Outlook Client, Web, and Mobile Differences

There are two main ways that people use their Office 365 email. These ways are Outlook and Outlook Web App. How do you know which one to use? Here are some of the general differences between the two ways:

To compare specific features between Outlook Desktop, Outlook Web App , and Outlook for Mobile, you can look below, where the features are grouped together to make them easier to locate.

General

Access to Data

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Access from almost any web browser	NA	Yes	Yes*
Low band-width sync	Yes	No	Yes
Access multiple Exchange email accounts	Yes	Yes*	No
Use favorites folder	Yes	Yes	No

 *If you have full access to another mailbox in the shared address book, such as a resource mailbox, you can open it. To access other accounts, you must sign in with the other account credentials. You can also add another person's mailbox to your folder list.

Manage Mobile Devices

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
View and delete devices connected to mailbox	No	Yes	No
Initiate remote wipe of phone	No	Yes	No
Send calendar rule notification to device	Yes	No	No

Search

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Built-in search folders	Yes	No	No
Can search calendar	Yes	No	No
Scope a search	Yes	Yes*	Yes*
Tab for setting search context	Yes	No	No
Search as you type	Yes	No	No
Highlight search terms	Yes	Yes**	Yes
Customize search results	Yes	No	No
Advanced searches	Yes	Yes***	Yes***

*Common search scopes are available

**Highlighting includes navigating between search results in a conversation

***Advanced searches require use of query terms such as From:name

Security

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Change user account password	No	Yes	No
Require passcode	No	No	Yes*
Add to safe/blocked senders list	Yes	Yes	No
Block external content	Yes	No	No
Secure Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions	Yes	Yes	No
Anti-phishing and anti-spam technology	Yes	Yes**	Yes**
Certificate management	Yes	No	No
Receive data loss protection policy tips	Yes***	No	No

*For some devices (iPhone, iPad), your organization's administrator may require that you set a passcode

**Server only

***Available with some Office 365 Enterprise plans

Search

Reading and Sending Messages

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Message editing tools	Yes	Partial	Limited
Use inline images	Yes	Yes	No
Paste objects	Yes	No	No
Specify reply to address	Yes	Yes*	Yes*
Set message format	Yes	Yes	No
Play sound when message arrives	Yes	Yes	No
Warn when missing attachment	Yes**	Yes	No
Turn on/off preview of message	Yes	Yes	No
Show and control how reading pane is used	Yes	Yes	No
Check spelling	Yes	Yes***	No
Quick steps	Yes	No	No
Create delivery receipt request and read request	Yes	Yes	No
Control response to read request	Yes	Yes	No
Delivery reports	Yes	Yes	No
Reply with a meeting request	Yes	No	No
Mail Tips	Yes	Yes	No
Delay or schedule message deliver	Yes	No	No
Approve a moderated message	Yes	Yes	No

*By using "From"

**By using a free app

***Spell checking is provided by the browser and is available in Internet Explorer 10, Internet Explorer 11, Google Chrome, and Firefox

Organizing Email

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Ignore a conversation	Yes	Yes	No
Conversation cleanup	Yes	No	No
Message archiving	Yes	Yes	No
Customizable views	Yes	Yes*	No
Create subfolders	Yes	Yes	No
Manage folder permissions	Yes	Yes	No

*Limited customizable views

Other Data

Contacts and Address Book

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Add contact photo	Yes	No	No
Sync contacts with device address list	No	No	Yes
Offline Address Book	Yes	Yes*	Yes
Hierarchical address book	Yes	No	No
Global Address Book sync and update	Yes	No	No
Color categories	Yes	No	No
Mark as private	Yes	No	No
Contact cards/electronic business cards	Yes	No	No
Manage rights on contacts	Yes	No	No
Share contacts	Yes	No	No
Import contacts	Yes	No	No
Export contacts	Yes	No	No
Outlook quick contacts	Yes	No	No
Add/edit personal groups	Yes	Yes	No
Create customized contact views	Yes	No	No
Use Outlook Social Connector	Yes	No	No
Sync contacts with Facebook	No	Yes	No

*Limited

Meetings and Appointments

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Propose new time for meetings	Yes	No	No
Calendar preview in invitations	Yes	No	No*
Paste objects	Yes	Yes	No

*User gets a list of conflict meetings in the invite

Calendar

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Week view	Yes	Yes	iPad only
Tasks by day view	Yes	No	No
Schedule view	Yes	No	No
Preview months in left pane	Yes, 9 months	Yes, 7 months	Yes, 1 months
Print calendar	Yes	Yes*	No
Automatic formatting of calendar items	Yes	No	No
Secondary time zone in calendar view	Yes	No	No
Cached shared calendar	Yes	No	No
Share calendar (external/internal)	Yes	Yes	iPad only
Set sharing level: free/busy details	Yes	Yes	iPad only
Side-by-side free/busy info	Yes	Yes	No
Import/export calendar	Yes	No	No
Zoom slider for calendar	Yes	No	No
Team calendar	Yes	No	No
Specify color for calendar	Yes	Yes	iPad only
Subscribe to calendar	Yes	Yes	iPad only
Calendar snapshot	Yes	No	No
Sync calendar with device	Yes	No	Yes

*Can't print the month view

Tasks

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Edit, view, filter, search, and categorize tasks	Yes	Yes	No
Assign a task to another person	Yes	No	No
Flag mail as task	Yes	Yes	No

Notes

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Create notes and notes folders	Yes	No	No
Move or categorize notes	Yes	Yes	No
Search notes	Yes	No	No

Faxes

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Send faxes	Yes	No	No

Journaling and Voting

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Create journal	Yes	View Only	No
Voting buttons	Yes	No	No

Collaboration Tools

Sharing Data

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Access public or shared folders	Yes	Yes	No
Access site mailboxes	Yes	No*	No
Delegate control	Yes	No**	No
Outlook Social Connector	Yes	No	No

*Available through SharePoint site

**Available through plug-in only

Instant Messaging

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Integrated chat	Yes*	Yes	No
Integrated presence indicators	Yes	Yes	No
Reply with text message	Yes	Yes	No

*Requires use of third party services

Voicemail

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Change voice mail options	Yes	Yes	No

Managing and Customizing

Data Management

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
.pst file support	Yes	No	No
Import data from other data sources	Yes	No	No
Export data	Yes	No	No
Send to Office OneNote	Yes	No	No
Add, share, export, import RSS feed	Yes	No	No

Mailbox Management

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Access to POP3 and IMAP email accounts	Yes	Yes	No
View mailbox quota	Yes	Yes	No
Language settings	Yes	Yes	No
Manage Inbox rules	Yes	Yes	No
Always categorize or move messages	Yes	No	No
Manage retention policies	Yes	Yes	No

User Customizations

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Manage Outlook plug-ins	Yes	No	No
Customize UI buttons	Yes	Yes	No
Custom forms	Yes	No	No
Customize navigation pane	Yes	No	No
Customizable views	Yes	No	No
Set message options	Yes	Yes	No
Multiple email signatures	Yes	No	Yes
Message tracking options	Yes	Yes	No
Deleted item handling	Yes	Yes	No
Junk email options (trusted vs. untrusted sources)	Yes	Yes	No
Meeting request processing	Yes	Yes	No
Voice mail settings	Yes	Yes	No
Custom dictionary	Yes	Yes**	No
Infopath integration	Yes	No	No
Macros/VBA	Yes	No	No

*You can have a mobile and a non-mobile signature

**Depends on the local browser

Admin Customizations

Feature	Outlook Desktop	Outlook Web App	Outlook for Mobile
Admins can enable/disable email features	No	Yes	Yes

This information was found on the Microsoft website. If you want to see the full details, visit their page here.