[icibaqu]

Hey there...

So my girlfriend recently "made the switch" from PC to MAC but since she was concerned about file transferability (and b/c it was on special) also got MS Office for MAC.

She wants me to set up her email and so there are two ways to go. the MAIL software preincluded with Ibooks and the MS Entourage that came bundled with Office.

I opened Entourage and it looked kind of like Outlook, but before I can open the MAIL that came with the Ibook i need to register an email address.

So basically I'm asking which I should set up. Is the email software that comes preincluded with MAC's kind of like Outlook Express in its functionality, or is it really logical and really powerful and really good? Or, would it be smarter to go through MS Entourage b/c it is strong, logical and powerful?

Also, since I saved all her old Outlook stuff to a .pst file, will I have any problems importing the archived info into either Entourage or MAIL?

[torifile]

Don't confuse Entourage's inclusion with Office to imply that it's powerful. I've used it and I *wanted* to like it because it seems like it should be powerful and I figured I paid for it when I bought Office. But in the end I just went back to the included mail.app (that's the common way for us to refer to the Mail application that ships with OS X). I've used it for years and I've never had a complaint. Mail.app is a great application. It's perfect for many users. Personally, I'd avoid Entourage so that you don't have to decipher 10's of cryptic messages a day just to check your email. Use mail.app for your email, iCal for you calendaring and addressbook.app for your addresses and you'll be much happier. Trust me.

[torifile]

Originally posted by icibaqu:
Hey there...

So my girlfriend recently "made the switch" from PC to MAC but since she was concerned about file transferability (and b/c it was on special) also got MS Office for MAC.

She wants me to set up her email and so there are two ways to go. the MAIL software preincluded with Ibooks and the MS Entourage that came bundled with Office.

I opened Entourage and it looked kind of like Outlook, but before I can open the MAIL that came with the Ibook i need to register an email address.

So basically I'm asking which I should set up. Is the email software that comes preincluded with MAC's kind of like Outlook Express in its functionality, or is it really logical and really powerful and really good? Or, would it be smarter to go through MS Entourage b/c it is strong, logical and powerful?

Also, since I saved all her old Outlook stuff to a .pst file, will I have any problems importing the archived info into either Entourage or MAIL?

Is her mail on an IMAP server or is it a POP server? If it's IMAP you don't need to do anything but set up the mail program you're going to use. A .pst file will give you fits regardless of what mail program you use (another reason to start using mail.app is it's standards compliance - when you want to switch programs it's a piece of cake).

BTW, mail.app is leagues better than Outlook express. And it's Mac not MAC.

[mdc]

mail.app is awesome. it does everything i need it to. i have it download off my pop server and an included plugin called httpmail which downloads my hotmail mail into mail.app.

the rules and the spam blocking is very good.
mail.app will be more than enough for your girlfriend.

yes, i have tried entourage. no, i did not like it.

[icibaqu]

thanks for the answers so far.

anyone else?

[icibaqu]

Originally posted by mdc:
mail.app is awesome. it does everything i need it to. i have it download off my pop server and an included plugin called httpmail which downloads my hotmail mail into mail.app.

does a similar style program exist for downloading from ones yahoo account?

[cpac]

Originally posted by icibaqu:
thanks for the answers so far.

anyone else?

Welcome to Macintosh!

I'd go with Mail.app - it's the easiest, the most tightly integrated with the rest of the system, and is in almost every other way - a great option.

You may want to make sure that you check the option to "always send windows friendly attachments" (in the Edit->Attachments menu) - as that will solve some headaches for your girlfriend later on.

If you want to read any of the myriad opinions (going both ways) as to which email client is "the best" - do a quick search and you'll find a number of threads on these boards dedicated to that very topic - but I think even those who personally prefer entourage would agree that for simplicity, for a new Mac user, Mail.app is the way to go.

PS - for future reference it's "mac" or "Mac" but not "MAC" as that refers to a number relating to a computer's ethernet/wireless address. (both Macs and PCs have MACs)

[icibaqu]

i will now type Mac appropriately 10 times.

Mac, Mac, Mac, Mac, Mac, Mac, Mac, Mac, Mac, Mac.