Mail2Web – Online version of Microsoft Outlook

Posted on November 29, 2008 at 5:12 am

I’m a big time Outlook user because that is what my company has always used and now I’m kind of stuck with all of my emails in Outlook! If I wanted to switch, I could use an email transfer service to move my mail from Outlook to Gmail, Hotmail, etc, but I do like having the ability to access my email offline using Outlook.

However, I just ran across a service called Mail2Web, which is a service that allows you to check any POP3 or IMAP4 email account online using Outlook Web Access (OWA). If you don’t know what OWA is, it’s the version of Microsoft Outlook that runs in your browser rather than the desktop.

Without creating an account, you can retrieve your POP3 (Gmail, Yahoo, etc) email from anywhere by just typing in your email address and password. Now personally, I find this pretty useless because I may as well just go to Gmail and check my email rather than go through Mail2Web. The only advantage to checking email via Mail2Web without creating an account is if you want to check email anonymously.

The useful aspect of Mail2Web is if you register for an account, then you can actually add several email accounts to the service and check all of them from one interface. On top of that, you can also use their Outlook Web Access interface, which looks really good and works just like Outlook on the desktop.

Note that if you want to use the Outlook Web Access interface and add more POP3 accounts, you will have to upgrade to the Personal Exchange service, which is $4.95 a month.

You can check individual POP3 emails accounts using Email Retrieve, but you don’t get the OWA interface and can only check that one account. If you have a lot of email accounts and want to be able to view them online in one place using the Outlook web interface, then this service will be well worth the money.

The other great thing about Mail2Web is that it supports BlackBerry devices and it supports ActiveSync, so you can sync your Mail2Web account with a Pocket PC. Also, it supports Outlook Mobile Access, so you can access your account directly from a smartphone.

Overall, it’s a pretty good service for business and corporate users, but some consumers may also be inclined because of the convenience and features. Enjoy!

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