Microsoft's email clients, Outlook Express and Outlook, may have similar names, but they are very different pieces of software and do not share all of the same functions. Outlook Express is, simply speaking, a cut-down version of Outlook (much like the Microsoft Works word processor is an abbreviation of Microsoft Word), with only a fraction of the functionality. Whilst Express is perfectly adequate for most home users, the additional features of Outlook can be invaluable for the business user.

Outlook Express is basically internet email software and nothing else. You can keep a contact list, but proper contact management (including multiple address book functionality) is only available in Outlook; task lists and calendars are also built into the Outlook package. These features are all integrated with one another, so you can, for example, schedule an event in your calendar and automatically send an email to the attendees.

If you use a palmtop or some other portable device, you will find Outlook's synching abilities extremely useful. Outlook Express doesn't have synching ability because it is calendar and task list data that people usually need to synch to their mobile devices, and Express doesn't offer these features.

Outlook also has features such as the ability to set a time for an email to be sent in the future; complex email signatures; and detailed filtering rules to sort your emails. You can also send emails from Word or Excel if you have Outlook, and you can personalise emails sent to a large number of contacts with mail-merge.

If Outlook looks like an expensive option, you could consider using Mozilla's free Thunderbird email client. Whilst it does not offer all of the more complex functionality of Outlook (most notably the calendar integration), it is definitely an improvement on the basic features of Outlook Express.

By Natalie Catchpole

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