Little Machines has announced Outlook2Mac, an application designed to help Windows users move their Microsoft Outlook e-mail, contacts and calendar appointments to Mac OS X programs. It’s the second such program designed to aid “Switchers,” the first being Detto Technologies’ Move2Mac.
“Apple’s current Switch campaign is getting people to switch from Windows to OS X, but each time a person switches, their first question seems to be, ‘How can I move my Outlook folders to my new Mac?’ said Steven Taylor, Outlook2Mac’s director of Business Development.
To use Outlook2Mac on your Windows PC, pick the Outlook folders you want to export, choose the filtering options you want to use, and click Start. Outlook2Mac does the rest, automatically exporting your Outlook data into portable files you can import directly into your Apple Mail, Address Book, iCal, Microsoft Entourage or other Mac-compatible programs, Taylor said. It’s compatible with standalone PCs or PCs using Microsoft Exchange Server.
Outlook2Mac works with Microsoft Outlook 97, 98, 2000 and 2002 on most versions of Windows. Outlook2Mac includes a wizard menu and a variety of filters that can be used to select which Outlook folders to export — and how to export them. For instance, you can export all e-mail and calendar items or perform incremental exports by telling Outlook2Mac to only export recent items that fall within a date range. E-mail attachments can be stripped from e-mails, saved inside e-mails, or saved as detached, stand-alone files.
Outlook2Mac supports the industry-standard .mbox, vCard, and iCal file formats, which simplifies importing into third-party e-mail, contact, and calendar programs that support these standards. Trial and full-featured versions of Outlook2Mac via download from Little Machines’ Web site. Registration is US$10 for a limited time. The price includes free upgrades and limited technology support by e-mail.