View All Resources

PennO365: choosing your local email client

For the best experience with PennO365, we strongly recommend using Outlook 2016 for Windows or Outlook for Mac (Outlook 2016) as your local email client. Advantages and disadvantages for common email clients on each platform are listed in the tables below.

Windows clients

 

LOCAL EMAIL CLIENT ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Outlook 2016
  • Engineered for Office 365 Service. Integrates well into Microsoft ecosystem (Skype, One Drive etc.) Latest security and features. Very similar experience to Outlook 2013
  • Is the recommended client for Windows systems
  • Requires frequent security updates
Outlook 2013
  • Has the best integration with O365 features
  • Learning curve for users of previous versions
Outlook 2010
  • Integrates well with O365 features
  • Offers fewer features than Outlook 2013
  • Does not integrate with some PennO365 account features (e.g., OneDrive) that are built into Outlook 2013
Outlook 2007 or earlier
  • None
  • Officially not supported by Microsoft or the University
  • Very unreliable
  • Has multiple security issues
Thunderbird
  • Free of charge
  • No built-in calendar functionality
  • Not reliable when syncing with PennO365
  • Less secure than Outlook clients
  • Mail archives are not stored in the more popular .pst format
  • Unable to collaborate with other PennO365 products
  • Less functionality than Outlook; uses the older IMAP protocol
  • Many other institutions have complained of compatibility issues and downtimes when security patches are applied

macOS clients

 

LOCAL EMAIL CLIENT ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
Outlook for Mac (Outlook 2016)
  • Has the best integration with O365 features
  • Is the recommended client for macOS systems

 
  • Learning curve for users of previous versions
Outlook 2011
  • Integrates well with O365 features
  • Offers fewer features than Outlook 2016
  • Does not integrate with Microsoft account features (e.g., OneDrive) that are built into Outlook 2016
  • May need to be manually configured
Apple Mail
  • Included free with macOS
  • Integrates well into the Apple ecosystem
  • Can use ActiveSync
  • Calendaring is handled in a separate application (iCal)
  • Not as compatible as Microsoft clients
  • Unable to collaborate with other PennO365 products
  • Possible down times contingent upon Apple security patches
  • Less functionality than Outlook; uses the older IMAP protocol
  • Much like Thunderbird, many other have complained of compatibility issues and downtimes when security patches are applied
Thunderbird
  • Free of charge
  • No built-in calendar functionality
  • Not reliable when syncing with PennO365
  • Less secure than Outlook clients
  • Mail archives are not stored in the more popular .pst format
  • Unable to collaborate with other PennO365 products
  • Uses the older IMAP protocol
  • Many other institutions have complained of compatibility issues and downtimes when security patches are applied