Using TBird to save functionality in Outlook

richardmitnick · 5th June 2008

Many people have incorrectly compared TBird to Outlook which is part of Office. TBird is a light weight application and should be compared to Outlook Express which is part of Windows.

BUT, BUT, BUT-

Outlook 2007 deteriorated on two Vista computers, and the same way on each. It opened ever more slowly.

First I got messages that a data file had not closed properly and that Outlook was examining the file. I never found out what file has not closed properly, but at the Outlook Community in the Microsoft Community forums, I was told it was my .pst file and that I should install and run scanpst.exe. I did this and it turned up nothing.

Next I got messages that a Reminder could not be read. I do not have any reminders.

The real problem seems to be that I have tons of email saved on both machines. Even though it is compacted and archived after three months, there is just too much. I do not understand this. Be that as it may.

What to do?

Previous experience with TBird let me know that it could handle email as well as or better than Outlook. What TBird lacks for me is a very nimble phonebook process. This is something at which Outlook is the best and no other program comes even close. TBird has that three tab contact page, and that totally clutzy .csv phone book import if the regular import does not work.

I have several massive phone books for work in Outlook. Basically, they are databases. And, I need to be able to print them out into books I can carry, 5-1/2" x 8" and 2-3/4" by 4", double sided. Outlook does this very well, and what prints for me for each contact is similar to a business card. That seems to be impossible in TBird. I mean, I can organize each book into more than just one view and print it out.

So, in order to be able to continue to use the Contact databases in Outlook, I installed TBird and imported all of my old mail files and my phone books. Tbird performed like a seal. Then I deleted all of the mail files from Outlook. Now, Outlook is performing properly, my database function is safe and I am getting really good performance out of TBird for the actual mail.

Of course, I turned off Send/Receive in Outlook and made TBird my default email program.

BTW, if you are a cruncher for WCG, and if you have selected a widget logo, Tbird will save it as part of your signature for your outgoing email. Not a cruncher? Interested? Just ask me, I will turn you on to the best thing you could ever do with your computer(s).

>>RSM

**Westside** · 5th June 2008

Richard,
I have seen this post elsewhere. I will not bother replying extensively, but I will enter the link to
must have add-ons for TB . This tells me that TB is not a static unit. It is the beginning of a lot more, and it might approach Office in surprisingly similar ways.
Of course, problems will arise if one expects identical results (by the way, I have been using Seamonkey1.1.9 almost all day, and its performance has been as good as TB. More than one TB add-on would not be compatible with SM.

richardmitnick · 5th June 2008

Yes, my friend, it took me quite a while to arrive at this balance, and quite a while to write it up, so I posted it in more than one place with which you would be familiar.

I might say to you, I was very distressed at these events with Outlook. I have been using Outlook since it came out in 1997, much to my advantage at work. I was able to build contact databases with search words that allowed me to develop a list of suppliers in a program which I could then use to send out inquiries for material to everybody, Bcc, all in one shot.

One Contact list has over 3000 contacts, they are the distribtors, the search words are either manufacturers, or material types, etc., anything that would then call up the distributors to whom I would send the inquiries for products and services.

I have read your comments on the Windows Communities, I quite concur. I got no help which did me any good. I actually went as far on one computer as completely uninstalling Office 2007, editing the registry to remove any trace of Office 2007 (Office 12) and Office XP (Office 10) and then re-installing Office XP.

I hope that you are having good weather.

>>RSM

**Westside** · 6th June 2008

Heavy thunderstorms, and tornadoes and flooding all around us. The grass grows faster than I can mow it, and it is wet. Not bad overall.
You, really, have been having a great time with Office!
In my working days, I was using Lotus Notes, but never had any more than 100 contacts. Maybe that's why I feel that TB is more than adequate.

richardmitnick · 6th June 2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by Westside

Heavy thunderstorms, and tornadoes and flooding all around us... Not bad overall.

I like that. It has symmetry.

>>RSM