Question on using Outlook on Surface 2

[Dave T.]

Sorry guys, but I'm planning on getting a Surface 2 and I'm brand new to the Windows 8 - 8.1 platform, so my questions may seem a bit stupid to you folks.

Anyhow, my question... If I have Outlook as a "live tile", does it automatically connect and send/receive emails on start up, and then continue to check for emails based on the schedule setting in options? It's not a big deal... just curious. I have Outlook on my PC (Win 7) and really like it. When I had Outlook 2007, I could set up a schedule task to run it at start up after everything else has loaded on start up. With Outlook 2013 on the PC, I haven't been able to do that, and miss that ability.

Hoping the "live tile" will do pretty much the same thing.

TIA
Dave

 

[oion]

Not stupid at all, don't worry. Windows 8 is new to a lot of people, on top of the touchscreen interface with swipe gestures that have a slight learning curve.

That said. Outlook RT, as a "desktop" application in Windows RT, unfortunately does not have live tile functionality. I would expect in the future Metro-UI version of Office coming next year, that would be a feature; at least I'd hope so. The Mail app does have live tile functionality, AFAIK, but I kind of removed it.

As for task scheduling. The Task Scheduler service is available in Windows RT, but I've never tried it, so I don't know how well it works. Sorry!

 

[kristalsoldier]

Not stupid at all, don't worry. Windows 8 is new to a lot of people, on top of the touchscreen interface with swipe gestures that have a slight learning curve.

That said. Outlook RT, as a "desktop" application in Windows RT, unfortunately does not have live tile functionality. I would expect in the future Metro-UI version of Office coming next year, that would be a feature; at least I'd hope so. The Mail app does have live tile functionality, AFAIK, but I kind of removed it.

As for task scheduling. The Task Scheduler service is available in Windows RT, but I've never tried it, so I don't know how well it works. Sorry!

So, you use Outlook RT and not the Mail App? And, you are on the Surface 2, right? In this connection, do you know where Outlook saves its PST files (if it is at all applicable nowadays) and if it saves it on the local drive, is it possible to relocate it to the SD card? It has been a while since I have used Outlook and from what I can remember Outlook PST files used to be huge.

 

[Dave T.]

Not stupid at all, don't worry. Windows 8 is new to a lot of people, on top of the touchscreen interface with swipe gestures that have a slight learning curve.

That said. Outlook RT, as a "desktop" application in Windows RT, unfortunately does not have live tile functionality. I would expect in the future Metro-UI version of Office coming next year, that would be a feature; at least I'd hope so. The Mail app does have live tile functionality, AFAIK, but I kind of removed it.

As for task scheduling. The Task Scheduler service is available in Windows RT, but I've never tried it, so I don't know how well it works. Sorry!

Thanks OION,

Again, not a big deal to manually open Outlook to check the mail. However, I will probably try the mail app first to see if it's good enough for the tablet.

With the mail app, if you have multiple mail accounts, I'm assuming that it checks all the accounts and shows the notification based on all the accounts... correct?

 

[kristalsoldier]

Thanks OION,

Again, not a big deal to manually open Outlook to check the mail. However, I will probably try the mail app first to see if it's good enough for the tablet.

With the mail app, if you have multiple mail accounts, I'm assuming that it checks all the accounts and shows the notification based on all the accounts... correct?

Re: Mail account: Yes, that is correct.

 

[Dave T.]

Excellent... thanks!

 

[jnjroach]

I personally use both, I use the Mail App as my lite weight mail program on the weekends and evening or while mobile and I use Outlook when I'm in one of my Offices. Outlook RT doesn't allow for large OST files for exchange and my personal PST file isn't that large because I switched to an IMAP account.

 

[kristalsoldier]

I personally use both, I use the Mail App as my lite weight mail program on the weekends and evening or while mobile and I use Outlook when I'm in one of my Offices. Outlook RT doesn't allow for large OST files for exchange and my personal PST file isn't that large because I switched to an IMAP account.

Thanks. And two more questions then:

First, regarding your usage: Why split your attention between two mail clients?

Second, regarding PST files and IMAP accounts: This would apply to Gmail accounts too, right?

I am still having issues with the Mail App, which is kind of irritating. So, I am now seriously considering Outlook RT as long as the same issues are not replicated there too. But then this leads to two more questions:

First, can the PST files be located on the SD card?

Second, Since Outlook comes with a calendar, how does that work with the Calendar app in the Modern UI space? I am assuming that the former can be linked to the latter such that changes in one are reflected in the other. Am I correct in this? My Calendar app is only linked to the Outlook (web-based) calendar, which I use across my devices. But my Outlook (web-based) calendar is also linked to the Gmail calendar - though I rarely use it - though sometimes (till I break the Google habit, that is).

 

[jnjroach]

Thanks. And two more questions then:

First, regarding your usage: Why split your attention between two mail clients?

I like using Mail because it is very lite weight and uses the Live Tile, and more importantly it doesn’t affect Connected Standby. I use Outlook during the work day because it is the more integrated solution and works best for my work flow.

Second, regarding PST files and IMAP accounts: This would apply to Gmail accounts too, right?

It should, but Google has its own idea on how to configure their mail settings

I am still having issues with the Mail App, which is kind of irritating. So, I am now seriously considering Outlook RT as long as the same issues are not replicated there too. But then this leads to two more questions:

First, can the PST files be located on the SD card?

I haven’t tried, but it should if you re-directed your Documents Library to the SD Card.

Second, Since Outlook comes with a calendar, how does that work with the Calendar app in the Modern UI space? I am assuming that the former can be linked to the latter such that changes in one are reflected in the other. Am I correct in this? My Calendar app is only linked to the Outlook (web-based) calendar, which I use across my devices. But my Outlook (web-based) calendar is also linked to the Gmail calendar - though I rarely use it - though sometimes (till I break the Google habit, that is).

As long as Outlook is Syncing with the same calendar server the Mail App (Outlook.com or Exchange Server) is syncing you should see the same data in both.

 

[kristalsoldier]

I like using Mail because it is very lite weight and uses the Live Tile, and more importantly it doesn’t affect Connected Standby. I use Outlook during the work day because it is the more integrated solution and works best for my work flow.


It should, but Google has its own idea on how to configure their mail settings

I haven’t tried, but it should if you re-directed your Documents Library to the SD Card.

As long as Outlook is Syncing with the same calendar server the Mail App (Outlook.com or Exchange Server) is syncing you should see the same data in both.

Could you please explain the part in bold and/ or please direct me to a place where I can read up on this? I like the Connected Standby concept that the Surface implements and would not want to affect that. Thanks.

 

[jnjroach]

I haven't seen anything documented, but each time I have had the Surface 2 crash while in the S0iX power state for an extended period of time (like overnight) I had left Outlook open, when I close it no issues, so it is mostly through my observation of the log files as the offending App was Outlook.Exe.

This was one of the concerns on using Outlook on S0iX system and I know MS has been working on making sure it doesn't lock up.

 

[kristalsoldier]

I haven't seen anything documented, but each time I have had the Surface 2 crash while in the S0iX power state for an extended period of time (like overnight) I had left Outlook open, when I close it no issues, so it is mostly through my observation of the log files as the offending App was Outlook.Exe.

This was one of the concerns on using Outlook on S0iX system and I know MS has been working on making sure it doesn't lock up.

Ohhh...that does not sound good! Could this also eb the reason as to why the live tile notifications don't apply to Outlook?