
So what would happen if I deleted the database? After quitting Outlook 2011 and the Database Daemon process, I deleted the database file and restarted Outlook 2011. The big news in Outlook 2011 is that there is a new way of dealing with Outlook items, and each item is stored as an individual file or files-however, there’s still a database.ĭatabase: Outlook 2011 still uses a database, but Microsoft re-engineered the program so that the database isn’t essential to storing data.Īccording to the Outlook development team, the database is there purely to optimize search and other non-essential routines.


I also have an Exchange Calendar with gobs of public folders (I live by my to-do lists), and I have three separate Directory Service accounts that I use as part of my work.Įntourage’s database was a big file that changed constantly, which made for painful backups. I have over 70 IMAP rules, a handful of SMTP and Exchange rules, and too many Mailing List Manager rules to count.

Back-end servers run the gamut from MobileMe, Kerio, and Communigate Pro to Exchange 2007. I tested Outlook 2011 in the same configuration that I use Entourage on a daily basis: six IMAP accounts total, with three accounts using SSL for both send and receive, two Gmail accounts, and one Exchange 2007 Exchange Web Services (EWS) account. I’ve seen the same behavior in other Cocoa applications-Cocoa just doesn’t do drag and drop as well as Carbon. You don’t have to do the click-and-hold delay when dragging text, and dragging an attachment into a background Entourage mail window is a far simpler experience than doing so with Outlook 2011, where I had to bring the message window to the foreground and then drag the file from a Finder window in the background to the message window. As a result, Outlook 2011 takes a step back when it comes to drag and drop. Some of the user interface (UI) lags in Entourage while checking mail or doing other tasks never appeared or were far less annoying than in Entourage.Ĭocoa magic aside, drag and drop in Carbon applications always works more intuitively. Outlook 2011 launches minutes faster for me on the first launch of the day after a shutdown.

Though I did no benchmark testing, Outlook 2011 feels faster than Entourage. Unlike the rest of the Office 2011 suite, Outlook 2011 supports Mac OS Services (so did Entourage), and you get some of the basic niceties that Cocoa has. Moving forward, the Outlook development team will have an easier time than the other Office development teams with operating system compatibility. Outlook 2011 is a Cocoa application it doesn’t have a legacy of over 20-plus years on the Mac and doesn’t have the kind of code base that the other Office programs have.
