MS Outlook Hub – Underlying Features

Explore More About What is Windows Outlook, Mac Outlook and Outlook for Web

Find the Complete Basics of Windows Outlook

Outlook is a Personal Information Manager (PIM) application from Microsoft available both as part of MS Office suite or as separate application. Outlook found its identity as Offline Mail Accessing Program and becomes popular as a mail client application. Outlook serves a user with calendar, tasks-manager, journals, to-do lists and web browsing capabilities aside mail synchronization (Send/Receive).
The data file used to store the complete items of a Microsoft account are known as Outlook Data files. There are two types files, Outlook has i.e.PST (Personal Storage Folder files) & OST (Offline Storage Data files) and these are saved as .pst and .ost.
When the MS Outlook account is configured with IMAP, POP3 and web-based mail accounts then PST file is created.
On the other hand, OST files are used when the user has an Exchange account and wants to work offline or use the default Cached Exchange Mode. This Outlook data file (.ost) is also used for accounts that are set up with the Outlook Connector for Outlook.com. OST files are the copy of items saved on the mail server, so it is not needed to backup these files like Outlook Data Files (.pst).
Location of Outlook Data files:
for emails, contacts, tasks, calenders , notes (.pst files):
  • drive:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook
  • drive:\Users\username\My Documents\Outlook Files
  • drive:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
for offline and cached data items (.ost files)
  • drive:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Outlook
  • drive:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook
Basically three types of protocols used in Microsoft Outlook are there:
  • Post Office Protocol version 3 - POP3 is a standard mail protocol used to receive emails from a remote server to a local client. POP3 allows you to download email messages on your local computer and read them even when the user is offline.
  • Simple Mail Transfer Protocol - SMTP is the standard protocol for sending emails across the Internet.
  • The Internet Message Access Protocol - IMAP is a mail protocol used for accessing email on a remote web server from a local client.
IMAP and POP3 are the two most commonly used Internet mail protocols for retrieving emails.
Post Office Protocol version 3 (POP3):
It works on two ports:
  • Port 110- a default POP3 non-encrypted port.
  • Port 995- this is the port to connect using POP3 securely.
The Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP):
By default, this protocol works on two ports:
  • Port 143- a default IMAP non-encrypted port.
  • Port 993- to connect using IMAP securely.
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP):
By default, the SMTP protocol works on following three ports:
  • Port 25- a SMTP non-encrypted port by deafult.
  • Port 2525- opened on all SiteGround servers and in case port 25 is filtered then to send non-encrypted emails with SMTP.
  • Port 465- to send messages using SMTP securely.
There are many applications which provides safe mode option to enable people to execute the programs with limited functions. Running a program such as Outlook in the safe mode helps you to resolve problems quickly. There are various errors like sending-recieving problem, file corruption that could be resolved.
Journal keeps a track of any interaction that the user wants to remember. Journal automatically record the actions that we choose which relate to specific contacts and puts them in action in a Timeline view. Journals keeps track of all the Microsoft Outlook items, such as mail messages or meetings. It can also track other MS Office files, such as Word documents or Excel workbooks etc.
Auto Archive option helps to manage the space in your mailbox or on the e-mail server which you are using by automatically moving the items to an archive location in order to manage the space.
Outlook Autodiscover service is to establish the initial connections to the Exchange user mailboxes. If the connection get established then it also helps Outlook to access Exchange Server features.
Microsoft Outlook with Business Contact Manager only comes with Outlook 2013 edition. It is a great customer relationship management tool for the business owners because they can use it to improve the effectiveness of their customer service, sales, and marketing efforts.
Outlook Blacklist is the list of SPAM emails recieved by the account holder which is not important and just occupies the memory of the Outlook account.
Microsoft Outlook Anywhere is a service provided by the Client Access server role. This application allows the Outlook users to make a secure connection over SSL/HTTPS to the mailbox from the remote locations. Basically, it is a feature that allows the Outlook clients to access the corporate emails as well as calendars over the Internet from outside the corporate domain without loging into a virtual private network (VPN).
Outlook box, also referred as Outlook Mailbox, the application is used for sending and recieving the emails. To change the settings of the Box for Outlook, follow the steps:
  1. Create a new email.
  2. Select the gear icon labeled Settings. It is next to the icon "Attach from Box".
    This allows you to sign out of your Box account as well as determine how often your attachments are saved straight to Box.
The Outlook Cached Mode is basically a copy of the mailbox saved on the system of the user. This mailbox copy provides a quick access to the data, and is frequently updated with the server that runs Microsoft Exchange.
The Outlook Calender is a feature that provides the Outlook user to keep the complete records of the meetings and remainders. It helps to manage the schedule for the particular user.
The Outlook Connector is used to access and manage a Microsoft Office Live Mail account or a Windows Live Hotmail account.

Search the Key Information About Outlook 365

Outlook 365 is an email client of the Microsoft Office 365 suite. It is same as MS Outlook that is installed on our local system.
Outlook is an desktop-based email application and when we use Outlook in Office 365 account it is known as Outlook 365.

Know the Vital Details About Outlook for Mac

In Mac, Outlook file are stored in:
~/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2011 Identities/Main Identity.
Under that directory, the e-mails are stored in Data Records/Messages. There are no PST and OST files used in Outlook for Mac.
Instead of a PST or OST, Outlook for Mac client stores its data in OLK file format, i.e. OLM file. This file is not created by default but has to be generated using the means of export featured by the client.
OLM file can be termed as a Mac Outlook backup file. This is the data file generated by Outlook 2011 for Mac OS X. Since, we get the extension .olm after exporting the data from MAC Outlook. Locally you will get OLK file arranged separately for every identity like message, contacts, etc. This data file is also a proprietary of Outlook 2011 for Mac and can only be access/read by the respective application.
The Outlook 2011 for Mac client was released as part of the MS Office Suite 2011 version, which was introduced exclusively for Mac OS. The client uses the backend OLK14 MESSAGE file for when a message is read on the client end by the user. The OLK file format only stores the corresponding message header data (only).
OLM file is the backup file of Mac Outlook and it is generated by Outlook 2011 for Mac OS X.
Mac Outlook 2011 uses the backend file OLK14 MESSAGE when the user reads a message is read on the client end. This OLK file format stores the header data of the corresponding message only.

Know What is Outlook and the Realted Necessary Details