Ask Paul: February 14 ? (Premium)

Happy Friday, and Happy Valentine's Day. You guys never let me down with the questions, and that's always appreciated. I will do my best to rise to the occasion.
? Message in a bottleneck
jrzoomer asks:

Paul do you primarily check your email through a web browser, or do you use a desktop application like Microsoft Outlook?

I use a web browser on the desktop (and mobile apps on phones and tablets). And because my primary identity, paul @ thurrott.com, is tied to Google Workspace, that interface is Gmail. Which, honestly, seems to have worked out just fine: It seems like Microsoft's email services constantly forget how to filter spam and experience other issues. But Gmail, which not perfect, has been rock solid for so long, I don't even think about it anymore. It just works.

To be fair, I think I could use any of the modern Outlooks (Outlook.com, Outlook on the web, the new Outlook, etc.) effectively. And I do use Outlook mobile on my smartphones now, in part because it does a better job with text scaling than Gmail (the app) does. That is, I can scale the app independently of the system. I do like that.

Everyone's needs and expectations are different. But a big part of mine is consolidating several accounts into a single interface. So I am forwarding email from my secondary accounts to Gmail, and I have configured Gmail so that it can send email on behalf of those accounts as needed. I works really well, and this is another part of that experience I just don't think about anymore. I set it up like this several years ago, re-tested whether this system worked best for me a few years later, and then stopped worrying about it.

I saw your Hands on Windows 124 on the new Outlook, and I've tried it (and I want to like it!), but I have a Gmail account and I still find it much easier to just go to gmail.com (also I do occasionally use Gemini to summarize email newsletters). Anything I'm missing?

No, I don't think so. You should use whatever makes sense to you. I actually do like the new Outlook and it would certainly meet my needs. But I'm so used to accessing email in its own (pinned) tab in my desktop web browser (and, similarly, calendar) that using a standalone app for that feels cumbersome. But if I were going to use the new Outlook, I would at least configure my Microsoft account in there as well, even though it's "empty"--the email is forwarded to Gmail, I don't use the calendar, and so on--because there would be ads in the app otherwise.

I covered the new Outlook in Hands-On Windows because it is a part of Windows 11 and has replaced the legacy Mail and Calendar (and People) apps in the OS. And I have seen bizarre resistance to this app, and to change and/progress more generally, from the community. (Lacking a better term.) There's nothing wrong with the new Outlook, at least from a user experience perspective, it's modern and powerful.

But yeah. You should use what makes sense to you.
? Trainspotting
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