I truly hope Microsoft provides a smooth conversion tool for migrating from Entourage to Outlook during the installation process!!!!!!

Hi Eric,

We look forward to your next announcement that OneNote will be featured in the next release. Surely some of the Mac app experience will be great: iPhone Syncing via the Cloud.

Regards,
Long

I think OneNote on the Mac would sell a lot of software for Microsoft. I love it on Windows, but am forced to use something else on the Mac. The ability to use the same PST on Mac and Windows would really benefit our organization. Exchange 2010 goes a long way with an archive solution, but users really need something for offline too.

Keep up the great work, thanks for all the improvements to 2008 over the past year, they are noticeable.

Hooray for Outlook for Mac.

I'm about to purchase my first Mac. Can I purchase the Office Home, Student edition and be able to sync tasks, notes, categories via that edition's Entourage?

Or do I have to wait for the Business edition?

Hi Curt -

Office 2008 Home and Student does include Entourage, but it does not support connectivity to Exchange Server. In order to connect to Exchange, you need to have Office 2008 Standard (silver box) or Special Media Edition (white box). Business Edition will replace both of these SKU's as of 9/15, and will also have Exchange Server support.

As for tasks, notes, and categories sync, those are only available in the Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition that released yesterday which you can upgrade to if you have one of the SKU's I noted above. Please do take note that you must be connected to Exchange Server 2007 with SP1 and Update Rollup 4.

Thanks,

Mike Tedesco - Sr. Product Manager - MacBU

Will the upcoming version of Outlook require Exchange Server 2007, or will it work with older versions?

Hi Stormj -

No specific Exchange version/update requirements to announce at this point for Outlook for Mac.

The one thing I can say is that we have moved completely away from WebDAV and on to Exchange Web Services beginning with the new Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition client that we released just yesterday (8/13). Since Exchange Web Services released with Exchange Server 2007, Entourage, Web Services Edition and clients we release going forward will be built on Exchange Web Services and therefore will not work with Exchange Server 2003 and earlier versions.

Thanks for posting!

Mike Tedesco - Sr. Product Manager - MacBU

Hi - in new version of Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition is the Entourage WSE optional? We have many clients using Entourage 2008 connected to an "Exchange-like" server that doesn't yet support Web Services.

So Entourage currently works with it, but will we still be able to buy Exchange enabled Entourage Business licenses that are not WSE?

Great to hear about Outlook.. my wishes are the database is more stable (maybe not monolithic?) and has things like calendar overlay. Thanks!

Hi Bigben -

You are correct. When you install Business Edition, you will get Entourage 2008 by default. The new Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition will come on the 2nd disc which is called Business Edition Extras, and it is an optional install for the very reason that you noted.

Exchange Web Services was released with Exchange Server 2007, so customers who are on previous versions such as Exchange Server 2003 and prior will not have Exchange Web Services.

Thanks,

Mike Tedesco - Sr. Product Manager - MacBU

If you could be so kind as to finally harmonize the GETPIVOTDATA function between the Mac and Windows versions of Excel so that the syntax and operation are the same you'd be on my Xmas list for life!

What is the reasoning behind this? You're actually forcing Entourage users to use other software because of this.

This sounds great, as I always wrestle with the Entourage 2008 (and 2004 back in 2006 when I made switch from PC to Mac). Entourage lacks certain features that, IMO, prevent it from not only being as good as Outlook but the ultimate email/PIM on the Mac (though I do believe its better than other solutions/products).

I don't use Entourage 2008 for my work email, which runs on Exchange 2003 at the moment, for reasons that have been documented/complained about for a while! I am aware that the new version of Outlook and the current web services upgrade add features only compatible with Exchange Server 2007 and beyond, but that was never the reason why I stopped using Entourage 2004/2008. My request list will be a repeat of other's feature request list, but I'd like to throw my hat in.

1. PST support - this is a MUST! I have worked in many Windows/Mac environments where Entourage users have had to either use Virtual PC or Terminal Server (or Citrix) to log into Outlook for their old PST archives. This HAS to change.

2. Better signature support - this is minor and not Exchange 2003/2007 specific, but its annoying. Entourage 2008 received a welcome facelift and improvements that gave me hope about its WYSIWYG editor, but alas its still the same as Entourage 2004. What's worse, however, is that signatures are still primitive in Entourage 2008. I can't add an image or easily add HTML links. While its not my preference, my company requires our logo and links to email addresses in our signatures and lacking this simple feature (on a capable system, no-less) is odd.

3. WYSIWYG - echoing from above, this has to change. The toolbox, or whatever its called, helps in that I can drag/drop images and do some level of editing, but it should be better. If I can have PDF rendering/quality with Word I should be able to do the same when composing emails!

4. Allow CalDAV, but not for Exchange - I want to be able to add my Google calendar via CalDAV in Entourage (and not have to rely on Sync Services and Spanning Sync). If this could be a two-way sync then that would be a HUGE bonus! Likewise, I want to be able to use my Exchange calendar in the same way I would in Outlook. I believe the web services add-on/upgrade is supposed to improve calendaring even more (I know, for Exchange Server 2007+) but if this is a new Outlook, these capabilities should be there from the get-go.

5. Better MobileMe support - don't know how much this is Microsoft or Apple, but it would be nice to use MobileMe within Entourage. While I'm not using MobileMe explicitly, I am planning to keep it...just in case (or if the feature set is reliable/worth the $99 per year I will be paying going foward). And of course, I am referring to Calendar/Contact sync support. I know I can do IMAP for email, which is fine. But syncing to their other services are just as important.

I want to use/like Entourage, I really do! The rest of the 2008 suite is GREAT, I use it daily and prefer it over Office 2007. But I can't stand some of the half-assed fixes (and in some cases, no fixes) within Entourage. I am hoping that the new version of Outlook will as useful on the Mac as it is on Windows. Another way to put it...the ONLY difference I should care about is the fact that I'm running Outlook in a different OS.

Will office 2010 for mac support right-left languages like Hebrew?

Can we please get a reply on the two issues which always get ignored.

1) PST files. Put it simply if the ability to read and export pst files taht can be read on both mac and pc isnt there, it just isnt worth me and pretty much evry mac person I know shelling out for a new version

2)Messanger for Mac. Come on guys throw us a bone, the same people mentioned above are leaving mesasanger for skype

I have recently bought a Mac after using PCs for 20 plus years, but what I did not count on was the "clunkiness" of Entourage (and Word for Mac). I have used Entourage for 3 months now and I am yet to find one feature of Entourage which is better than Outlook. (Sorry - there is one - the travel time option in new appointments in Calendar).

Why doesn't Microsoft just make Entourage emulate Outlook? Outlook is not perfect but it is heaps better than Entourage.

I offer the following questions for the Entourage Development Team and Microsoft from the (deep) well of my frustrations:

Why doesn't Entourage use the escape button to exit emails?
Why doesn't Entourage enable drag and drop?
Why does my signature block for a reply or forward email go to the bottom of the whole email chain instead of at the bottom of the new email I am writing?
Why are icons so small in Entourage?
Why can't I open Outlook files in Entourage?
Why can't I open a second Entourage file in Entourage?
Why are folders so difficult to manage in Entourage?
Why do weblinks you paste into emails only appear as live weblinks after you email the email?
Why can't you right click on a junk email and automatically add it to the blocked senders list?
How much time do you think I have to keep adding continually changing spam email addresses to the blocked senders list manually? None is the answer!

Is this enough to motivate the Entourage Team into action? I hope so!
regards
GTK

Anything short of a feature by feature implementation or improvement of the Outlook 2010 version from your Windows counterpart will be an epic failure. I'm talking not only about things like threaded conversation support, Quick Lists, Back Stage, PST support, SharePoint Syncing and other adds, but also little things like different signature support for new messages vs. replies, as well as multiple / overlayed calendars, and the return of the syncing conduit. If you can't deliver, don't call it Outlook.

Could anyone tell me if entourage supports push email?

I have recently migrated from PC to snow leopard. The only thing I really miss is my push email with exchange 2007. Mail can check it every minute, but it is far from true push

thanks

Dear Microsoft MacBU,
I am the Vice President of a woman-owned small business. We have 5 employees and 24 consulting instructors.

Due to the success / usefulness of my iPhone for our business, AND our new Apple network (Airport Extreme Base Station with Airport Express to extend it), I am in the process of changing to a MacBook Pro. My dilemma? I am a LONG time MS Office user, having used MS Outlook since 1999. As a result, I have many personal emails that are important to me dating back to 1999. All versions of Outlook have kept my ability to access these emails intact.

Now, I don't know what to do. Obviously, I wish I could switch to your new version of Outlook now, but since it isn't available, do I use Entourage until the newly announced Outlook for Mac product becomes available? Do I switch to Apple's mail program? Do I try to use Windows Vista on my MacBook Pro and try to continue running Outlook 2007?

I have thousands of emails that I have filed in many folders in Outlook that I frequently reference. I do not look forward to this part of my transition, and would greatly appreciate any advice you can offer.

The next version of Office for Mac sounds great! I like that you are going to go with Cocoa, and also going with Outlook for Mac for a name.

I do hope that it does come out in 2010, and that your team does not make everyone wait months more without updates like with messenger. I also like that your team is improving the software, trying to keep it on par with Windows, and that your software seem to fix bugs from one version to the next. That is the best way to get customers from other companies/services, and maintain them.

Keep up the great work of improving your great software!

Thanks

Eric --

The MS news release on this also notes that "For current Entourage users, Microsoft Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition is available today, providing performance and reliability improvements and enabling users to sync Tasks, Notes and Categories."

Is this the final release and, if so, is it posted yet? The link in the release for the "free" update points to the Mactopia downloads page, but I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Thanks

@carrollw - Yes, Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition is available today from the Mactopia Downloads page. Find it here: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx?link_name=downloads

When can we expect to see Entourage WSE for download? The press release suggests that it will be out today (the 13th) but I don't see it up yet.

We *really* want to eliminate the un-SSL'd LDAP connection we have open for Entourage users right now...

Hi Bradenmcg - It was posted as of yesterday, so you should be able to go and get it now. Here's a link:

http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx?pid=Mactopia_Office2008&fid=1c4ded5b-a992-490f-a8f8-db1b05b9e422#viewer

Thanks,

Mike Tedesco - Sr. Product Manager - MacBU

Glad to see Outlook making a comeback. It's been a while since we've seen a Mac version of that application and Entourage has never really been all that satisfying.

Good luck with the launch in 2010, but I do find it curious to announce an update to Office 2008 at the same time as saying "there's a new one coming anyways." Hopefully that won't cannibalize your sales.

Now, would you please tell us when (oh, WHEN) will Messenger finally get updated with video chat. It really is unbelievable that Messenger for Mac still doesn't play nice with the Windows version after all these years. Come MacBU...it's 2009! Basic cross-platform communications between Macs and PCs using Messenger should have been addressed ages ago.

Please let us know!

Thanks.

While all of the items mentioned above are improvements, I'd like to see new versions of Outlook for Mac to be able to set a default view for either locally created folders or folders on the Exchange server.

For example, when you create a new folder in Entourage, it includes a bunch of default columns, including Flag Status, Links, Online Status, Message Status, Priority, etc. It also defaults to Show in Groups.

I'd love to be able to set a custom view or set of columns and save it so future folders will accommodate my view instead of what Entourage sets as the default. I've looked around in Entourage 2004 and 2008 and have not seen a way to do this. If it's already available, then setting it isn't very obvious.

Just a suggestion. Thanks!

Will Outlook have feature parity with the Window version of Outlook? And will you be able to transfer PST files across?

First -- I'm thrilled! Microsoft listened to its users.

Now -- the $64K questions Eric's post didn't answer -- will the new Outlook for Mac be able to:
--Import Windows Outlook .pst files seamlessly?
--Allow for archiving of infrequently used data, but in a form that you can easily access it again if needed? (As can be done in Windows Outlook)?

Hopefully Outlook for Mac's hard-copy printing capabilities will be an improvement over Entourage... but this is minor compared to (1) and (2) above.

Hopefully,
Levanah

@levanaha, iduff and will_col,
Today's Outlook for Mac announcement is just the first taste of what is to come in the next version of Office for Mac. Stay tuned- there is more to come from the MacBU.
 – Eric

It sure would be nice if the new Outlook for Mac was interoperable with Outlook for Windows, like maybe using the .pst file structure, or even better, able to sequentially share the same file.

I must use Windows for work, so I have a VM on my Mac to do so, and have my Exchange account set up to store messages offline in an Outlook for Windows .pst file. It would be superb if, when not needing to use the Windows VM, I could use Outlook for Mac and access the same messages.

Looks like the new Web Services download still only works with 12.0.5?

Hi JSamuels -

As Eric noted, we require SP2 + all latest updates (which is 12.2.1 as of today) for Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition. If you were running the public beta by chance, you must first remove the beta install of Entourage, Web Services edition and Office and reinstall your licensed version of Office 2008. Then apply SP2 + 12.2.1 and you will be good to go to install Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition.

Thanks,

Mike Tedesco - Sr. Product Manager - MacBU

Entourage Web Services requires the most current update to Office 2008 SP2, 12.2.1. Here's the link to download and view full system requirements:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.mspx

Eric, I convinced my wife to date me by baking cookies for her. If I were willing to send several dozen to the Mac BU, could I get OneNote 2010 Insanely Cool Mac Edition? I'm starting up law school this Fall and had to install Parallels just so that I could use OneNote.

OneNote's ability to organize in a multi-notebook, multi-subject, multiple page format and accept input from just about anything are too good to pass up.

Awesome! I love cookies! But seriously, as I said earlier in the comment stream, today's announcement is just the first taste of the next version of Office for Mac. Good luck in law school.

-Eric

P.S. I convinced my wife to date me by fixing her Mac.

Can't wait to see the Mac BU build on an already awesome product, and I like how you provided an early heads-up on the future of Office, including Outlook, and VBA (yay). However, there is still one more thing on my wish list, Messenger for Mac with audio and video capabilities. I check this blog very often for any news on Messenger, but sadly I've heard nothing. If you can provide some kind of info on this, anything, it would really put a cap on Microsoft software for Mac.

Not sure what the problem was, but I finally was able to install EWS with SP2. First two times it failed. Removed and reinstalled Office each time. Third time was a charm. Thanks!

Any update on Messenger? Please, if it doesn't provide anywhere near the function of Windows version then dont release it. It has been disappointment after disappointment.

I'm eager to use Entourage Web Services Edition. I had some real troubles using the old WebDAV client and I'm currently stuck on IMAP/SMTP.

Do you plan to release also a german localized version of the download?

Hi Flupp -

Yes, Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition will be release in German and our other localized languages next week! Thanks for posting!

Mike Tedesco, Sr. Product Manager - MacBU

Will Outlook for Mac OS X support CalDAV?

(The group for which I provide ICT support uses CalDAV extensively.)

The much improved functionality with Exchange is welcome.
However, why are you still ignoring the huge bug with new messages?
After so many updates, there is still no way to set the default encoding of new messages which is set by default to 'Automatic'. This doesn't work with languages like greek, and the recipients receive garbage.
We have to remember to change the encoding every time to something like UTF-8, which is of course ridiculous...

Hello, one of the Entourage features I prefer the most is the Project Center. Are you going to provide such a feature in the new Outlook for Mac?

I'm wondering the same thing as Miles Teg above. Are you going to retain the Project Center? I certainly hope so - this is a unique and useful feature. Never mind that it isn't supported in the Windows version. It was actually one of the reasons why I stuck with Entourage for as long as I did.

Everything seems to be peachy....what effect does this have?

Unfortunately this update does not apply to delegates, which makes this only half useful in the business environment.

So will this Outlook be the real Outlook or will it just be the same old crappy Entourage with a new name? Remember, Snow Leopard is coming.

It's interesting to see the lack of replies regarding Messenger for Mac.
Although the original blog post is regarding Outlook for Mac, a new and updated version of Office:2008 is mentioned - so the questions are in my opinion valid.
The answer could be "we don't know yet" or "yes it will be released in September" or "the public beta will be available next week"... It doesn't matter, but silence is not an option!

I too would like to see Projects and Onenote.

Maybe they are not replying to the comments about Messenger because they want to surprise people by adding the features that they oddly left out, like offline messaging, nudges, winks, games, emoticons viewable on nicknames, and so forth (about 13 features excluding A/V). Maybe that is why it is taking this long. Maybe open-source software like aMSN and Adium are making Microsoft look bad and they now must add these things. Haha, ok, seriously, I think they are just messing with us and could care less about their messenger customers!

I do like your other software for the most part, because you seem fix bugs and try to update them. And I am serious when I said to your team working on this new Outlook to keep up the good work.

Would love to hear about the MacBU plans for Word. Making tracked changes not impact the stability of the document should be a high priority. Also, making the comment feature identical to Word 2007 (e.g., comment numbers) should be a high priority.

mark

Very exiting, but there are only two things we need at school, and I also at home:
-the look, feel and workspace of the Office for Windows,
-messenger that functions like the Windows one.

Same functionality, not such a big step to switch from office to Mac Office, and a great compatibility, sounds good?

Maybe in 2010 I will also be back on MS Office...

I really appreciate that the MacBU is communicating (talking AND listening) to their constituency by way of the blog. Truly appreciate it. Add mine to chorus of voices wanting to know more about PST support in Outlook 2010, but more importantly, about a conversion utility for making the transition from Entourage to Outlook. The conversion from Outlook to Entourage was/is extremely painful.

I don't know if this trend follows the rest of the world, but the number and percentage of Macs, especially laptops, being used in my company is increasing at an amazing rate. So many users are discovering though, that leaving years of archived mail in PST files and trying to move them to Entourage is tedious at best. Many, many of my support customers are using VMWare or Parallels to install Windows for the purpose of running Outlook so they can access their archives.

I also wonder if you are working with 3rd party vendors to increase interoperability with their software. We use Entrust to encrypt email and files, and although there is a Mac client, it doesn't integrate with Entourage at all. It is a fully integrated add-on to Outlook for Windows. Do you work with that vendor at all?

I do not like that Entourage Syncs an "Entourage" calendar with iCal. I do not organize my calendars by the name of a program and would like it to be configurable as to which other calendar it syncs with (maybe able to choose my "Work" calendar during install).

The stability of Microsoft Word and Entourage 2008 have been reminiscent of Office 2000 for Windows whereby, in Word, you format tables, paste in HTML and it crashes. Entourage 2008 just crashes from time to time for no apparent reason, just clicking an email to open it crashes it. I open it back up and the email opens fine. (No DB problems were detected when I ran diagnostics).

When I hear of a Microsoft product for Mac, I think, great, I can get the same features now for my Mac that I have on Windows, but Entourage is more like Evolution than Outlook.

I really hope more is done in the next version to sync a lot of the functionality offered in Windows with the Mac version.

I cannot use Excel spreadsheets I used to use due to no more VBA, having some programing model available for Microsoft Office that is as powerful would be nice, the Applescript path is just not flexible.

I'm glad that you have found 3rd party software to replace the lost Solver, Data Analysis Toolpack, and have a Pattern Fill add-back download to get Excel 2008 (and Excel 2007!) closer to Excel 2004. But I"m sure hoping that the next issue of Office will have all of this consolidated into a comprehensive single installation. We are trying to teach students to analyze experiment results and produce publishable graphics (black and white!) with Excel here. We need these features to be available for students on their computers without lots of classtime lost teaching them to find and install add-ins from the internet. I'm hoping we don't have to wait for 3 more years to get a replacement for Office 2004.

It made my life a lot easier. I still wish that clicking on a document in the web browser would open it in Office 2008, but this goes a long way toward making document management easier w/SharePoint in my office.

First, thank you thank you for planning to finally do Outlook.

I have struggled with Entourage for years after moving from Windows. I will say, the one feature I have always liked in Entourage better than Outlook is the project center. It is great, and along with Miles Teg above, I urge you to keep it.

Other than that, Entourage has driven me crazy. I can't wait.

Speaking of waiting, what does "ready for holiday season 2010" mean? December '09? Or December '10?

Thanks,

Are there plans to include Access in the MAC office (Pro) in the near future?

Thanks!
Don Montalvo, TX