Named one of the best of Mac by Apple itself in 2016, Spark is still one of the most popular, user-friendly, and best overall email clients for Mac. With a focus on keeping you inbox free of chaos, Spark lets you organize everything into easy to find (and hide) categories and subsections. Outlook puts you in control of your privacy. We help you take charge with easy-to-use tools and clear choices. We’re transparent about data collection and use so you can make informed decisions. We don’t use your email, calendar, or other personal content to target ads to you. When we collect.
Apple and Microsoft go toe-to-toe on several fronts like Word processing apps. However, Apple aims to offer a solid email experience with the Mail app on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, but it still leaves a lot to be desired. That's why you can't help but look at a viable alternative from Microsoft's camp - Outlook for Mac.
Recently, Microsoft revealed the brand-new look for Outlook for Mac, which is available through the Fast Insider group. That coupled with a bunch of other software integration in the Outlook for Mac app makes it a viable rival to the Apple Mail app.
In this post, we shall compare Outlook Mail for Mac to the default Apple Mail app. The comparison will be based on UI, Email Organization, Compose Mail, features, and apps integration. Let’s get started.
Cross-Platform Availability
I know cross-platform availability doesn’t matter much in an Email app. But I’m mentioning here so that you can expect a seamless experience on every platform. Apple Mail is only available on iOS, macOS, and iPadOS.
On the other hand, Microsoft Outlook is accessible on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and Web.
Download Microsoft Outlook for Mac
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User Interface and Customization
Microsoft's plans to redesign the interface of Outlook for Mac is much needed to keep it in line with other platforms. There's a catch when it comes to trying out the new Outlook for Mac. You'll have to install it along with other Office apps through an ISO installer.
When you open Outlook for Mac, you'll notice the Compose (New Message) button and Search bar at the top. On the left sidebar, you'll find your email accounts and other folders. It is impressive how Microsoft uses a column layout style and adds the calendar integration to the extreme right. You won’t have a hard time navigating the new look.
You can change the default fonts for new mail, reply mail from the Outlook settings.
Apple Mail looks quite vanilla compared to the Outlook. The default interface shows the Email as well as folders on the left sidebar, messages list in the center, and mail view on the right. Interestingly, Apple Mail offers several customization options.
Go to Mail > Preferences > Fonts & Colors. From there, you can change the message list font, message font, and even fixed-width font. Apple Mail also allows you to change the list view preview from the default 2 lines to 3 lines or more.
Compose Mail
Apple Mail offers a bunch of editing options when you compose a mail. While writing a mail, you can change the font type, size, color, play with bold, italic options, and even add a bullet or number list.
I like how the Mail app lets you add the picture or scanned documents directly from the connected iPhone.
Outlook’s compose menu toolbar is richer than Apple Mail. It lets you highlight the words. You can even add tables and signature. Guess what? Outlook for Mac also supports templates. Yes, you can create ready-to-use templates with images and text. You can save them for later use. While composing an email, just tap on the three-dot menu above and select view templates and add a relevant one in the mail.
Such templates can be when you are composing emails related to specific subjects like marketing surveys, inquiries, and so on. Just create a master template with necessary text for each type or topic of emails you use often.
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Additional Features
If you like flagging emails, the Apple Mail offers a couple of options for neater organization. For instance, you can assign an orange flag for Bank mails and green flag to all finance mails. Most mail apps only support the normal flag (Red color) option.
From the flagged mail section, you can quickly jump to the exact mail that you are looking for. Apple Mail also supports Rules. You can select Mail > Preferences > Rules and create personalized email rules for you. I have created a rule to archive all the emails that come with Coronavirus in the subject.
We can only hope that Apple integrates services such as Reminders, Calendar, and Notes in the Mail app. It would be easy to set reminders for an email or create an event for the Mail app meeting.
Outlook for Mac app also supports to Rules options. I would highly recommend you to set some of the effective rules to organize emails like a pro. The app comes with Calendar, Sticky Notes, and Microsoft To-Do integration.
It works like a charm. If you are using Outlook as your mail provider and if you flag an email in it, the mail automatically gets saved into the Flagged mail section in the Microsoft To-Do app.
Email Export and Third-Party Integration
Apple allows you to export any mail as a PDF file menu. Open any mail and go to File > Export as PDF, and it will create a PDF file from the selected mail. Unfortunately, the app doesn’t offer any third-party app integration.
Microsoft offers a dedicated third-party app store. You can tap on the three-dot menu and go to Get add-ins from a dedicated store in Outlook.
For example, I use OneNote and Trello extensions in Outlook to directly send the selected mail to the OneNote or Trello.
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Use Mail Like a Pro on Mac
The comparison above gives you a clear view of the Apple Mail and Outlook’s strength and weaknesses. Apple Mail wins with the simple UI, mail organization, and iPhone integration. However, several folks complain that it is sluggish and buggy. Also, it doesn't translate to a pleasant performance on iOS either. Outlook for Mac brings a breath of fresh air with Microsoft apps integration, richer compose menu, and third-party add-ins. Hopefully, the Outlook for iOS also gets a facelift soon. As of now, I’m sticking with Microsoft’s offering. What about you? Sound off in the comments section below.
Next up:Recently got a new Mac? Read the post below find the best Mac apps to stay organized.
The above article may contain affiliate links which help support Guiding Tech. However, it does not affect our editorial integrity. The content remains unbiased and authentic.
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Did You Know
Email existed even before the world wide web.
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Love it or hate it, unless you choose to live a quiet, unconnected life, we all have to deal with email. For most of us, managing email, especially with multiple accounts from various providers, can be a real pain. Fortunately there is a handful of apps that are making great strides towards easing that pain. Take a look below at some of the mail apps for Mac to help you keep your inbox under control.
If we missed any of your favorites, please let us know in the comments so we can give them a try!
Editor’s Note: this list is a constantly evolving as new apps are released or as old apps are updated. Today, we’re looking at a handful of apps that work well with Apple’s new macOS High Sierra.
Price: Free
Named one of the best of Mac by Apple itself in 2016, Spark is still one of the most popular, user-friendly, and best overall email clients for Mac. With a focus on keeping you inbox free of chaos, Spark lets you organize everything into easy to find (and hide) categories and subsections. You can schedule emails, set selective alerts, and search through your mailboxes easily. Convenience and a sleek look are the name of the game with Spark.
Price: $9.99
AirMail 3, whose iOS counterpart made our list of 5 Best Mail Apps for iPhone/iPad, is a long-running contender in the email management landscape. Though it has been around for a while, the app developers have done an excellent job of keeping it fresh, clean and powerful. The iOS and Mac versions of AirMail provide a uniform experience with its folders and labeling system and overall design of the app. Many of the features you would come to expect from an email client are included, but there are also some that are unique. An example would be the minimal view which is perfect for users like me who are in their email all day. With the minimal view, your inbox is displayed as a one-column timeline like you would see in something like the Mac Twitter app. Some users are frustrated with the complications they have when trying to move emails into different folders (the drag and drop apparently isn't as easy as proposed). However, it seems that for users who need some help, AirMail's superior customer support is available via web chat. Way to go, Mark and Sarah!
Price: Free
Polymail is easy to use and has a beautiful interface, making it one of the best mail apps for Mac. It offers numerous features to make your life easier, like snoozing emails to read them later, scheduling emails to automatically be sent later. You also get unlimited per-recipient email tracking, to keep you in the know about when and by whom your messages are read. Works with Mac and iOS, and the fact that it's free doesn't hurt.
Free Email App For Mac
Price: Free
Hey, who says the stock mail app can't make the list? Especially since it was specifically designed to take advantage of macOS High Sierra, Apple Mail is one of the best mail apps for Mac users. If you've been a Mac user for any amount of time, you're likely familiar with the core functionality, but there are some new features to take note of. Tabs are now used more widely throughout macOS Sierra, and Mail is no exception. With the addition of tabs, you can have all of your inboxes from different accounts open at once and just flip back and forth — pretty convenient. I should say, though, that many users, myself included, aren't thrilled with how convoluted the process is to get additional tabs. There is no simple + to be found. Hopefully Apple will address this in an update. Besides tabs, you'll also find full support for Siri, so you can compose new messages, read emails, set reminders, find specific emails and more via voice command. If Apple Mail becomes your preferred app, this is incredibly handy.
Price: $5.99
For day-to-day email, Inbox by Gmail has become my go-to. Ever since its release in 2014, I have favored the quick management of email messages to Inbox's bigger brother Gmail. Boxy is a standalone email client for Inbox that brings the service outside of your browser and adds a bit more customization and features, making it one of the best mail apps for Mac. Once you're inside the app, you'll immediately notice the familiar design that looks almost exactly like Inbox. However, if you want to switch things up, you have multiple themes to choose from as well as the option for different font sizes. As you'd expect, you will find all of the features of Inbox by Gmail that you've grown to love such as the inbox bundles, the ability to snooze emails, pin messages and more. The app isn't perfect though. Many users find the file attachment process slightly frustrating. With the omission of a browse-for-file option, you're required to attach your files by dragging and dropping. Sometimes, if your desktop or Finder windows are covered, that requires some fishing and cuts down on your efficiency.
Price: $19.99
Canary is a simple and easy-to-use email app that promises efficiency and security. Every email you send will have end-to-end encryption, so you never have to worry about privacy or security. That will always happen automatically, so you never need to double check that you've enabled encryption. With natural language search, smart filters, algorithmic bulk cleaner, and intelligent typography enhancements, Canary focuses on keeping things organized and easy to find. At $19.99, it's definitely worth it, and it easily earns a spot on this list.
Price: Free
Inky is the only Mac email app on this that isn't available from the App store, but it is still worthy of its place here. It seems like every other day, there is a major news headline that deals with someone's account being hacked or a security breach at large corporations. If this has motivated you to seek out more online security, Inky is definitely something you should check out. Every email sent through the Inky client is encrypted end-to-end, so the contents of your email cannot be read by anyone else besides the intended recipient. Additionally, you can send digitally-signed emails with Inky, so the person on the other end can be sure the email came from you. Outside of the security features, Inky comes with other features that help manage your email. You'll find built-in mailboxes similar to what Inbox offers to automatically group incoming messages, and you can also tag new emails for later sorting.
Price: $49.99/year
Newton Mail, like AirMail, found itself on our list of the 5 Best Mail Apps for iPhone/iPad and also reigns supreme as one of the best mail apps for Mac. Just like what you'll find in the iOS counterpart, Newton Mail for Mac comes with a handful of what it calls superchargers to help you master your inbox. Some of the more notable superchargers include read receipts, handoff functionality so you can start an email on iPhone, then finish on your Mac, and the ability to connect your inbox to major productivity services like Evernote, OneNote, Pocket, Trello, and more. Newton Mail has a beautiful interface that honestly makes email a tiny bit more enjoyable. But I have to break it to you: if you want to commit to using Newton Mail as your daily driver, prepare yourself for the $49.99 per year subscription fee. This is among the most expensive email clients, so soak up that free 14-day trial!
Bonus picks
Price: Free
Free Email Extractor For Mac
What Boxy is to Inbox, Kiwi is to Gmail. Kiwi is an email client for Gmail that allows you to use the email service as a native app. With Kiwi, you'll find a familiar, nearly identical experience to what you get with Google's flagship email service, but you'll get a few additional features that you might find handy. Probably the most convenient feature is the global shortcuts that allow you to start a new email from anywhere at anytime. If you're like me, and have windows open on top of other windows at all time, a quick keyboard shortcut can save a lot of time. Another feature that lends itself to convenience and productivity, is the dropdown manager from the macOS menu bar. Clicking on the Kiwi icon in the menu bar, drops down a list of all of your inboxes so you can jump directly to the messages you need, or compose a new message from the appropriate inbox. And it's currently free.
Price: $129.99
Microsoft Outlook finds itself a spot in our bonus picks because it really is more than just an email client. Outlook still holds a place near and dear to the hearts of businesses large and small because it offers a complete suite of productivity tools in one place. Whether you love or hate the experience, it's hard to deny the handiness of having full access to your calendar, tasks and notes all within the same app. The Microsoft Outlook app was recently updated to bring a more friendly, modern design. This update was welcome, to say the least, but it didn't quite solve the issue of the app being quite overwhelming with the number of icons, menus and tabs you will find scattered throughout. If you're an average user who is looking for a way to better manage your own inbox, the $129.99 price tag is hard to justify, but for businesses, this tool, or suite of tools, really, is something to consider. And check out your other options with the full office suite.
We all have to deal with email in some way or another. The question is, what app is going to make your experience a little bit easier/more productive? Will you prioritize encryption and opt for Canary, or go with a simplistic, modern experience like AirMail? Or will you stick with something more tried and true, but maybe a little less pretty like Microsoft Outlook?
Mac Email Software
What would you say are the mail apps for Mac? Let us know in the comments below!
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