I'm putting Entourage in early retirement; back to Outlook 2007

Originally, I had installed Parallels Desktop followed by Office 2007 Ultimate on the MacBook Pro. That was within the first day of getting my new notebook. Then I realized just how much battery life that running a virtual OS sucked from the battery. Thinking like a mobile warrior, I decided that battery life was too important if there was a workable alternative, so I purchased Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac, mainly for Entourage. I was able to configure Entourage so that it would sync up with my hosted Exchange server and I thought life was good. Unfortunately, I've run into a synchronization issue that has me pulling the plug on Entourage for now and going back to Outlook 2007 within Parallels. Put another way: it doesn't matter how much battery life I save if Entourage isn't going to work as well as Outlook 2007.

The issues first surfaced about two or three months ago. I started to see duplicate e-mails on my T-Mobile Dash and Samsung Q1P, both of which also sync with the Exchange server. It's a cardinal rule of productivity to never touch the same e-mail message more than once (if possible), so this problem was hitting me hard. I routinely had to delete e-mails from my Dash since I had already taken action on them in Entourage. At one point, I completely wiped my data in Entourage to freshly sync with the Exchange server and for a while after that, I thought I was all set.

After a few more weeks, I started to see the issues again: duplicate e-mails on my Dash and Q1P. After kicking around some ideas with James and narrowing the symptoms to the Deleted Items folder, I created a new schedule to empty the Deleted Items folder in Entourage every 15 minutes. That seemed to resolve the issue for the most part, but every now and again, I'm seeing duplicate notes. As a result, I was up from 10 pm last night until 2 am this morning cleaning out my Inbox on a Windows Vista machine, and I'm not done yet.

I've worked with my hosted Exchange provider, but they indicated that it has to be a client issue. Unfortunately, I think I've tapped out every preference and option in Entourage and I know I'm tapped out on patience, so I've decided to stay away from Entourage for a bit. I'm back to Parallels, which I haven't used in months, and just installed Outlook 2007 again. I suspect I'll have less issues. Entourage is a fine application but it's just not working the way I need to for me to be productive.

Along the productivity lines, I'm taking a much closer look at iGTD (shown above), which is a free application for Mac OS X to help you follow the Getting Things Done framework. I'm hoping there's a way I can leverage Outlook 2007 in Parallels with iGTD, so if any of you can offer any cross-platform tips in the comments, I'd certainly appreciate it! Time to weed through more mail....

That reminds me: I receive a good 10 to 15 jkOTR reader e-mails a day on average. Some are tips, for which I thank you! Some are questions on how to do something on a UMPC, if I'm still using my Q1P as much since the 2 GB upgrade (YES!), or the famous 'what device is best for me?" question. I try to get back to everyone, but this mail issue over the past few months has hindered my good intentions. If you didn't hear back, please accept my apologies and don't hesitate to ping me again, even if it's a rehash of your unanswered question. If you wouldn't mind your question becoming a post so that others can share in the conversation, just let me know.

Comments

[ArchiMark]

Just curious, Kevin as to whether you ever contacted MS regarding this issue to get their input?....

Happy 4th!

[Dave Zatz]

I gave up on Entourage too. Parallels heats this thing up and it slows me down to have to launch Windows, but I need Outlook. I'm hoping the next version of Entourage does a better job supporting Exchange.

[Joshua A. Hall]

Have you tried SP2 on the mactopia support site. it improves exchange support.

Here is brief excert; Does your organization use a Microsoft® Exchange Server 2000 or later? Exchange Server support is already built into Entourage 2004 and is greatly enhanced with Office 2004 for Mac Service Pack 2 (SP2). Here are the resources needed to get Entourage users connected, along with the benefits of deployment.

Here is the link http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/entourage2004/entourage2004.aspx?pid=exup2004

Thanks,
Joshua A. Hall

[Bruce]

I am thinking of going the route of hosted exchange server, Entourage, and Outlook 2003 ... what hosted exchange server are you using? That could be a factor as well, it seems to me.

[Joshua A. Hall]

Here is a link to the video overview of what SP2 offers http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/entourage2004/entourage2004.aspx?pid=exup2004video

Thanks,

Joshua A. Hall

[Scotty]

Have you tried Parallels 3.0? I've found it to idle much better than the previous version.

[Joshua A. Hall]

In the the video it address data loss and duplication problems.

You may want to lok into this before giving up on Entourage for the Mac.

Thanks,

Joshua A. Hall

[Joshua A. Hall]

The video additional Enhancements maybe your fix.

Thanks,

Joshua A. Hall

[DaveCazz]

Just use bootcamp, vista ultimate runs really well on a mac book pro. It's way better than OSX

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Thanks to all for the suggestions. While I didn't contact Microsoft support, I did check various public and private Microsoft newsgroups to no avail. I also contacted 4Smartphone.net, my hosted Exchange provider. They explained that hey have applied all service patches for Exchange on the server where my account resides. Matt Miller has the same provider for service and doesn't have the issue, but we are likely on different servers with this host. I don't want to use Boot Camp because the point of my MacBook Pro purchase was to become more well rounded and learn a different OS / environment. It's possible that Parallels 3.0 might not hit the battery as much, but since I had just ordered the prior version, I don't want to spend the money to upgrade just yet. I'm sure I will in the future.

[Scotty]

If you just got it, have you checked to see if you get a free upgrade???

[Kevin C. Tofel]

I bought it in March, so I don't qualify for a free upgrade. It's $49 so I'm going to hold off for a bit.

[James Kendrick]

My hosted Exchange Server is through MailStreet and I am very happy with them.

[bobm]

I'm in the same boat. My company uses OWA and for some reason Entourage doesn't want to talk to it.

So it's Outlook for me till the Entourage team figures out how to make their stuff work with their own servers :-(

For what it's worth the company IT has been no help at all and don't really seem to like Macs.

[Joshua Hall]

Have you tried the SP2 Entourage to see if this fixes your problem?
Thanks,

Joshua A. Hall

[lak]

I use 4smartphone with Entourage and my ppc 6800 with no issues whatsoever. I am going to look into sp2 just for the heck of it, but I hate to update when things are running fine.... and have for more than a year. I need to look into the upgrade to see what exactly it will offer me.

[Kevin C. Tofel]

Josh, the link got me to the page for the download, but clicking the DL link brings up an error page. I'm wondering if SP2 for the client was included in an update Office for Mac. I know I'm running the most up to date version and I've used Microsoft Auto-Updater to check just in case....no dice. Thanks anyway!