1. Office 355 Outlook Emails In Outlook Not The Same On Two Computers Free
2. Office 355 Outlook Emails In Outlook Not The Same On Two Computers 2017
3. Office 355 Outlook Emails In Outlook Not The Same On Two Computers Reviews

I'm looking for a reliable way – preferably cheap or even free – to synchronise Microsoft Outlook between a desktop PC and laptop. The laptop is running Windows XP Pro and the desktop Vista Pro (which, incidentally, I love!). Changing from Outlook isn't really an option as I've looked at other email clients and don't like them; I was a Eudora user until Qualcomm discontinued it, and I absolutely hated Thunderbird. The Outlook .pst file on the desktop PC is around 2GB, so copying it between laptop and desktop each time and then back again is just too time-consuming.
Brian Buckley

You'd expect there to be a simple way to synchronise Outlook on two PCs but evidently Microsoft does not see it as a problem. Outlook is designed for business users, who are expected to get their email from a Microsoft Exchange Server and therefore won't have a synchronisation problem. Individuals and home users are expected to use the desktop version of Windows Live Mail, which replaced Outlook Express in Vista and Windows 7.

Aug 21, 2009  Managing the Same E-mail Inbox on Two Computers Larry Howlett wants to know why the e-mail he downloads on one PC doesn't show up on the other. He uses Outlook on both computers.

In fact, the .pst (personal storage) file is something of a concession, and support document 297019 says: 'The Microsoft Exchange Server 4.0 team created .pst files in order to let users maintain a copy of their messages on their local computers. The .pst files also serve as a message store for users who do not have access to a Microsoft Exchange Server computer (for example, POP3 or IMAP email users).'

Office 355 Outlook Emails In Outlook Not The Same On Two Computers Free

To make the best use of Outlook, you could consider switching to an email service that uses Exchange Server, such as Simply Mail Solutions. This week, Microsoft launched a cloud-based service called Office 365, which provides hosted Exchange Server, SharePoint Server and Lync communications software. It's aimed mainly at small businesses, but it would work well for an individual whose working life is based around Outlook and Microsoft Office. However, home users aren't going to use services like this because of the cost. Office 365 starts at £4/$6 per month, whereas anyone can use the excellent online Office apps at Hotmail/SkyDrive for free.

The simplest free alternative for Outlook users is to set up Google's Gmail to provide IMAP instead of POP3 email. You can then set up Outlook on both your PCs, and let them fetch email separately. You will also be able to access email via a web browser, if you wish. Google provides full instructions on how to set up your Outlook 2007 client to work with Gmail. It's very easy if you don't use Outlook's Auto Account Setup wizard and click to set it up manually. (The auto account setup works perfectly, but it sets up a POP3 account. When I did this, I couldn't see how to change it to IMAP later. Clicking the 'Change' button didn't do it.)

I suspect this approach would work with Hotmail as well as Gmail, and with the Windows Live Desktop program, which can automatically download email from Hotmail. This would also solve your email problem, too, but you'd lose Outlook's information management features.

Office 355 Outlook Emails In Outlook Not The Same On Two Computers 2017

As you know, you can use one Outlook .pst file and copy it from the desktop to the laptop and back, but this gets tedious. However, you could keep one .pst file but access it while it's still on the USB thumbdrive. All you would have to do is unplug the thumbdrive from the desktop PC and plug it into the laptop. A modern USB2 Flash drive should be big enough (8GB or 16GB), fast enough and cheap enough to do the job. However, I'd worry about file corruption, and about Outlook getting confused if its .pst file isn't where it thinks it should be. I'd certainly close Outlook before unplugging the thumbdrive, and plug it into the other PC before opening Outlook.

This suggests another alternative: keep the shared .pst file online using a storage service such as Dropbox. A quick search found a post on the Lifehacker blog – How to Sync Your Desktop Email Client (Outlook or Thunderbird) Across Multiple Computers – explaining how to do this. One huge drawback would be that you couldn't do email if you didn't have a good internet connection, whereas Office 365 works seamlessly whether you're online or offline. Apart from that, the prospect of corrupting my .pst file would put me off even attempting it. (Code Two offers a professional online Outlook sharing service, Public Folders, at a price – Syncing Master and 3 CALs for $160.)

Office 355 Outlook Emails In Outlook Not The Same On Two Computers Reviews

Finally, when Microsoft fails to meet what looks like an obvious customer need, a lot of small companies will offer utilities to fill the gap. There are plenty of commercial programs that will synchronise Outlook files across two or more computers. Examples include 4Team's Sync2, ITSTH's Easy2Sync, Public Shareware's Public SyncTool (PST) and SYNCING.NET Personal Edition. You can find many similar products on Slipstick's page, Synchronizing Microsoft Outlook on Two Machines, or by searching office.microsoft.com for Outlook sync. It would be hard to pick one, but most seem to be available in 30-day try-before-you-buy versions.

I already use Gmail in IMAP mode, so that's what I'd suggest. However, if you are a business user, Office 365 – reviewed here – looks like a good value alternative. Basically, you get hosted Exchange at a reasonable price (since you'll be using your existing version of Office), and you can consider the powerful SharePoint and Lync services as a free bonus.

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