New Surface 2 owner-questions about Mail, Outlook, metro IE11

[Dirigent82]

I picked up a new Surface 2 the other night. So far I've been loving it. Never thought the kickstand would be so important, but it's great! A genius design move by Microsoft.

A couple questions. Do you use the Mail app or Outlook 2013? Advantages of either? I've mostly been using Outlook. It seems to have more functionality. It is unfortunate that you can't have lockscreen notifications from Outlook though.

Also, sometimes websites don't behave properly using IE on the metro side. But when I open them on the desktop side, they are fine. Anyone else run into this?

Thanks!

 

[gapost]

The mail app on Windows 8.1 rt is just awesome. I have the 2520 and also a business Office365 account from work. I have three emails set up on my tablet and it is so cool to use the Mail app and switch between the accounts in the lower left. Sure, not as much functionality, but good enough for regular use. I also use the metro IE app on my tablet because the regular IE is a bit hard to use on the small screen. Again, some sites may have an issue, but not many for me.

 

[kristalsoldier]

I have been struggling with this too!

While I like the lightness of the Mail app and the Notifications, sometimes I think the added functionality of Outlook would be good. However, one of the reasons as to why I am not using Outlook yet (aside from the notifications issue) is because I was concerned about where Outlook stores its files. Though I have the 64GB version of Surface 2, I don't want the Outlook files on the internal storage. But recently someone told me that Outlook can be directed to save its files onto the SD card. I have not yet tested this out as I have yet to buy a SD card for the Surface. I will do that next week and then will try it out.

 

[Montgomery Badleford]

I prefer the Mail app for its simplicity and visual appeal. Outlook has more functions, but I don't really have much use for them, so I guess it depends on the kind of user you are...
You are quite right about the Metro IE, it often crashes or becomes annoyingly slow with some websites. When I have a lot of time in my hands, I tend to open many tabs, which slows it down even more, so I prefer to use the desktop IE if I expect to have a long web browsing session, and the Metro IE for short sessions (again, for its simplicity and visual appeal in comparison to the desktop version).

 

[txkimmers]

I have actually only used Outlook on it once, to use a feature that was not in the Mail app. To my surprise I have found that the Mail app handles 99% of my regular usage needs for three mail accounts. ETA: Regarding IE, I find it spotty performance wise, and how the heck do you see your session history btw, but I still use it more than the desktop version. I do think it's important for these tablets going forward to support other browsers, thin end of the wedge or not.

 

[Maaz Mansori]

I have a desktop computer with Windows 8.1 and a Surface Pro with 8.1 as well. On both computers, I have both Outlook 2013 and the Mail app set up for my Exchange account. Any particular reason why you can't use both? I like Outlook better but I use whichever one is more convenient at the given time. If I click on a link in the browser and it opens up Mail instead of Outlook, that's fine with me. Plus the lock screen will show Mail notifications but not Outlook.

 

[hagjohn]

On my RT2, for my personal email, I just use mail.app. It's good enough for what I need. For my business account (on Exchange), I use outlook. Gives me access to all my folders and such.

 

[gwinegarden]

"Also, sometimes websites don't behave properly using IE on the metro side. But when I open them on the desktop side, they are fine. Anyone else run into this?"

Yup. If this occurs, try bringing up the address bar, tap the wrench and tap "View in the desktop".

 

[Citizen X]

But recently someone told me that Outlook can be directed to save its files onto the SD card. I have not yet tested this out as I have yet to buy a SD card for the Surface. I will do that next week and then will try it out.

all you have to do is move your .pst file. It's a little tricky because every time you open outlook it is expecting to find a PST file a certain place. So COPY the PST file to where you want it and then launch outlook. Point outlook to that PST file as you main PST file. Close outlook. Restart outlook and delete the old PST file. You have to restart because outlook will not let you delete the original PST file until u have assigned a new one and restarted the program... at least that's the way it works on the desktop windows.

 

[BaritoneGuy]

all you have to do is move your .pst file. It's a little tricky because every time you open outlook it is expecting to find a PST file a certain place. So COPY the PST file to where you want it and then launch outlook. Point outlook to that PST file as you main PST file. Close outlook. Restart outlook and delete the old PST file. You have to restart because outlook will not let you delete the original PST file until u have assigned a new one and restarted the program... at least that's the way it works on the desktop windows.

It's more than this. Depending on the email service there are also OST files for Exchange, Hotmail etc. They are in a hidden system folder under your user directory.

C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook

The PST files are only an archive copy of things you manually put there.