” function is useless and sending emails is now even more encombersome. Will this be fixed in upgrade versions? Pretty dissapointing… (sorry for the spelling errors – lol – but jokes aside – is this going to be fixed?)
Until we get the ability to sync the Outlook calendar, there is a fairly simple solution. For every appointment/meeting you set, add an “invite” linked to a Google calendar that you set up. Use that calendar for syncing with other devices, e.g., blackberries and I-Phones.
It’s an extra step, but it works (it took about 10 seconds to get a new meeting onto my blackberry).
I do concur with the people who think that it is bizarrely weird that Microsoft didn’t include this capability in the first release, because it has to be an incredibly simple addition. In fact, it’s so bizarre that you have to think “conspiracy theory,” e.g., that they are trying to sabotage the Mac product.
Maybe they thought Mac users will suddenly decide to buy a PC instead of figuring out a work around. More likely, users will stick with Entourage and not spend money on the new Office … making this a really stupid business decision on Microsoft’s part.
It’s sad.
@David Ogden Per your question about not being able to see private events on your Outlook calendar, we tested internally successfully and recommend contacting support: https://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?gprid=15627&st=1&wfxredirect=1&sd=gn, or our forum: http://www.officeformac.com/productforums/. Let us know if you have any further problems.
Is there any way to put Favorites Bar functionality back into Outlook?
Dear Sir/Madam:
(1) “Save As” in File folder in OutLook of Office 2011 is dimmed. Pls activate it so that we can save a received msg with a new name into our hard disk.
(2) Some of received msg have related previous msgs. Pls provide a way to stop making such related citations. This is because some of those are often not related each other, and once when we save each of msg into our folder with new names, we can have a folder where we can have related msg stacked up.
(3) I really liked to have a small calendar at the bottom of left column in the Entourage 2008. Pls revive it in OutLook, too.
(4) One thing I appreciate in Outlook very much is the capability to send a table (even including photos in the table).
(5) My Database of Entourage 2008 is now almost 13 GB — it is getting too big. Pls find a way to chop off into separate databases.
(6) When I made several indented line in outgoing msg, and copy it into a MS/WORD/2011, all of those indentations were stripped out and gone.
When I copied it into MS/WORD/2004, they were remained.
Pls fix MS/WORD/2011 and 2008 to do similar are 2004 version.
(7) Pls let me know when you made those improvements in your next version.
Best, Tak (takutsumi0@gmail.com)
Thanks for your feedback Tak. Feel free to provide this feedback from within your product by going to Help menu > Send Feedback and input it there.
Need to connect outlook 2011 to exchange 2003…
For Heather, Do you know if there is a way to export my Outlook calendar in a format that can be imported into Google Calendar? The export feature saves the file as a .olm which google calendar cannot import.
where are the Week Numbers in the Calender?
And is there a way to make Server Based Rules?
greetings
cb
Wish the kind folks at Apple would have told me that the Iphone4 did not sync the calendar in your product. This is a big issue for me as an end user that depends on using my phone to keep my business appointments and then viewing them in my office. I read where that option is on the way and I understand getting your product out before the holidays but I would have been much happier if the software worked properly before it was sold. If there is a beta version, please let me know.
regards
Steve
I’m looking for a way to create a calendar event from a mail message. Possibly using Automator or maybe……any thoughts?
Thanks, Doug
It should be made clear that Outlook does not sync with iPhones- neither Microsoft nor Apple indicated that it would be an issue. I upgraded from Entourage, have a great Outlook calendar on my desk top but have no way of syncing it to my iPhone.
After a long time on the phone with Apple, (I had to speak with a senior supervisor before someone knew that it wasn’t possible through iTunes) they said Mobile Me and iCal will not work with Outlook either, I can’t use a Google calendar because the Outlook export file is the wrong format and Microsoft told me that going back to Entourage would be a “laborious and time consuming” process.
Do I have any options other than waiting for the new Outlook update or the new iTunes update?
@peter Kau: We don’t offer a standalone version of Outlook 2011 but for an additional $99 you can upgrade to Home & Business edition, which does include Outlook without reinstalling Office. You can do this by starting the un-activated Outlook application on your computer, and following the purchase steps online.
@David Fletcher You can sort your contacts by first name or change your preferences when searching your contacts, find out how here: http://mac2.microsoft.com/help/office/14/en-us/outlook/item/efa0e102-9bfc-4f19-b5cd-242ab035c1f4
@Enrique: Thank you so much for sharing this great feedback! We couldn’t be happier to hear all of the ways you’re using Outlook 2011 to stay sync’d and organized. Keep rockin on!
@JBrettB: Great to hear you like it for the most part. At this time, OFM 2011 does not include the ability to drag a message into the calendar as an appointment, but we’ll keep you posted if this changes in the future. Let us know if you have any other questions.
I use Microsoft Exchange server to sync everything. Any reason why Outlook 2011 doesn’t take all my appointments made in iCal? It shows the “day” appointments, but not the time-specific appointments. Very frustrating.
*Very* disappointing not to have sync capabilities for Outlook 2011. This delay is causing much distress and dismay among many users. It seems quite ludicrous that in this automated world of ours a business product as basic as a calendar does not have the ability to sync with my telephone. Unacceptable, I would say. So, I have to purchase Entourage in order to sync until an update is issued? Advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
As usual, Microsoft releases a product that is NOT COMPLETE. I’m talking about Synching with the iPhone. How INCREDIBLY STUPID do you think we Mac Users are??? Furthermore, no TASK SYNCHING either (nor apparently on the horizon). You need an Outlook App for the iPhone!!! I don’t care about Excel, Word or Powerpoint for the iPhone – the device is too small to really make those usable. But Outlook? ABSOLUTELY.
I’ll stick with iWork, iCal, AddressBook, MacMail and Things for now. When you guys get your act together, I’ll think about upgrading.
Hi – Bought the Small Business edition and loaded it up on my new MBPro running 10.6.5. Quickly updated Office to v 14.0.1. Had a failure to import from 2004 using the import utility but finally did an export from 2004, imported that into 2011 and was up and running. Email, calendar, contacts, tasks all there.
Then I went to invite someone using that function and hit an error saying, “Before you send a meeting invitation, you must first add an e-mail account to Outlook.To add an account, on the Tools menu, click Accounts.” Of course, I have email accounts up and running.
Confirmed that I have myself in the contacts as “This is me” and can send and receive from all email accounts.
Any ideas why Outlook thinks I need to set up an account when I have them there already?
Thanks in advance for any help.
@maria – We’re sorry for your troubles and appreciate your patience. Unfortunately, we can only provide you an update to improve Outlook with newer features. Learn more about future updates here: http://blog.officeformac.com/outlook-for-mac-and-your-calendars/
@Scott S. Sorry you’re having trouble. Are the iCal appointments you’re trying to add to Outlook saved in the Export format? Outlook 2011 can only import iCal events saved in the Export (.ics) format, find out how here: http://mac2.microsoft.com/help/office/14/en-us/outlook/item/e168a6bf-7086-4fac-bfe2-0b95e37af79a
@janwynns We hear you and appreciate your patience. Entourage 2008 supported Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and Notes so you have the option to continue using it. Learn more about our Outlook Sync Services here: http://blog.officeformac.com/outlook-for-mac-and-your-calendars/
Please let me know when outlook will work with mobile me and the must important for me when he will syncronise with Car Scan. I already asked it when 2011 came out and no one know.
unreal…. thanks MS. We all should just stick with native apple products. Why promote the value of MAC 2011 when it absolutely sucks without calendars… what the heck are you thinking? Can i get my $289 back???????????????????????
We use SBS2003, i bought Office for Mac 2011 Home/Business, so i can’t use outlook, so my heart is broken; Reluctantly, is it possible to buy entourage somehow to use with the rest of the new suite, or is there any other way of not having to use windows?
I can use OWA but it is even more limited than entourage i guess. Any suggestions?
Thank You
Mark
Hey Mojo Team –
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE put the calendar synch higher up on the fix list. This drag and drop stuff is a pain.
Otherwise I am pretty happy!
@Federico Roy We will definitely keep you posted on any MobileMe calendar sync updates. Learn more here: http://blog.officeformac.com/outlook-for-mac-and-your-calendars/
@Rich Hall Sorry you’re having trouble, with a little more information we’ll try to help you. You have your email accounts setup with your Outlook 2011 and you were unable to send the meeting request, or were you able to send the request? Is Outlook not detecting your email account only when trying to send a meeting request?
Office for Mac 2011 business edition is a good product but has one glaring hole – how can you possibly release a product that doesn;t interface with Google Calendar? I’m running Outlook 2011 on my Mac pulling from Gmail bt their is no sync capability btw Outlook Calendar and Google Calendar. What’s up with that?
@Earl Whipple Sorry for the inconvenience, but though OFM 2011 supports Google email and contacts, we weren’t able to include support for calendars. But we are continuing to add features that are important to our users and will let you know when we have more information to share.
I think that the new Office for Mac 2011 is amazing! Congratulations to the Office for Mac team. The suite is so much more compatible and comparable with the windows version. I also LOVE the new outlook of course with the exception of the lack of sync for calendar, tasks and notes – and possibly no sync ever for online calendars.
The sync really is a very important feature for so many users. The reason I bought the new version is because I wanted outlook, only to discover that it did not have calendar sync. So my words to the team would be – you did an amazing job, but, customers should have been warned upfront before releasing the product that it did not have sync – or that the product should have been released after calendar sync etc. was implemented. Hopefully it will be a lesson learnt for future versions. I really depend on having my calendar on my phone to remind me of important meetings that I would frequently miss without a reminder on my phone. Please make this update a top priority. Also, please consider putting calendar sync in for online calendars as I have been getting the vibe that it isn’t on the cards at all for future updates. This is another VERY important feature for so many customers not using exchange. It would be a shame to go backwards after entourage could do all these things.
Question about canceling meeting requests. I imported my calendar events from entourage a few times in error, but now that I am trying to delete the duplicate meeting requests, they keep coming back up everytime I open outlook. Is there a way to have them deleted and stay deleted? I do click on the send cancellation icon, but it still doesn’t get deleted. Is there a workaround for this?
Is there coming an update that would hold the week numbers to Outlook calendar?
This would be a really needed update to the Office 2011.. I don’t think that I’m the only one who would love to have..
@Keisha Thanks for the kind words! We are working on adding additional sync support to make your experience better in the first half of 2011, so we’ll keep you up to date. For your question on meeting requests, we’ve started a thread for you on our forum, here: http://www.officeformac.com/ms/ProductForums/Outlook/1529. Please reply to it adding as many details about the issue as possible and let us know if you have any other questions.
@Miro Korja Thanks for the feedback. We don’t have anything to share about week numbers right now. To submit your request for this feature please take a look here: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/product-feedback
@Office for Mac Team – I tried clicking on the link to go to the new thread, but got an error…Not sure why
Like @JBrettB: I too want OFM 2011 to include the ability to drag a message into the calendar as an appointment. Very important.
I am amazed that MS put out Office 2011 and calendar cannot be synced with an IPHONE. That is totally irresponsible.
I am equally amazed that when I go to enter feedback in the HELP menu, it actually requires me to check a box saying I don’t expect a response. That is so bad it’s laughable. So you put out an inferior product and don’t care enough about your customers to respond to their frustrations.
I used to work there. I know nobody reads those.
Let’s see if this gets posted.
HELP….CAN’T SYNCH MY OUTLOOK CALENDAR WITH MY MAC AND WITH MY I PHONE. I’M TOLD THAT APPLE HASN’T SOLVED THIS PROBLEM YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Francis LaMaina Calendar syncing is expected to arrive in the first half of this year, thanks for your patience. You’ll be the first to know when we have news to share. Find out more from our blog here: http://bit.ly/i5vvFU
I bought the Office Mac 2008 with upgrade to 2011. When I upgraded I discovered that there was no email support. So, I grudgingly purchased the business upgrade for another $110 +. It ain’t perfect. The Calendar snooze for all day events is not right. When I tell it to snooze for 10 minutes it doesn’t come back until the next day. The address insert from the Contacts to Word puts a comma between the city and state, no spaces – the USPS “standard address format” doesn’t use punctuation marks – and there seems to be no option to overcome that other than deleting the comma in the envelope preview. Please start getting these problems fixed with all that loot you collected.
And what’s with the wimpy “No New Mail” sound? That is ridiculous.
Office for Mac 2011 won’t sync with iCal
Now that I’ve purchased a dual license for Office for Mac 2011, I discover that I cannot sync my calendar (iCal) from my iPhone. While I think the new Outlook beats the Apple Mail, iCal, and certainly Entourage, I’m very disappointed that this deficit was not clearly identified on the package. While the software moved forward, the functions moved backward. I’m told that this is being worked on, but MS has published no date as to when. In the meantime, I’ve had to abandon the new Outlook (the primary reason I bought the new version of Office) and am using Apple’s Mail and iCal so I can use my calendar, synch to Google, my iPhone, etc. What a disappointment. Does anyone know WHEN the update is scheduled to include sync capability with iCal?
I thought that Outlook for Mac was useful, as it is for Windows.
But i really think it sucks bigtime.
When will we be able to schedule Communicator-based conference calls from within Outlook? This is a crucial feature in OCS 2007r2 for Windows that is missing. Seems odd that this was overlooked.
How can I open/share tasks of my colleagues in Outlook exchange 2007 from our company server in my Outlook2011 for Mac. In the Open from other user I can only select Agenda, Inbox, Contacts.
@Frank Find out how to share Outlook items like tasks here on our Help & How-To page: http://tinyurl.com/46gs4rr.
What about side by side calendars for delegates (show my co worker side by side and not on top – useless). Will it be possible in Outlook 2011 like in the old 2008 PC version?
@Joakim Outlook 2011 doesn’t have a side-by-side feature built in, but you can go to the Outlook Menu->New->Open New Main Window and set the display of each main window side-by-side. It’s the same effect.
So, let me get this straight. MS’s flagship Office for Mac won’t sync a calendar with Apple’s flagship product, the iPhone?
Really?
Really?
Wow.
Bring IMAP Support to Outlook 2011 and also the features should be equivalent of the Windows Version and not be like 3rd rate cousin to the Windows Version, believe it or not its frustrating to work with the Mac Version of Outlook.
All I see in these blogs are praises of Office 2011 while other products in Office suite are decent Outlook is the worst and most frustrating to use, so far I have provided like n number of feedbacks and hope the Office Dev team of whoever is responsible starts to look at such feedback.
For Example dont understand Microsoft’s Office Outlook makes GMAIL look better and better, I can get every label in Gmail as they support IMAP but microsoft’s own Hotmail is not supported via IMAP and trying to use Hotmail via Outlook is very frustrating as there is no folder mapping. Its crazy that Microsoft is building products to make the competition look better.
I can’t even get the Mac Office support site to accept my registration (it just keeps presenting me with the form to fill in), which is sad because I’ve figured out a few solutions and workarounds to my initial frustrations – all with Outlook – and I want to share.
For example, If you’re screaming because you can’t read filed .msg messages, try MailRaider. It’s saved my life. And dragging messages to the desktop, renaming and dropping into Finder doesn’t take that much longer than Save As in Windows Office 2010.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO CHANGE PLEASE:-
Give us a fast upgrade which allows us all to export calendar and tasks back to Windows as .pst files. So many people work between the 2.
2 less important things that I haven’t yet solved:-
2. Provide a synch with Blackberry
3.. Give us an address card view in contacts and make the whole address visible in the first line. (If we’ve exported from Windows the first 4 lines of the address goes into the first Mac Outlook address line and only the first few words are visible).
@Caroline What support site are you trying to use? It seems like you have some good insights and we’d like to try to help you get registered.
Outlook 2011 Appointment reminder does not pop up 1 week in advance. Any suggestions?
Thanks
Import of data into Mac Outlook 2011 from Win Outlook 2010 is not accurate.
I just tried an export of my Win Outlook 2010 data to a PST file and then import of PST into Mac Outlook 2011. My calendar data on the Mac showed substantial corruption. All of the appointments appeared to survive the export/import process, but the specific month of many of the appointments ended up in December rather than their original month (Jan .. Nov). This was especially true for annual recurring appointments.
I also noticed that many of the All-Day appointments have moved up a day (such as March 5 becoming March 4).
I have substantial number of Contact folders (historical, with folders for each client project), which all now have the name of the PST file appended to them. No loss of data, just very annoying.
I can deal with going back and renaming my Contact sub-folders, but I’m not confident that there is any integrity in the appointment dates in the Calendar.
* I performed this test after running all of the software updates to Win7 64-bit Home, Win Office 2010 Pro, Mac OSX 10.6, and Mac Office 2011 Home & Business.
Is there a reason I can’t set reminders for events on public calendars? It seems like Outlook on Windows allows this.
Also, is there a way to copy an appointment from a public calendar to my personal calendar?
Thanks for any help you can provide.
Simple question: how do I copy an appointment from one date/time to another, within the same calendar? This is pretty easy on Outlook for Windows, but I can’t find a way of doing it in the Mac 2011 version.
This is such a simple and vital thing that I can’t imagine it’s not supported, is it?