You Asked: Can I still use Outlook?

We know it’s scary to switch from Outlook—we’re switching too, and we’ve all been using it for a long time! But this is a change that we can all stand behind because it is pushing CPS forward as a district.

There are many technical issues that make using Outlook challenging. For example, if you're using Outlook and try to set an Out of Office notification, no one will see it. There are many other technical problems, but a big concern is that you’ll be missing out on many of the best features of Google Apps, especially filtering, searching, and integration with Google Docs and Calendar. What will end up happening is everyone around you will be sharing documents and calendars, and you’ll have to go back and forth between Outlook and your browser to keep up.

So, for these reasons, the Google@CPS Steering Committee has agreed to stop supporting Outlook. That means if you use Outlook and run into problems, the Service Desk will not be able to effectively assist you. Ultimately, you will become frustrated.

For what it’s worth: One of the main reasons people cite for keeping Outlook is its ability to sort messages in a variety of ways. While it’s true that Google email is only sorted by date, its search engine makes finding the right messages extremely easy. Nearly everything you can do in Outlook, you can do in Google@CPS.

As for your archived .pst files, you can still use Outlook to access those. Everything new will be in Google@CPS.