We can finally talk about Office for Mac 2011. Here are answers to the questions you've asked previously. Answers provided by several MVPs.
(1) Will I be able to import my Entourage Identity into Outlook for Mac? Yes, you will be able to import from Entourage 2004 and Entourage 2008, but not from Entourage X. Importing from an older version is the same as Entourage's import from an older version. It will import your accounts, messages, contacts, calendar events, notes and tasks. Projects are not included in Outlook and will not be imported. You will need to reset your folder destination and some actions in rules and Mailing List Manager rules. (2) Does Outlook for Mac import .pst files? Yes, Outlook for Mac will import .pst files. Check Help in Outlook for details. (3) Does Outlook for Mac use a database like Entourage did? There is a database but it does not contain the messages and other items as Entourage did. (4) Can I backup Outlook for Mac with Time Machine? Yes, Outlook for Mac can now be backed up with Time Machine. (5) Is Outlook for Mac a clone of Outlook for Windows? No. Many features of Outlook for Windows have been added but not the feature set is not exactly alike. (6) Does Outlook for Mac support Exchange 2003? No, Outlook for Mac does not support Exchange 2003. Like the EWS version of Entourage, it requires Exchange 2007 or higher. If you are still on Exchange 2003, you can still use Entourage. (7) Can I use Entourage instead of Outlook if I buy the H&S edition of Office for Mac 2011 that doesn't contain an email client? Yes, you can still use Entourage. (8) Will Outlook use format=flowed or otherwise get rid of the hard line break in plain text messages? Yes. Format=flowed has finally been added. (9) Will my Entourage scripts work in Outlook for Mac? In general, 'No'. Some very simple scripts may run without modification, but the entire scripting engine in Outlook has been re-written from the ground up and quite a bit of functionally has changed. There are some (welcome) additions, but there are also some lamentable omissions. It is likely that 90% of all scripts will have to be modified to work with Outlook for Mac. It seems that the inevitable 'Tell application "Microsoft Entourage"' that starts most scripts can usually figure out the switch to Outlook, but even this seems a little hit and miss. If you have a script that is not working in Outlook, open it in Script Editor and change this line to show "Microsoft Outlook". If that still doesn't work, the script will need to be modified to overcome the changes. Note: there is a separate folder in the Microsoft User Data folder for Outlook scripts Move your script from the Entourage Script Menu Items folder to the Outlook Script Menu Items folder. (10) Will I be able to manage numbering sequences as I like - with spacing between points and grabbing previous number sequences or changing numbering types like from 1,2,3 to a,b,c? No, this feature has not available in Outlook for Mac at this time. (11) Will I be able to highlight certain texts? This feature is not available at this time. If this is a feature that you consider useful, be sure to let Microsoft know by sending them feedback (via the Send Feedback about Outlook command in Outlook's Help menu) (12) Will I be able to bring up the ruler and manage tabs correctly so things align up properly? This feature is not available at this time (13) Will I be able to create font sizes outside the predetermined options (ie font sizes 4, 6, 7 or 7.5)? This feature is not available at this time (14) How do I manage spelling when writing mails with multiple languages? Why can't I seem to be able to have certain texts, paragraphs or words in one language (function: select language) and others in other languages using the same function. With the transition from Entourage to Outlook, spell checking has become much easier for the multilingual user. In Entourage, you would have to tell the application which language you were writing in, and Entourage would check your text in that language alone. Outlook, however, integrates with the spell checking features built into Mac OS X, and can, as a result, behave in a much more intelligent way than Entourage. The menu items found in Edit>Spelling and Grammar is identical to the menu items found in most Mac OS X applications. Since Outlook uses the same dictionaries, it is now possible to add words to the Mac OS X dictionaries in other applications, such as Safari or TextEdit, and to have these words recognized in Outlook, too. Furthermore, the language you are typing in is now detected automatically; there is no longer any need to tell the application explicitly which language you are using. As a result, it is now possible to mix a number of languages in one single e-mail message and to have the spelling of each word checked in its corresponding language. (15) Is the HTML editor in Outlook for Mac more robust than Entourage's HTML capabilities? In one word: yes! Granted, that challenge was not difficult to beat, but Outlook is much more capable than Entourage in terms of HTML creation. You can now forward e-mails and have Outlook maintain the complex layout of the original e-mail. Gone are the days when replying to or forwarding a message would result in an e-mail that did not resemble the original message at all. You can still forward e-mail messages as attachments, if you want to (via Message>Forward Special>As Attachment), but the need for that function is not as pronounced anymore. Furthermore, when typing a new mail message in Outlook, you have more formatting choices, such as precise font size settings and highlighted text. A long-standing feature request has also been implemented: you can now insert masked hyperlinks into your e-mail messages. (16) Can I compose a message using Word then send with Outlook for Mac? If the formatting features in Outlook are still insufficient for your needs, you can compose the e-mail message in Word and then either transfer the document to Outlook via File>Share>E-mail (as HTML), or you can simply copy the text and paste it into a New Message window in Outlook; you should find that the entire formatting remains preserved, even if you copy tables or other graphical elements. (17) What happened to the Favorites bar we had in Entourage? The Favorites Bar, introduced in Entourage 2008, is no longer present in Outlook 2011. If this is a feature that you consider useful, be sure to let Microsoft know by sending them feedback (via the Send Feedback about Outlook command in Outlook's Help menu) (18) I don't like the new unified Inbox in Outlook for Mac, is there a way to go back to the way Entourage managed folders? While a consolidated inbox will make the lives of many people a lot easier, some might not want to have this feature, preferring to keep their various inboxes separate. Don't worry: there's an easy way to disable this new feature. Click on Outlook>Preferences, bring up the General section, and disable the checkbox that reads Group similar folders, such as inboxes, from different accounts. Your folder list should now look the way it did in Entourage. (19) Can I make a signature with a graphic and hyperlinks? Yes. You can create signatures by clicking on Outlook>Preferences and bringing up the Signatures section. Keep in mind that the formatting choices offered in this window are very limited; use the options in the Format menu to format your text, or simply format your signature in Word and paste it into a new signature window. -- Diane -- YouTalk mailing list List information: http://www.entourage.mvps.org/support_options/list.html List moderator: [email protected], [email protected] To unsubscribe: mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe
