Outlook for Mac redux

Outlook for Mac is back. It was replaced by Entourage as the Exchange client with the release of Office 2004 for Mac but will be back in the next version of Office for Mac. This is not Entourage renamed, it’s completely rewritten and is expected to provide a much better experience for Mac users.

Until Outlook for Mac is available in the next version of Office for Mac, Entourage 2008 Web Services Edition will provide Mac users a better Exchange experience than Entourage as it uses Exchange Web Services instead of WebDAV. Exchange Server 2007 SP1 with Update Rollup 4 or later is required.

For more information and to download, see
Entourage. Meet Exchange Web Services.
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/itpros/entourage-ews.mspx

Outlook for Mac to Ship With Next Version
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2009/aug09/08-13macoutlookpr.mspx 

GMT or BST?

In recent weeks several people complained that Outlook incorrectly uses GMT for appointments when it should label them BST (British Summer Time).

"When Outlook records meetings and appointments in the UK, it describes the time during all the months of the year as GMT. The UK only uses GMT during the five Winter months; during Daylight Saving Time, we use BST. I want to be able to send meeting invitations that do not incorrectly describe the times as GMT when they are in British Summer Time (BST). For example, 14:00-16:00 (GMT) Greenwich Mean Time : Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London shows the correct time, but it should say BST, not GMT."

You can't blame Outlook for this; it doesn't have its own time zone definitions. It uses the time zone labels Windows has in the registry. Unfortunately, Windows doesn't change the label when using standard or daylight time, only the offset. As long as Outlook places it on the calendar at the correct time in the recipient’s calendar, its working correctly, and if it doesn't, the problem is still with the time zone definitions in Windows because that is where Outlook gets its information.

Windows would need to change the GMT label to BST each spring and fall. Or maybe it would help if Windows added the UTC offset when the UK "springs ahead" so users could more easily identify the time as "summer time", as it is done for the rest of the world.

The good news is that Windows 7 should eventually make this much less confusing since it uses UTC instead of GMT in the label ("14:00-16:00 (UTC) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London"). However, until it's widely adopted confusion will return every summer.

Outlook Quick Tip: Missing Contacts

A reader asks "I imported a contact list. Now when I address email nothing shows up in the To: or CC: list."

I'll skip the "Import is Bad" lecture and get right to the fix for this very common problem.

If you have Contacts in the Contacts folder but they are not accessible when you click on the To button, you need to make sure the Contact folder is enabled as an email address book. Right click the Contacts folder and choose Properties then Outlook Address Book. Is the box to enable as email address book is checked?

If this is grayed out and you use Outlook 2003 (or earlier), you need to go to Tools, Email Accounts and choose View or change existing directories or address book. Is the Outlook Address Book present? If it isn't listed, add it and close and restart Outlook. If it is listed, then remove it and close then restart Outlook and repeat these steps to add it.

If you are using Outlook 2007 and the checkbox is grayed, you'll need to make a new profile as there is a bug which prevents users from adding the Outlook Address Book service to the profile.

Add-ins and Outlook 2010 64-bit

The 64-bit version of Outlook 2010 seems to be very popular among beta testers but they are discovering a problem: most existing add-ins do not work with it.

These add-ins will need to be rewritten or recompiled to run as a 64-bit add-in in order to work with the 64-bit version of Outlook. Anyone who needs a specific add-in working in Outlook will need to install the 32-bit version of Office until the add-ins are updated.