Outlook 2013, Windows 8 and Windows Phone 7.5 WP7.5 Setup

[gwydionjhr]

Here’s hoping you folks can help me out.
I’m a sales rep that works out of my home office and on theroad visiting my customers.
I have a desktop PC running Windows 8 Pro 64bit and Outlook2013 CP 32bit.
I have a laptop running Windows 7 Pro 64bit and Outlook 2013CP 32bit.
I use a Windows Phone 7.5.
I was using Outlook 2007 on both computers, but decided toskip ahead to the Outlook 2013 CP as purchasing the full Office suite didn’tmake much sense if I’m just going to jump on the subscription bandwagon inJanuary.
I have an Outlook.com email set up. It is on both computers as an Exchange ActiveSync account.
I also have 3 personal emails that are setup both onOutlook.com and in Outlook 2013 on the computers as POP3 accounts.
Finally, my work email is setup on both Outlook.com and inOutlook 2013 as an IMAP account.

What I have are 5 Inboxes in Outlook 2013, one for theOutlook.com Exchange ActiveSync account, and then one for each of the others.
What I want is one unified Inbox for my personalemails, and a separate one for the IMAP work email account. I believe this approach is the only way I canget the kind of control I need on my Windows Phone so that I can reply to mycustomers from my work email address.
I had Outlook 2013 set up with only the Exchange ActiveSyncInbox, with all of my accounts being funneled through Outlook.com. The problem with that is that all my replieswent out from my emailaddress@outlook.comwith no option to choose which email I sent it from. So I had to add in my other POP3 & IMAP accounts,which results in 5 separate Inboxes and a nightmare of doing multiple deletesof the same emails to keep things cleaned up. IE Delete the email in the Exchange ActiveSync Inbox, but it doesn't delete it from the POP3 Inbox on either the Desktop or the Laptop.
What do I need to do/change to get this working the way Iwould like?

[Diane Poremsky]

you have a couple of options and I'm not sure which is the best for your situation.

1. Setup each account in Outlook and on the phone as separate accounts (and stop collecting your pop mail using outlook.com). Replies will always be from the correct account. If you need to share calendar and contacts with the phone, use outlook.com as the go-between. You can create a Microsoft account (formerly known as LiveID) using one of your email addresses and use it to with an EAS account to sync calendar and contacts.

2. If you only want to reply to mail using the work account, create the liveid for the work address - pop the accounts into this mailbox instead of the outlook.com address. This is basically what you are doing now, but the main address will be your work address.

3. Same configuration as now but only the outlook.com accounts gets mail - only the SMYP accounts in outlook are used for sending mail. Use this macro: Reply using the address a message was sent to - Slipstick Systems for sending messages from the address the message was sent to (it's not perfect - it won't work well when a message is sent to multiple people- you'll need to select the sending account in those cases.)

[gwydionjhr]

Thanks for you quick response Diane. I should mention there is something weird onthese forums that won’t let me hit “enter” when I’m using IE10. Very weird, I’ve never had that happen in anyother forum. I actually composed my lastpost, and this one in Word and then did a copy/paste.

So I’ve got Outlook 2013 pretty much set up movingforward. One EAS Inbox for the POP3accounts being collected and managed through Outlook.com. And another IMAP Inbox for the work email. Which brings up my first question.
On my old Outlook 2007 my IMAP work account also synchronizedmy Sent items between the desktop and laptop. This is no longer the case with “(This computer only)” next to all ofthe folders except of course the Inbox and Outboxes.
· Is there a way to Synchronize the Sent foldersbetween the two computers?

My second question is with regards to my old .pst emailfolders. Is there a way to import thosefolders and contents into my EAS Inbox? I managed to import the folder structure, but no contents. If I simply add the folders outside of theEAS inbox they’re not synchronized across the two computers.
· Can the .pst file be converted to .ost and thenbrought in?

[Diane Poremsky]

The enter problem is not with IE10, it's the editor control the board uses. Go to http://www.outlookforums.com/profile.php?do=editoptions - at the bottom are editor options. Are you set to basic editor? I know Enter is goofy with it enabled. The Standard editor works (I use it) - not sure about enhanced. I'll check the defaults for new registrations and make sure its no standard.


Outlook 2013 picks up the sent folder from the server - using XLIST. If your server doesn't support XLIST it defaults to the local data file. See Tip 1044: File Send menus and Sent Items folders - Outlook Tips for your options. I have no tested the macro with Outlook 2013 IMAP accounts because mine all support XLIST.

EAS does not support import. If you have outlook 2010 or 2007 to use, you can install the outlook connector and move the messages from the pst to the outlook.com account that way. Another option is using an account that support imap and pop3 (like gmail) and uploading them using imap, then set up outlook.com to pop the account.

[Diane Poremsky]

on the editing - is the A/A button in the upper left of the editor highlighted in blue? When its blue, Enter works, when its not blue, enter does not work.

[gwydionjhr]

Well, it's taken a bit of work, but I've managed to get both computers using Outlook 2013 to have completely synchronized and matching Inboxes through the EAS at Outlook.com. (I get to go through and do the same round of mass deletions that I had done earlier, so... YEAH?)

Two New Issues.

I have a big issue in that my Contact Groups I used for sending to my customers and my Hockey Teams are no longer working. I understand Groups are not supported by EAS, but I did stumble across a "Team Email" in the Quick Steps box under the HOME tab. Could that be a workable substitute for the Groups? I don't really need this list to sync between devices, just so long as any changes I make to a Contact using EAS is reflected in the Team list.

I've only got the EAS account through Outlook.com and my work IMAP account set up in 2013. What I don't understand is why the auto-complete of email addresses isn't working when I type in someone's first name. Only 2 of 17 auto-completes worked when I typed in the first name. My Address book default is "Contacts - name@outlook.com" but there is nothing listed in the search box below that.

This is driving me around the bend.

[Diane Poremsky]

Contact groups: Quick steps should work fine - not sure how well it will handle a long list of names. Another option is using categories instead - group by category then hit the email button. Tip 10: Dynamic Distribution Lists - Outlook Tips

The list is created after you send someone an email message. It searches by word, not partial word, so it may not find everything - i have some examples at Type-ahead and Autocomplete cache (NK2) - Outlook Tips

On the empty address book, if i understand correctly, is Name or More columns selected? Screenshot: Tip 810: Outlook's Address Book Search - Outlook Tips - if that is not what you mean, i need more information on the problem.

[gwydionjhr]

Diane,

Thanks so much for helping me with this.

OK, so I like the idea of a Dynamic Distro List. However, the Tip you linked to is for Outlook '10, and that doesn't seem to apply in any way I can get to function in 2013.

Suggestions?

[Diane Poremsky]

It's actually for like Outlook 2003. <g> But it works in all versions. Outlook 2013 steps are identical to the screenshot - use a list view, group by category, select the category and hit the Email button on the ribbon.

[gwydionjhr]

I've tried two ways. Clicking the Category Bar and then clicking the New Email icon in the Quick Access toolbar; a new email opens up, but there are no recipients listed. I've also tried highlighting all the contacts listed in the category and then clicking the New Email icon. No joy with either option.