Outlook's Time Change Chaos

You may have seen some headlines on the Internet or TV or heard friends talking about a Time Zone problem with Outlook due to Daylight Saving Time which starts three weeks early this year in the United States and Canada. (See c|net or MSNBC for examples of the news coverage.)

We want to reassure you as a Chaos !ntellect or Time & Chaos user that the time zone change WILL NOT cause a problem with your appointment data in our software. Your friends using Outlook are not so lucky...

According to Microsoft, Outlook creates appointments and meetings using UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) NOT your local time. When you add a new event and give it a specific time, Outlook converts the time to UTC and stores that instead, then converts it back to your time when you need to see it. The daylight savings change in March makes this a big problem, which is the reason for Microsoft's warnings on their Outlook web site:

as quoted from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA102086071033.aspx

How to minimize the impact of the DST change

Ultimately, individual calendar owners are the only ones who can validate that calendars are correct or not. To minimize confusion during the DST shift, follow these simple steps:

When organizing a meeting during the extended DST period, type the correct meeting time in the subject line or body of the message (for example, Project planning meeting at 8:30 A.M.).
Consider any appointments and meetings in the extended DST period to be suspect. When in doubt, verify the correct time with the organizer.

Consider any appointment in Outlook to be suspect? If you run into a friend or have a co-worker with Outlook, you might tell them about a third simple step to consider ....

Switch to

instead!

With our experience from WorldTimeServer.com, we were well prepared for the new time rules that affect the US and Canada this year and planned ahead on this issue to design our software accordingly.

Besides not having an issue with the time change, Chaos !ntellect also has many other advantages over Outlook, including things like linked email and shared databases (even shared mailboxes if you like).

Making the switch from Outlook to Chaos !ntellect isn't hard either. If someone you know wants to try out Chaos !ntellect, here is a quick guide you can pass along to them:

How to switch from Microsoft Outlook to Chaos !ntellect

1) Download and install two files: Chaos !ntellect, followed by Outlook Extract

Install Chaos !ntellect first. It will allow a fully functional evaluation period of 21 days to let you try it out without purchasing anything up front.

Next, install Outlook Extract, which is a free tool to copy data from Outlook to Chaos !ntellect.

2) Start Chaos !ntellect to create your data directory.

Normally, this is found in your My Documents folder in a new directory called Chaos Data. You can put it anywhere you like, however, even on a shared drive if you plan to network and share it with other computers.

3) Run Outlook Extract to transfer Contacts, Calendar Events, Tasks and Memos data

This tool is designed for one-time use and it won't harm your Outlook data at all. It simply opens your default folder in Outlook and extracts a copy of your Contacts, Calendar Events, Tasks, and Memos to add to our Chaos databases.

In Chaos !ntellect, look for an Accessories menu at the top of the screen. Click on Outlook Extract to begin. You can set your options up if you want to, but for most users it is ready to go, so you would just click on GO to make it all happen.

4) Quick Email Account Setup

Chaos !ntellect can work with POP3, IMAP and SMTP servers, which is what most email accounts require. Since these types of email servers all need the same information from any email client, you can usually copy the account settings that work in Outlook and copy them to Chaos !ntellect. In !ntellect, the Mail Accounts options can be found on the Tools menu.

5) Transfer email messages from Outlook to !ntellect

This one is the hardest to do (but still not hard!). The reason for the difficulty is that Outlook doesn't offer a reliable way to export your email messages as .EML files, a standard format for exporting email. Even without this feature, there is still a way to get your email out and into other programs.

Outlook Express is another email client from Microsoft, but one that can both import from Outlook AND export EML files. It is also already installed on your machine by Microsoft, too. If you open Outlook Express, on the File Menu is an Import option where you can import Messages from Microsoft Outlook. Again, this won't harm Outlook, but would copy the emails you stored there to Outlook Express.

Open your My Computer and put it side by side with Outlook Express. On your local drive, make a new folder to use for transferring messages between Outlook Express and Chaos !ntellect. In Outlook Express, go to a folder, select all the messages and drag them to this new folder you made on your hard drive. Outlook Express will create separate .EML files for each of the messages you selected. Once done, open !ntellect in place of Outlook Express, go to the Mail area and choose or create a folder to add these messages to. Highlight the .EML files and drag them to the listings for the folder in !ntellect. Two drags and two drops and you're done with that folder!

6) Enjoy !ntellect for 21 days as a free evaluation

There is nothing missing or disabled in !ntellect while you are trying it out. If you are convinced that !ntellect is right for you, you can return to our web site at any time to purchase an unlock code for the software to continue using it for as long as you like.

So, perhaps some of your friends will find this information useful - we would love to have them as customers and we'll treat them right as we have tried to do for you! We are appreciative of your business and support!