Outlook Alternative for Replacement

Mariya Beckham ~ Modified: September 24th, 2016 ~ Tech Query ~ 5 Minutes Reading

Outlook Alternative for Replacement

Introduction

Outlook is the most popular email client service provided by Microsoft. This is the widely used email client at many work places. It provides better and professional environment to the users. Outlook’s catchy feature is its offline service i.e., it allows users to view their mails and files in an offline mode also. Outlook saves the entire data items in PST file format. Many Outlook users face certain unavoidable issues, which makes them look for Outlook alternative. In the following section, we will discuss various issues related to Outlook application and reliable Outlook alternative.

Need of Outlook Alternative

The Outlook users generally face many issues, which makes the users annoyed while sending and receiving emails. As a result, the users search for other alternative email applications. Some of the issues faced with Outlook include:

If the user wants to open PST file without Outlook then there is need of Outlook alternative.

Microsoft Outlook is not available free of cost. So, this will also lets them look for an Outlook alternative.

As Outlook supports only PST file format, so if the user wants to open it in different email client then also they need to switch to other email clients.

There are more simple and easy to use email clients available, which makes the user to go for them.

Outlook does not support any kind of add ons, which limits its functionality and flexibility.

Outlook Replacement

If a user want Outlook Alternative then they can also convert their PST file in MBOX file format. MBOX is the file format supported by various email clients. As this file format is supported by various email clients, the user can use any of the client applications. Following are the Outlook Replacement, which support MBOX format:

Thunderbird
Apple Mac
Spicebird Mail
Mailbird
The Bat
Zimbra Desktop
Entourage

Earthlink
Mailcopa

Opera Mail and many more.

All of the above email clients work on various file format specially on MBOX file format. This file format provides a wide range of email clients. There is no need to stick to only one email clients, the user can go for any of them.

Difference Between PST and MBOX

To select the best Outlook Alternative, a user first need to understand the difference between PST and MBOX file format. This helps users in selecting the right Outlook Replacement according to their requirements.

Features	PST	MBOX
Size	In Outlook 2003 and 2007 the size limit is 20GB. It increases to 50GB in Outlook 2010, 2013 and 2016.	There is no such size limit available and hence can be an Outlook Alternative. For MBOX it varies from operating system to operating system. Like it is different for Mac OS and for Windows it is different.
Email Clients	PST file is only supported by Microsoft Outlook. There is no other email client, which supports PST file format	There are several emailclients available, which support MBOX file format. Forexample: Thunderbird, Apple Mail,Mailbird, Operamail, Entourage, MailCopa and many more.
Access on Mac OS	It is accessible on only two versions of Outlook. Outlook 2010 and 2016 Outlook is not very good Mac OS.	It is accessible on any Mac platform There is no such limitation in MBOX accessibility.
Location	In Windows7 its location is: drive:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook In Windows Vista its location is: drive:\Documents and Settings\user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook	As discussed it support various email client, so it not has any specific location. Its location depend on email client which are in use at that time.
Cost	As PST file is supported by Outlook only. Microsoft generally charge people for Microsoft Outlook. It can cost up-to $70 per year.	MBOX is supported by various email clients. Most of them are free of cost also. For example: Thunderbird,
Maintenance	There are some maintenance issues in PST file format. If you try export file from one place to another, there are chances it may get corrupted.	There is no such maintenance issue in MBOX file format. MBOX file are easy to open in many email client. So they don’t get corrupted easily.

According to the difference discussed above, MBOX file format is more preferable than PST file format and hence a worthwhile Outlook Alternative. There are many restrictions related to PST file format. The user can go for MBOX file format, which is supported by various email clients. They can also convert their PST file in MBOX file format. A number of alternate email clients are available that support MBOX format.

Outlook to MBOX Converter

As discussed, the users need alternative to Outlook. If the user is going to switch MBOX file format, they need to convert their Outlook PST file to MBOX file. As there is no manual method available, the user can use any of the available third party tool. One such tool available online is Outlook to MBOX converter, which converts all PST files in MBOX in an efficient manner and maintains data integrity also.

Highlighted Features of Outlook to MBOX Converter:

This tool converts all email files containing PST file to MBOX file.

It maintains Outlook data format, layout, size and hierarchy.

It also help in maintaining data integrity.

Conclusion

Nowadays, users face many issues related to Outlook which force users to search for Outlook Alternatives. After understanding the requirement of Outlook Replacement, we have discussed some alternate email clients for Outlook. If the user is going to switch to MBOX file format, then for PST to MBOX conversion one third party tool (Outlook to MBOX Converter) is also suggested. The user can use that tool for conversion and go for any of the MBOX supporting email clients.