Feature suggestions for Outlook 12

[Stenis]

Hi,

I'm posting some suggestions to make sure that the features listed below get
what they deserve for Outlook 12, ie gets implemented. The most important
feature is listed at the top, the least important is listed at the bottom,
you get the point I guess

I can tell you that more and more of my users are moving to Thunderbird
because of it's excellent support for IMAP. I'm afraid that if the top listed
features/suggestions below are NOT implemented in the next Outlook version,
there is no coming back for Outlook as I feel it. Getting a "considered for
future versions" on those suggestions are not an option as then it will be at
least three or four years before a new Outlook version gets released... No
one acn wait that long for some simple features that exist in other mail
clients...

I would gladly appreciate any comments for my posting!

So, let's have a look at the suggestions:

Improvements to sharing calendars
There must be a simple way to share calendars when you are not using
Exchange. This is the absolute number one issue that basically all of my
users request!

Specify folders manually
I would really like the ability to manually set the Junk e-mail folder +
sent/draft/trash folders for IMAP manually in Outlook.

IMAP Quota
One thing you should really really support is IMAP Quota, so that you can
see how much space you have in your mail account. This is so standard that
you just have to implement it!

Importing a .pst file
When you go about importing a .pst file there is one thing that has bothered
me so much in previous versions. When I have chosen the .pst file I want to
import I'm presented with options to select which folders to import and where
to. If I choose "import items into the same folder in:", I always have two
"Personal folders" (Since that is what I most often import). Do I have to
mention that I always choose the wrong one and have to start the Import
procedure all over again... I think the Personal folders structure you are
importing FROM, not should be presented in this drop down list.

Start Outlook with all IMAP folders expanded
As I have 5 differnt IMAP accounts set up in my Outlook I would like a
feature that automatically starts Outlook with the IMAP folders expanded one
level. Now I have to expand every account manually every time (although I
have one IMAP folder as the default). An alternative is that Outlook remember
the location in the folder structure when exiting.

Include Outlook Personal Folders Backup
A great idea would be to include the excellent Personal Folders Backup to
the standard set of features for Outlook 12. We use it a lot here and it
would be nice to have it incorporated into the standard Outlook.

Close Outlook from system tray
I would appreciate the ability to Close Outlook from the system tray.

Show unread mail in subfolders...
Is there any easy way to implement showing unread mail count in subfolders
on the parent folder header, to see if there are new mails without expanding
the parent folders. This would be a nice feature!

That's all, at least for now!

Andreas Stenhall


----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...67c9cdbe3&dg=microsoft.public.outlook.general

 

[Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]]

Answers in-line.

--
Milly Staples [MVP - Outlook]

Post all replies to the group to keep the discussion intact. All
unsolicited mail sent to my personal account will be deleted without
reading.

After furious head scratching, Stenis asked:

| Hi,
|
| I'm posting some suggestions to make sure that the features listed
| below get what they deserve for Outlook 12, ie gets implemented. The
| most important feature is listed at the top, the least important is
| listed at the bottom, you get the point I guess
|
| I can tell you that more and more of my users are moving to
| Thunderbird because of it's excellent support for IMAP. I'm afraid
| that if the top listed features/suggestions below are NOT implemented
| in the next Outlook version, there is no coming back for Outlook as I
| feel it. Getting a "considered for future versions" on those
| suggestions are not an option as then it will be at least three or
| four years before a new Outlook version gets released... No one acn
| wait that long for some simple features that exist in other mail
| clients...
|
| I would gladly appreciate any comments for my posting!
|
| So, let's have a look at the suggestions:
|
| Improvements to sharing calendars
| There must be a simple way to share calendars when you are not using
| Exchange. This is the absolute number one issue that basically all of
| my users request!
|

This feature may or may not make it into the next version of Outlook. When
the public beta begins later next month or January, why not enroll and try
it yourself?

| Specify folders manually
| I would really like the ability to manually set the Junk e-mail
| folder + sent/draft/trash folders for IMAP manually in Outlook.
|

Since I don't use IMAP, no comment.

| IMAP Quota
| One thing you should really really support is IMAP Quota, so that you
| can see how much space you have in your mail account. This is so
| standard that you just have to implement it!
|

Ditto above answer

| Importing a .pst file
| When you go about importing a .pst file there is one thing that has
| bothered me so much in previous versions. When I have chosen the .pst
| file I want to import I'm presented with options to select which
| folders to import and where to. If I choose "import items into the
| same folder in:", I always have two "Personal folders" (Since that is
| what I most often import). Do I have to mention that I always choose
| the wrong one and have to start the Import procedure all over
| again... I think the Personal folders structure you are importing
| FROM, not should be presented in this drop down list.
|

NEVER import a .pst file - it is Outlook's native file format and does not
need the "translation" that importing provides for non-native Outlook files.
Importing will lose information every time, such as custom forms,
connections between contacts and activities, contact birthdays and
anniversaries on calendar, received dates, etc. Simply OPEN the .pst file
and drag and drop between files to merge information into one .pst file -
this method preserves all of the above.

| Start Outlook with all IMAP folders expanded
| As I have 5 differnt IMAP accounts set up in my Outlook I would like a
| feature that automatically starts Outlook with the IMAP folders
| expanded one level. Now I have to expand every account manually every
| time (although I have one IMAP folder as the default). An alternative
| is that Outlook remember the location in the folder structure when
| exiting.

Likewise, no IMAP experience here.

| Include Outlook Personal Folders Backup
| A great idea would be to include the excellent Personal Folders
| Backup to the standard set of features for Outlook 12. We use it a
| lot here and it would be nice to have it incorporated into the
| standard Outlook.

Since Outlook is primarily the client for Exchange server and corporations
provide their own backup, it would superfluous. Besides, there are people
who prefer using a batch file or other backup solution. Why force the often
flaky PFB on people who don't need it?

| Close Outlook from system tray
| I would appreciate the ability to Close Outlook from the system tray.
|

Not a bad idea. First good one I have seen.

| Show unread mail in subfolders...
| Is there any easy way to implement showing unread mail count in
| subfolders on the parent folder header, to see if there are new mails
| without expanding the parent folders. This would be a nice feature!
|

Unread mail is shown in subfolders for me, but I am using POP3 and Exchange.

| That's all, at least for now!
|
| Andreas Stenhall
|
|
| ----------------
| This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
| suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click
| the "I Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the
| button, follow this link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft
| Web-based Newsreader and then click "I Agree" in the message pane.
|
|
http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...67c9cdbe3&dg=microsoft.public.outlook.general

 

[Stenis]

Thanks for the input!

Well, specifying the Junk E-mail folder manually is expecially needed if you
run Outlook with IMAP on different Office languages.

My English Outlook puts junk email in Junk E-mail folder while the Swedish
version puts them in another folder called Skräppost. Two Outlook languages
means two different junk email folders which is not pretty.

I was not aware of the import of pst files dropped so many features. Thanks
for letting me know. But what is the .pst import function used for then,
shouldn't it be removed if there are other better ways to do this?

To bad you are not using IMAP, I think you would have been much more
positive about the changes I'm looking for!

Regards

Andreas

 

[Brian Tillman]

I was not aware of the import of pst files dropped so many features.
Thanks for letting me know. But what is the .pst import function used
for then, shouldn't it be removed if there are other better ways to
do this?

Well, there are some item types that don't suffer much when importing and
the import will merge the items into a specified folder, so on some
occasions, importing can be helpful. Those occasions are few and far
between, though.

To bad you are not using IMAP, I think you would have been much more
positive about the changes I'm looking for!

On the whole, Outlook could improve its IMAP handling. For one thing, it
would be nice if an IMAP account could be the delivery location.