Alternative To Ms Outlook

I've been using MS Office Outlook for years, primarily for business reasons. After upgrading to Win 10, I've decided to ditch MS Office, (I can't afford it right now) and have installed Libre Office. My main problem is that I need Outlook to access my business emails. I have the back up of .pst file from Outlook which I plan to import into whatever alternative software to Outlook. Also I need the software to be able to fetch emails of the server. I believe my settings on Outlook were for POP.

Any ideas of an Outlook Office alternative that can meet my needs? Need to get the business up again, and I can't do it from Hotmail etc. Thanks.

 

You are not going to find an alternative to Outlook that supports .pst files.
Why don't you continue to use MS Office Outlook?

 

LibreOffice is my preferred application. It is free, open source, and is totally interoperable with all principle MS Office formats.

Mozilla Thunderbird is a great alternative to Outlook
https://www.mozilla.org/en-GB/thunderbird/

 

I agree with this, but it depends on which version of Outlook you have been using. Outlook 2007 and later work fine in Win 10 but you would have problems attempting to install and run earlier versions.

 

Have a look over here.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...icrosoft/6faf72ea-254a-4c8e-9982-2c36cdb1936c
MS Outlook:
2003 - crashes.*
2002 - fine.
2000 - fine in compatability mode.

* The author doesn't mention if he installed SP3 + updates for Outlook 2003.

 

I just tested MS Office 2003 in Windows 10. I used MS Office for years but haven't for quite a while.
So I got my old MS Office 2003 box and disk out and installed it. I had some initial difficulty - after the install - getting the SP3 update to install but after two attempts it worked. All further updates were successful.

 

Thanks MaxTurner.
Is MS Outlook 2003 working?

 

Yes. Loaded and configured Outlook with a throw away email via POP. Sent/received a few messages.
I will probably uninstall it at some point as I don't use Office any more. But I just wanted to see if it worked in 10.

 

Great. Now we just need to wait for Raphee to return.
BTW You did what the author in the link post #5 couldn't do.

 

Yes I read that. I did initially get error codes trying to install the Office SP3 update but after restarting a couple of times and running the update again it was successful. I didn't even have to use 'compatibility' mode.

 

I am short of money, and can't afford MS Office right now. I also can't use the previous license. (Long story.) So either I find an alternative for .pst files in my backup folder for Outlook. Or get a new MS Office. Under current circumstances all I can use is a pirated copy. My first option is to locate an open source, free software.

 

I was using MS Office 2007. I also had SP3. I don't understand how Outlook 2003 got into this conversation. Are you saying I should install an older version?

PS: Okay, read the thread again. Unfortunately, I do not have Office 2003. So that is out.

 

As already said, it doesn't exist. You can though use a pst viewer to access your pst files, along with an alternative free email client. I use Thunderbird and much prefer it to Outlook. Search for read pst files without outlook

Here is one -

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/systools_outlook_pst_viewer.html

can't comment on how well it works.

 

No one was saying use office 2003. They all need a paid license. It was a general thing about older MS Office versions and Win 10.
If you can no longer use MS Office 2007 OUTLOOK then you simply can't get a .pst compatible alternative, so you need to use something different. There is no open source or free alternative to Office Outlook message file types.
It's as simple as that. It's not so complicated as you seem to think.

 

If you do that running a business... say goodbye to your business.
At this point in time, the best you could do is use a free .pst viewer as suggested by MaxTurner.

 

Okay, point understood. Thank you all.

 

Here's another free .pst viewer.
http://www.nucleustechnologies.com/pst-viewer.html

 

One thing: I have used thunderbird for IMAP. I didn't enjoy the interface or the responsiveness of the software while fetching emails off the server. Do you guys have experience with another software for the purpose and that you can recommend.

 

Sorry, never used any other freeware mail program that has comparable features to Outlook other than Thunderbird, and that has always worked well for me.

 

It's Thunderbird for me too, and the poor response when using TBird IMAP is not being caused by TBird - Gmail IMAP on TBird works perfectly for me. You could take a look at Win 10's Mail though from what I have seen of it I can't really see it as an Outlook substitute.

 

There really is no substitute for MS Office Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird. But if you want a plain email client, there are plenty to choose from.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/sortname/mail_utilities.html

I use EssentialPIM that has an email client and it's all I need.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/essentialpim.html

 

I may have judged this prematurely. For two days now I have been using Win 10 Mail rather than my usual Thunderbird and haven't had any issues at all. Setting up the accounts was easy, it synced all my Gmail contacts automatically, and test emails between the various accounts have all been received. It recognised my printer too. Admittedly I have not attempted to use any of the more advanced features of either Thunderbird or Outlook but for the time being I'm quite content to continue using it rather than Thunderbird and see whether anything happens over the next week or two that might force me to change my mind.

 

Just what I was wondering as I read the responses above. I've used Livemail (the version before it came out with Win 10) before, and I really thought it was better than Thunderbird. I did have a problem using it with my old laptop; the software would sometimes freeze for a few seconds. Eventually I gave it up. This might not happen with the new laptop I have, since its supposedly better.

 

I've reverted to Thunderbird. I'm primarily a Gmail user and Mail can take rather a long time syncing with the Google mail servers, like five minutes or more. Thunderbird syncs immediately you open it. One change I made to my Gmail folders yesterday has only appeared in Mail this morning. Can't live with that but I do hope MS sort it out as it's all very nicely organised and full featured and I would have stayed with it but for the sync problems I've had.

 

I've been using Mail now for a few days. Works nice and the layout is pretty. One thing that's bugging me is I can't find the settings to make the page size bigger-- I mean the default settings for zoom when I open up an email. Right now I have a problem reading the small font size and since I use spectacles that is a concern. I hope MS will sort it out since this wasn't a problem is the previous Mail version.

I don't use Gmail so the sync problem you have isn't for me. I am going to stick with Mail for now and see if it acts fine. That will determine whether I need to change or not.

 

The zoom control is on the Actions menu, the three dots top right, and you can increase the viewing pane by clicking the the three horizontal bars top left.

 

Thanks Earthling. Yes, I saw that earlier. But you have to zoom in on each email separately. I was hoping to find a default setting so that the action doesn't have to be repeated for each mail. Also the zoom only enlarges the reading pane and not the preview pane. I have a slight problem with quickly checking the preview pane for where the summary of my emails received. If that could be enlarged also, I'd love it.

 

Maybe try one of the four Windows high contrast themes? mdonah here also has eyesight problems and that's been the best answer for him.

 

I'm seeing unusual behaviour in Mail, not necessarily bad, just unusual. If I delete a message in Mail on one of the computers here it doesn't sync with the other computers here or with the server. The message is only deleted on the machine you delete it on. If I do the same in Thunderbird or directly on the server it is deleted everywhere, including in Mail. I guess if I leave it long enough it will eventually delete everywhere else too, but in the short term - hour or two - it doesn't. I prefer the Thunderbird behaviour but it does somehow seem a bit staid and dated compared with Mail. I'm also a bit concerned for the future support of Thunderbird as noises coming from it's community suggest there may be growing problems there.

 

Been busy. Where do I find the high contrast themes. I guess it would be in Personalization/ Display settings, but how do I know these themes are high contrast. I have changed themes quite a bit searching for the one that suits me. Still to locate the perfect one.

Thanks.

 

Right click Desktop > Personalise > Themes > Theme settings. Scroll down and there are four high contrast themes you could try.