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Choosing an Email Program at MIT
Overview
There are many options for accessing your email at MIT. The sections below will help you choose an email program (or programs) that will meet your needs and work with your computing environment.
Note that MIT has two email systems, IMAP and Exchange. Both give you an @mit.edu email address, but not all email programs support both systems. Be sure to select a program that will work with your email system.
If you aren't sure if you are an Exchange or IMAP email user, see: How do I tell if my email is on the Exchange email server or the IMAP email server?
Email Recommendations Chart
Below is a list of typical email usage scenarios and suggestions for email applications to use:
Your System |
Recommendation |
Windows with IMAP |
Desktop: Outlook | Outlook
Express |
Macintosh with IMAP |
Desktop: Apple Mail |
Athena/Linux/Unix with IMAP |
|
Windows with Exchange |
Desktop: Outlook 2007 |
Macintosh with Exchange |
Desktop: Apple Mail
Pending Apple's release and IS&T support of OS X 10.6 |
Athena/Unix/Linux with Exchange |
Desktop: Evolution |
Feature Comparison Chart
The chart below lists the email programs you can use at MIT along with the features supported by each.
| Mac/Windows Applications |
Athena/Linux Applications |
Web |
||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Apple Mail (Mac) |
|
Outlook (Win) |
Outlook Express (Win) |
Evolution |
Pine |
Webmail |
OWA (Premium) |
OWA (Light) |
|||||||||
| Signature |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
||||||||||
| Multiple signatures |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no |
||||||||||
| Message filtering/rules |
yes |
yes |
no |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no |
||||||||||
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no |
|||||||||||
| Address book |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
||||||||||
| Organize messages in mailboxes on local computer |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no |
no |
no |
||||||||||
| Organize messages in mailboxes on post office server |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
||||||||||
Create and use email message templates |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no |
yes |
no |
no |
no |
||||||||||
| Preview messages in mailbox listing window |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no |
yes |
yes |
yes |
||||||||||
Mailbox list sorting capabilities |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
||||||||||
| Find/search messages |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
||||||||||
Include active URL's in messages |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
||||||||||
| Include attachments with messages |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
||||||||||
Ability to archive/save messages to local computer |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no |
no |
||||||||||
| Supports styled text in messages |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no |
||||||||||
Ability to customize interface |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no |
yes |
no |
yes |
no |
||||||||||
Stationery |
no |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
yes |
no |
no |
||||||||||
- For more information on the differences between IMAP and Exchange, see: IMAP and Exchange Comparison.
- For more information on the differences between Outlook Web Access (OWA) Light and Premium, see: What features in OWA Premium are not available with OWA Light?.
