# Alternative to Outlook



## JasperST (Sep 7, 2012)

Try Mozilla's Thunderbird.


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## 47_47 (Sep 11, 2007)

Do you have Outlook or Outlook Express? Outlook Express was discontinued and you may be having compatibility issues. I run Outlook on Windows 7 pro and do not have a problem. Then again I create folders under my inbox and file my emails and don't do a search. My son runs Thunderbird and I don't care for the layout.


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## Guap0_ (Dec 2, 2017)

Are you trying to grep certain text during the search? That's the only reason that I've seen it that would make it drag.


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## ZZZZZ (Oct 1, 2014)

That Guy said:


> I am looking for an alternative to outlook express... My computer is no off the shelf piece of crap... yet outlook is slower than molasses and its pissing me off...
> 
> Searching for anything in outlook, doesnt actually it work. I can search on my 2 year old cell phone and have the results in 3 seconds... in outlook it takes HOURS!
> 
> ...


If you are running Outlook (not Outlook Express), I suspect your pst file is either too large or is corrupt. Things can go haywire when it gets about 750 mb or so.

You may need to run an archive process to remove a lot of old files. That should speed up searches.

Microsoft hides the pst file deep down in the file structure in a hard to find location. Search the Internet for instructions on how to locate your pst, Once you find it, you can run the Inbox Scan tool to correct any corruption. Search for that utility and run it. That may take a long time to run, but it should fix things.
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## stick\shift (Mar 23, 2015)

Z: Do you mean .ost file? I've never seen a .pst go corrupt, only the .ost.


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## Nobr8ks (Sep 30, 2015)

Why not use outlook.com?


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## bfletcher7 (Jan 16, 2016)

I haven't seen Outlook Express on a PC in many years. Outlook, yes, and I use it daily without issue. I'm not a rocket scientist but I would think that if a search does not yield quick results then there is some other issue.


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## That Guy (Aug 19, 2017)

Well I switched over to thunderbird, seems to be able to handle my email accounts much more efficiently (I have 5 email accts....) 1 is largely inactive and I dont use it anymore, but some things are still tied to it... another one is a junk mail email... and the other 3 are related to my business.

Outlook just couldnt handle it ..


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## JasperST (Sep 7, 2012)

That Guy said:


> Well I switched over to thunderbird, .


 It's all I've used for a long time now. I don't even know how to use it all though, lots of features and very customizable.


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## ZZZZZ (Oct 1, 2014)

I'm still using Outlook 2003, with Windows 10. Every once in a while, maybe twice a year, it stumbles and I have to run the scan inbox tool, but that actually does fix the problems.

I do have T'bird set up and ready to go if and when needed.
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## ZZZZZ (Oct 1, 2014)

stick\shift said:


> Z: Do you mean .ost file? I've never seen a .pst go corrupt, only the .ost.


Outlook stores the emails in the pst file for most regular online usage. 

The ost is used when you use Outlook in offline mode (which I never do).

But it all depends on your email accounts and email server setup (pop3 vs. IMAP or other protocols.)

Check this out: 

*Introduction to Outlook Data Files (.pst and .ost)
*
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## stick\shift (Mar 23, 2015)

I only use Outlook in the office and for us the .ost file represents everything on the server while the .pst is stored locally and represents an archive file.

The .ost can get corrupt and the 'fix' is simply to delete it, as it will be re-built upon the next Send/Receive.


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