Outlook (for a PC) vs. outlook.com

[Miles Barnard]

I'm new to the world of the WP. Less than a week. I currently do all my email, contacts and calendar in the office via MS Outlook. Previously my blackberry synced with Outlook on my desktop easily. This does not seem to be an option with the WP. But I'm open to embracing all that is available via the Windows 8 world. I have a laptop with Windows 8.1 and I'm already using the cloud (calendar, one note, storage, etc.) But I do not understand the difference between outlook and outlook.com. And how or if I should move myself to outlook.com. I use an email address connected with GoDaddy who hosts my website. So it's myname@southforkstudio.com. Some advice would be appreciated.

 

[sym1a1a]

Have you set up your godaddy email on your WP? Go to settings-email accounts- add new account, or you could open your outlook email on PC then click settings, import email account and import your godaddy email account into your outlook email account

 

[gillboyzz]

Setup your email as an exchange account and you're done. You might need to get the MS exchange server details from GoDaddy

 

[gapost]

After quickly looking, I'm not sure GoDaddy emails are exchange capable. They may just be pop or imap. Look at your account settings in Outlook and see what type it is. If it's only pop/imap, you would be best to go to your Microsoft account and add that account. You can then make a separate folder for that email account on your phone. The only downside is, you won't get instant email with a pop or even imap on WP. If you can use imap settings from GoDaddy, you can set up an imap server like nuevasync.com and it will instantly (almost) grab your email and send it to your phone. You would just set up your nuevasync account on your phone. I used that for imap before Office 365 and it works good.

 

[Miles Barnard]

Guys I should have clarified. I have my email going to my phone just fine. That was an easy setup just like any other smart phone. The Godaddy is a POP account. But I don't understand how to sync (or if I can sync) my Outlook stuff between my PC and my WP. I just want to plug in the phone and boom have them sync like my bb did. Final question is should I be using outlook.com to create the best seamless network? And is there a way to start using Outlook.com with my current godaddy email address?

 

[gapost]

Most everyone is going away from "syncing" Outlook on a computer to your phone. There are ways to do it. Outlook Connector can be installed and then you can use that to sync directly (via Internet) to your phone. Or, there is some third-party software that will sync it from Outlook to your phone like BB. CompanionLink is one. It will take a while, but you can move things to Outlook.com. Start by using the built-in apps on Windows 8 (email, calendar). You could also add your Microsoft account as an account in Outlook and just start sending from that and after a while, people will be using that. Really, by far, the easiest is to get an Office 365 account. That is seamless!

 

[Miles Barnard]

Okay that's helpful info. I did add my MS account to my Outlook. But I have not started to use it yet as I'm terrified to suddenly have things coming and going from 2 places. Just the opposite of what I want. If my inbox didn't current have a 1,000 messages that need to be filed I would be more open. I have heard of the Office 365 account but don't know much about it. I'll check it out. And I also downloaded the Outlook Connector but have not learned how it works yet.

 

[Miles Barnard]

I have to say though that I find it a little confusing and distressing that when I go to my contacts on my WP it says 'Hotmail' at the top of each contact page.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Okay that's helpful info. I did add my MS account to my Outlook. But I have not started to use it yet as I'm terrified to suddenly have things coming and going from 2 places. Just the opposite of what I want. If my inbox didn't current have a 1,000 messages that need to be filed I would be more open. I have heard of the Office 365 account but don't know much about it. I'll check it out. And I also downloaded the Outlook Connector but have not learned how it works yet.

I got Office 365 by upgrading my Office 2010 Professional to an Office 2013 Home Premium subscription, rather than a boxed set/digital download. Office 2013 Home Premium includes all the same programs as Office 2010 Professional (including Access, Publisher and OneNote), but it is a subscription ($99/year), and it can be used on up to 5 different PCs/Macs (Macs use the OS X version of Office, which doesn't have Access/Publisher). So the subscription is worthwhile if one has multiple computers, since the boxed set/digital download of Office 2013 is only for a single PC.

No Outlook Connector is necessary on Outlook 2013, since Outlook 2013 supports Exchange ActiveSync of outlook.com accounts.

 

[Miles Barnard]

Laura that's great info. I have a desktop running windows 7 and a laptop running windows 8.1. I would like to have access to all the office applications on both. So if I do that. What do I do with my email? Will I still be running a desktop version of Outlook that will be synced with my windows phone? Is that what ActiveSync is?

 

[thelostsoul]

This may not be exactly what you are looking for, but I want to point you to:
Windows Live Admin Center

Using Live Domains service (Google has their own equivalent as well), you can create Outlook.com accounts using your own domain. This way, all your email, calendar, contacts, etc will be managed as if your domain's account was a Microsoft account. Once that is done, you can add that to your phone and to outlook. This will then allow all outlook, outlook.com, and wp content to remain in-sync.

 

[Kevin Rush]

Okay that's helpful info. I did add my MS account to my Outlook. But I have not started to use it yet as I'm terrified to suddenly have things coming and going from 2 places. Just the opposite of what I want. If my inbox didn't current have a 1,000 messages that need to be filed I would be more open. I have heard of the Office 365 account but don't know much about it. I'll check it out. And I also downloaded the Outlook Connector but have not learned how it works yet.

When we converted our business to Office 365 Pro 1, we were able to connect it to our existing emails and domain and all the emails were moved to sync in the cloud with our existing desktop Outlook software and then with our Windows Phones too. No need to have two accounts (two business emails per person) or to start over. I think we exported a pst file.

I say this, just to let you know what is possible. Even though I participated, I can't remember the step by step. I should say also, that there may be differences between the O365 Pro1 plan and the O365 Home and Office.

The live, hotmail, "outlook.com" account remains too, but we just use it for personal purposes.

Can someone help explain further?

 

[genuine555]

Okay that's helpful info. I did add my MS account to my Outlook. But I have not started to use it yet as I'm terrified to suddenly have things coming and going from 2 places. Just the opposite of what I want. If my inbox didn't current have a 1,000 messages that need to be filed I would be more open. I have heard of the Office 365 account but don't know much about it. I'll check it out. And I also downloaded the Outlook Connector but have not learned how it works yet.

ActiveSync and Outlook Connector will sync them, that's the entire purpose.
You won't have double mails, or things like deleting on one end but still there on the other end...
You could file 1000 mails in MS outlook, and afterwards they are also filed the same way on www.outlook.com
So no fear is necessary.

Given you are using Outlook 2010, if you installed the outlook connector you can simply add your account in MS outlook by going to File->Account Settings->Add new account...->MANUAL SETTINGS (below option)->Hotmail/Outlook connector. Simply fill in the necessary details and click finish. From then on all mails will be perfectly synced between your outlook account and MS outlook.

Laura that's great info. I have a desktop running windows 7 and a laptop running windows 8.1. I would like to have access to all the office applications on both. So if I do that. What do I do with my email? Will I still be running a desktop version of Outlook that will be synced with my windows phone? Is that what ActiveSync is?

Yes you will. As Laura stated, try to get an office365 OR Office 2013 license. For your needs though BOTH will do what you want.
Activesync is kind of the new gen of Outlook Connector.
It is nothing else but an add-in that allows syncing of hotmail/outlook type mail-accounts.
The new version called "ActiveSync" allows for syncing of tasks/calendar in a much cmore efficient way than Outlook Connector. Outlook Connector is to be used with Outlook 2010, ActiveSync is built-in to Outlook 2013/Office365 and so Outlook Connector is no longer needed.

I find that Office365 is nicer when using Win8.1, since the UI is meant for that stuff.
Office 2013 is better (imo!) on Win7 then it is on Win8.1.

When we converted our business to Office 365 Pro 1, we were able to connect it to our existing emails and domain and all the emails were moved to sync in the cloud with our existing desktop Outlook software and then with our Windows Phones too. No need to have two accounts (two business emails per person) or to start over. I think we exported a pst file.

I say this, just to let you know what is possible. Even though I participated, I can't remember the step by step. I should say also, that there may be differences between the O365 Pro1 plan and the O365 Home and Office.

The live, hotmail, "outlook.com" account remains too, but we just use it for personal purposes.

Can someone help explain further?

Here's a good place to start comparing the different business plans :

Compare Office 365 for business plans - Office.com
Office 365 - comparing P, M and E plans - Microsoft Lystavlen - the Online display board - Site Home - TechNet Blogs


But Kevin, in your case your business was probably syncing through Exchange, which works a little bit different from a home setup.
The exported pst is an archive of your mailbox that can simply be copied/pasted or ran through outlook import feature, and can be done just the same without exchange. If the account is setup correctly, the MS outlook .pst file will always be synced with the actual content of the outlook account.

If you have setup that same account on your WP device, you will automatically have the same content synced aswel on that device (as long as you have a live data connection on that phone).

Nothing else really needs to be done except setting up the outlook mail account on 1. the PC (MS outlook/exchange) and 2. the phone.