Reasons for Outlook.com over Gmail?

[jdawgnoonan]

I simply feel that outlook still seems like a mail client from the 90s. Gmail auto detects junk messages without me even telling it to do it, and it does it perfectly without me ever missing an email that I actually care about. My advice is to stay with Gmail, but start using Google's Inbox client. Inbox is a better looking client that makes managing your Inbox be extremely simple. Thanks to Inbox I am almost always at Inbox 0 for the number or unread messages in my Inbox.

 

[ryanlrobinson]

I'm thinking about leaving Gmail for Outlook.com, what are big reasons you prefer Outlook.com over Gmail? (Excluding privacy reasons please)

Speed with ActiveSync. Before I decided to switch a few years ago, I ran tests syncing to desktop Outlook and to my phone - a BlackBerry 10 device at the time. Desktop Outlook was close to instant with either Gmail or Outlook. But to my BlackBerry, the Gmail could take up to half an hour, while the Outlook was always instant. I did similar tests with contact changes or calendar entries, all of which were either negligible difference or Outlook.com won out. Don't know if it's still true or if it is the same to other smartphone OSes - my Windows 10 Mobile can definitely be a couple minutes slower than the BlackBerry sometimes, haven't tried with a Gmail recently - but that was a big deal to me at the time.

I definitely like the UI better. There's a degree of personal preference there, but I find it so much cleaner and more intuitive (including Inbox, where I recently spent half an hour trying to find forwarding rules before Googling it and discovering you need to use the old Gmail interface to get that).

Aliases are a great feature, as others have mentioned.

Integration to other Microsoft services if you use those other things like OneDrive. Of course Gmail has the same argument for other Google services.

 

[DCPaul]

You get 10 alias emails with outlook while I don't think you get with Gmail. Of course you can create number of Gmails and link them together. I still prefer alias!

 

[anon(10261377)]

I'm thinking about leaving Gmail for Outlook.com, what are big reasons you prefer Outlook.com over Gmail? (Excluding privacy reasons please)

I think that you can stick with your Gmail account and make an Outlook account under your Gmail. At the sign up page, they will ask you for the email you will use for it or you can select "I would like a new Outlook email" or something similar. Don't click that link; instead just type in your Gmail email and then you can sign into Outlook.com using your Gmail address.
I like both email services and use them both frequently. I have accounts for both since I am locked into two ecosystems (I do the impossible): Microsoft and Google. Thank you.

 

[EJ6612]

Using Outlook in a mobile browser is a very, very nice and modern experience compared to Gmail. I swear, Google hasn't updated their mobile web-interface since like 2013.
Also, Outlook has a broader integration with other services (OneDrive & Office, Dropbox, Skype, Calendar, Facebook, Twitter, and more).
Outlook also has a much better Calendar experience- modern, clean, updated, and easy to use. I use some Google Calendars because of group stuff, and it isn't really good.

I switched from Gmail to Outlook in early 2015- and I don't regret it.

 

[Lych]

I'm thinking about leaving Gmail for Outlook.com, what are big reasons you prefer Outlook.com over Gmail? (Excluding privacy reasons please)

I've been using it for ages as my main email address and here are the main reasons I prefer it to gmail (keep in mind, that some of these might be subjective or dependent on use-case):
- Allows up to 5 aliases out of the box. That's a major bonus if you use that feature, or if you decide that your "noobslayer123@hotmail.com" address just doesn't cut it any more. Any of these can be set to be your "main" address.
- I prefer the design. Clean, simple. Gmail kind of overdid the whole thing and I never really liked it before inbox came along.
- No ads. Well, you do get some in the sidebar in the browser version - nothing an adblocker can't fix though - but you don't get them shoved atop of your inbox that is just... well, it feels underhanded. This isn't present in inbox yet so far though.
-I mainly live in the MS ecosystem and my outlook email address is just an integral part of that I guess. It meshes seamlessly and is convenient to use.

Disclaimer: I also use gmail since 2005 (back when it was invite only). It has its pros as well, but it never really made it as a main email address or daily driver but it is my gateway for the Google ecosystem.

 

[Sargon Aelther]

That's very simple: Multiple aliases.
I absolutely HATE being stuck with a stupid Gmail address that I created ages ago as a kid. I can't believe that google doesn't let you change it.

 

[soulcancer]

the contacts for outlook is garbage. Especially when you factor using an Android device. No social media integration. No amusing it syncing pictures. details suck. this is a huge reason I do not recommend it to people.

 

[rromerof]

It's super easy to answer:
- I use Gmail because I love it. (Legacy, easy to use)
- I used Outlook because I had to. (College I went had an agreement with M$ so I got an account in Outlook)
The current Microsoft account that I have for Office 365 doesn't even has email, my login info is from Gmail either.

 

[StefEBear]

I have both still running. I've moved my main email to Outlook several years ago.
I prefer it over the Gmail web services, that's now my 'junk account'.
It also integrates into my Microsoft Environment and gives me OneNote as well.
It also works more than fine on an Android phone. Outlook Calendar and email syncs nicely with the Samsung Mail/Calendar Client on the S8+ (recently moved from a Lumia950XL)

 

[dbam987]

One way to think about narrowing down the platform to choose is to think of which has the tighter integration across the applications you typically use.

Microsoft has applications on all major platforms now, and this is a major win in terms of moving across Mac / iOS, Android / Chromebook, and Windows.

 

[covfefe]

I'm thinking about leaving Gmail for Outlook.com, what are big reasons you prefer Outlook.com over Gmail? (Excluding privacy reasons please)

Edit: Thank you Windows Central for featuring this thread on the homepage!

Firstly, you do not care about privacy *today*, that does not mean you might feel you need privacy in future, you can't suddenly apply privacy retrospectively after 20 years of using this email address.

That being said, there are two choices in this environment. To host your email, amongst other online needs, you can use:
a) a technology company
b) an advertising company

Choose a) or b) and there's your answer.

 

[anthonyng]

I was a big gmail fan, fairly early adopter, conversation view was the best thing sliced bread... "don't be evil"

I still use it since I have so much stuff tied to it but I hate it my email address id haha. Setting up a new account just meant losing all the history I had in one place.

I didn't care for hotmail either.

When outlook.com launched, I was able to choose a better username, and only really used it for when I bought the 920.

Slowly I find I've been transitioning more serious stuff to outlook.com and gmail is more of my spam/junk now... I'll be using both for the foreseeable future. They all link up fine in the mail app anyhow.

I really appreciate outlook html mobile view too, it's awesome.

 

[JohnKirkham]

Got both, but prefer Outlook. It's only problem is travelling overseas it locks you out. Gmail really needs an update in so many areas but in the end, depends on whether you use Android or ever will.

 

[saket87]

I use both, have android phone so need to use gmail, but I prefer outlook.
Like others said aliases are major plus point. You can have up to ten different email address that can fetch email in inbox. It you could create separate folder for each and filter the emails.
The filtering algorithm, I have filtering on my inbox to have different senders email sent to specific folders for them. Makes managing inbox easier.
Those are pluses for me.
Oh and with outlook you can use exchange technology to get your email, calendar and contacts on any phone os. You don't have to look for specific app. (Gmail does that via IMAP though but email only. And I somehow don't like IMAP, don't know why, lol)

With gmail you however get a free phone number and use it from the gmail screen. That's the plus for me.

 

[mc_razza]

To be honest it's not a question of preference for me. I use Hotmail emails still, so it's more a question of legacy. I've used the service for so so long that moving to Gmail would simply be a hassle without any real pay-off since they're pretty similar.

That's me right there - I've been a Hotmail user since 2003. As a Windows device-user Hotmail/Outlook is easy, powerful and convenient.

I have a gmail account only for YouTube. That's it.

 

[Gibraltar75]

Oh and with outlook you can use exchange technology to get your email, calendar and contacts on any phone os.

For me this is the "selling" point for Outlook.com
I need my emails, contacts, calendar accessible to me independently of the device or OS I'm using.
Outlook.com syncs both ways using EAS with any smartphone and desktop OS.
Try setting up Gmail to sync contacts or your calendar in Windows with Outlook 201x.

 

[abel46]

Is there a reason you can't have both? I have had both for several years. And I have a third that is on my own domain. This is my main email address that is firstname@mydomaine.no and is my main email address. On Outlook and Gmail I set up an automatic forward to firstname@mydomaine.no and then I get all mail anyway.
Then I don't have to give away my main email address, and can only use gmail or outlook for other not so important things - I think you know what I mean.

 

[alexander0311]

You can get 2-way contacts sync on Android if you add your Outlook account to the Gmail app. You'll even get an email from the Outlook team asking you to enable the sync service.

Too bad I only found this a good month after I fully switched from Windows Phone to Android. I still use my Outlook account for literally everything, even as a Google account - only migrated my contacts due to this issue. I also disabled the Gmail app, which has no use once I installed Outlook.

I also have both gmail acc and outlook. And i switched to android recently, and i still use outlook app for mail, even for gmail acc, and disabled gmail app. Yea i had some hustle with accounts sync so i had to migrate them from outlook to google, because for some reason outlook contacts where not supported on this huawei, but besides contacts, i still use outlook for everything else, even when i send mails from gmail acc. As a bonus, i like ui of outlook app more than gmail, as for functionality, im not a heavy email user so i might have been satisfied with both offerings.
Ps: believe it or not, outlook app for win10 pc is a bit better than android version which got me some mixed feelings as a past w10m user lol

 

[Sher Allen]

I used to use Gmail as my main email but it got to the point where it was just not easy to use and I couldn't figure out how to do anything in it. I decided to switch to Outlook.com and haven't looked back since- once you turn off conversation mode (or whatever they call it)Outlook is a piece of cake to use. And when its easy to use, it makes you more productive cause your not spending 20 minutes trying to figure how to do something.