Hey everyone! So, Microsoft is really pushing Office 365 and a lot of our customers are realizing they need to ditch their on-premises mail servers before October. However, one client is adamant about sticking with their on-prem setup and is willing to pay whatever it takes. The issue we're facing is that Microsoft support has stated that the new Outlook doesn't support on-prem Exchange mailboxes. Yet, after they phase out Outlook classic, users with on-prem mailboxes are told to use the new version. It's really confusing! Has anyone found an alternative to Outlook that can still handle on-prem Exchange emails, calendars, contacts, and tasks?
9 Answers
Sounds like they plan to turn the new Outlook into a version of classic Outlook eventually. Typical Microsoft move!
You might want to just keep using the classic Outlook. It’s deprecated, sure, but that just means they won’t be developing new features for it anymore. Classic Outlook isn't going away anytime soon, and many people still rely on it.
Have you looked into eM Client? It's another solid option for managing emails.
Why not consider using OWA instead of the new Outlook? If you plan on ditching the good Outlook, you could even switch to LibreOffice for other office tasks. Just keep in mind the new Outlook is mainly an Electron app and it raises some security concerns with syncing data to Microsoft's servers.
I'm all for it, but managing shared mailboxes is a nightmare in OWA.
Sure, but OWA lacks a lot of the features that classic Outlook offers.
When working with smaller companies, employees heavily depend on Outlook, and switching to another client can be a tough adjustment for them. I heard on Steve Gibson's SecurityNow podcast that there are other email clients out there, though!
We actually prohibited the use of the new Outlook for our entire domain through Group Policy. The inability to support on-prem Exchange mailboxes was a deal-breaker for us, so we just continue using the original Outlook.
But shared mailboxes are still fine if they're set up correctly, right?
Why do so many people dislike Outlook? I think it's pretty good overall!
If you want to stay on-prem in the long run, maybe consider switching to Linux instead of Windows?
That's true! Plus, there's a chance they'll eventually support on-prem properly in the new Outlook too. They started adding features for on-prem to the new Outlook for Mac, so who knows for Windows in the future!