Yes, it looks like Outlook is not geared up for IMAP at all. No folder option (as above), no ability to change the default data file, no forwarding rules working,.....
I'm amazed that this new version of Outlook is way behind the Apple offerings, and more importantly, Microsoft's own outlook 2011 for Mac!
Why can't they update their native Windows version? It is, after all, their bread and butter.
Just thinking about this, can anyone confirm that these issues I'm having are down the the accounts being IMAP?
Who knows if anyone is actually going to read this after all this time, but here goes.
The mix of IMAP and POP is the issue. The way Outlook uses IMAP as separate entities does not allow for the concept of a unified inbox. You could set up rules to move new messages from an IMAP account to your local folders, but that's about it.
The OP is correct. I believe the Windows Outlook 2010 development team simply failed to provide the important "All Inboxes" feature. As stated, it's available in other email clients these days including the free or built-in iOS Mail and Windows Live Mail (both of which I end up using more than Outlook 2010 partly for this reason).
Solutions that move email from multiple accounts into a single folder/data store just create a mess IMO. Some may prefer it. But what I and (I think) others want is a View (using the SQL database term which is probably what this feature is based on anyway). A View presents multiple data sources in a single result set without modifying the underlying sources. A View is cached in memory upon each use and otherwise doesn't physically exist.
Anything you do to an email (open, reply, flag, delete...) is passed to the source account for handling, so it doesn't matter whether that account is POP, IMAP, MAPI or whatever as long as you have the credentials stored for each. You can navigate to any source Inbox and see the exact same status for an email because that's where the View is getting it's data anyway.
I don't have the Mac version of Outlook, but it sounds like that team has figured out the All Inboxes feature. If this scenario is correct, I wish they would provide some help to the Windows Outlook team. Help them out with color schemes and user created templates while your at it.
To end on a positive note, I will say the MS Outlook 2010 team hit a home run when it comes to searching and sorting emails!
Ok, I'm writing this because I spent a lot of time trying to figure out a way to do a unified inbox for Outlook 2010. I will give out a simple 3 step workaround and then one that is a little more elaborate.
First let's agree that Unified Inbox is no more than a particular "VIEW" of your Inbox mails on different account. So this is the same as querying your inboxes. So we can resolve this by doing a simple global query:
Workaround Solution:
1) Press Ctr+Alt+A
2) Type the following in the search box: folder: (Inbox) received: (this week)
3) Hit enter and you should see your Unified inbox for all mails received this week.
A more elaborate solution to automate this is to do a Macro. Won't go into how to do this, but this is the code you need:
1) This is the code for a UNIFIED INBOX:
Sub UnifiedInbox()
Dim myOlApp As New Outlook.Application
txtSearch = "folder:Inbox received: (this week)"
myOlApp.ActiveExplorer.Search txtSearch, olSearchScopeAllFolders
Set myOlApp = Nothing
End Sub
2) This is the code for a UNIFIED SENT BOX:
Sub UnifiedSentbox()
Dim myOlApp As New Outlook.Application
txtSearch = "folder: (Sent Mail) sent: (this week)"
myOlApp.ActiveExplorer.Search txtSearch, olSearchScopeAllFolders
Set myOlApp = Nothing
End Sub
3) Add Buttons to Your Bar:
Finally add custom buttons to your Ribbon to call the respective Macros so you can quickly toggle the Unified Inbox when needed.
By now you should get the idea, so tweak per your own needs!
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