Windows 8/8.1 is frustrating enough without the problems its default mail client brings to users. If you’ve made the switch to the new version of Windows, you have probably linked it to your Microsoft email account. We’ve shown you how to change your log-in routine from password to pin (here’s the link to that post) . That makes things easier but you’re still faced with using the ‘Mail’ app and that’s the problem. It doesn’t work. Here’s why:

1. The Windows Mail GUI is not user-friendly. Windows arbitrarily sorts your email into folders, taking regular emails from retailers from your inbox and shoving them into a Newsletters folder. The odd thing about this strategy is that some newsletters make it into the Inbox while others don’t. What’s the rationale for that? What obscure algorithm is Microsoft using?

2. Bulk blocking of spam emails does not work. Users are forced to perform individual blocking of spam. The old version of Outlook’s web interface allowed for multiple selection and blocking of spam. In some cases, the blocking does not work at all, even when only one piece of spam is selected.

3. It’s as if the interface was designed for mobile devices instead of desktops and computers. While mobile computing is extremely popular now, many of us still use large screen devices to check our mail. We don’t need large typefaces and split screens. As a matter of fact, having a screen split three ways actually takes up more room than the old web interface that Outlook uses. Here’s what we mean:

4. The email accounts don’t sync when they are opened on one computer then again on a Windows 8 computer. Emails that have been deleted from the web interface still show up in the Windows 8 app. It’s as if the single account is seen as two separate accounts, depending on which computer/device it is opened with.

These are just a few of the faults that we’ve found with Microsoft’s Windows 8 Outlook App. Trust us, it’s not worth using. You’re far better to sign into Outlook using your browser, we recommend Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, and do all of your email tasks using the simple and very efficient interface used there. Ignore the Windows 8 app completely. If email is important to you, take our advice or switch to Gmail.

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