[Evolution] Looking for a way to bridge the Outlook/Evolutiuon gap

["Mark Phillips" <mark phillipsmarketing biz>]

I am looking for a way to better manage and share my email/contacts/calendar between Windows and Linux clients, so I thought someone out there may be able to help.

 

I currently use MS Outlook when I am running Windows and Evolution when I boot up Linux (I have a dual boot machine). I can synchronize my calendar, contact list, and to-do list by using my Palm Pilot, but I occasionally get duplicate entries that I have to manually remove from all three repositories. However, I cannot find a way to synchronize my email folders, and I have to delete each email twice – once from Outlook and once from Evolution.

 

I have been thinking that I could setup a mail server/PIM on a separate machine that would download my email from my different accounts, and also house my calendar/contacts/to-do list. I could then use Outlook or Evolution as a client to view/update everything. An added bonus would be the ability to access this machine from the road via a web browser. I currently have a Pentium laptop running Linux as a small web server, so I would like to use this to solve this problem as well. I just don’t know what software to put on the machine to solve this problem (or if it is even possible to solve this problem).

 

Here is my wish list. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

 

1. Linux based PIM that contains all my email folders/contacts/calendar/to-do list. It downloads email from various accounts and kills spam with Spam Assassin.
2. I can access the PIM data from Outlook or Evolution. The calendar/to-do list/contacts are synchronized between Outlook and Evolution. That is to say, Outlook and Evolution get my PIM data from the Linux PIM when I start them. If I add an entry in Evolution, the Linux PIM is updated so that entry appears in Outlook the next time I start Outlook.
3. I can store email messages in folders on the Linux PIM (not my laptop) so I only have one set of email folders.
4. I can synchronize my Palm Pilot to the calendar/to-do list/contacts either through Outlook or Evolution. I can do this today, but I would like to stop this duplicate entry problem.

 

Nice to have:

1. View/edit my email/contacts/email folders/calendar/to-do list with a web browser from the Internet
2. Ability to set up various accounts for the other members of my family. Spam Assassin would filter all the email. The ability to setup a calendar with dates for family events (school appointments, Girl Scout events, softball games, etc.) so we don’t have to write down the same event on multiple calendars.

 

One other solution would be to chuck this highly complicated life, throw out all the technology, and retire to a small island where we don’t need all this complexity! But then the beach might eventually become boring…..;-)

 

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

 

Mark Phillips

Phillips Marketing, Inc.

602 524-0376 office

480 945-9197 fax

mark phillipsmarketing biz