These are labels in the strictest sense in that they are tags for messages rather than pseudo-folders. has the traditional folder structure but has categories instead of labels. Google will also automatically filter emails into Primary, Social, and Promotions tabs, saving you time sifting through ads for important messages. Not only that, if you have applied more than one label to an email message, that email message will appear in multiple folders. As anyone who has set up Gmail via a traditional email client (ironically through Outlook) will tell you that these labels appear as folders in those clients. Most people still believe that Gmail as it has labels doesn't have folders this is not strictly true. At this point, we need to clarify things a bit. This meant that messages could be tagged with multiple labels instead of being put into one specific folder. The big thing Gmail did to differentiate itself from the competition was to have labels instead of folders. Gmail also has a reading pane, switched off by default too, but is much easier to enable. Gmail also features a reading pane, but it can be enabled through the quick settings menu. The reading pane on is by default switched off but can be enabled quite simply. The redesign, thankfully, improves on the feel while retaining the ability for users to concentrate on emails themselves rather than face any distractions. Gmail had previously prioritised simplicity, although many would describe this as plainness. However, a recent redesign to Gmail has seen its aesthetics and user experience vastly improve - looking far more in line with.
takes its cue from the Windows Modern UI style, also known as the Metro user interface, with Gmail until recently considered the "uglier" of the two. Outlook is a little less expansive, sporting a simple blue aesthetic. Gmail used to be a white letter trimmed with red but that's changed to a blue, yellow, green, and red 'M' shape to match the parent company's colour schemes.
Outlook actually started life as 'Hotmail' in 1996 and was changed to MSN Hotmail and then Windows Live Hotmail before finally settling on Outlook in 2013 Interfaceīeing the two biggest players in the email space naturally means we're talking about a clean pair of interfaces. It quickly became the main challenger to Microsoft's much older Outlook service. Gmail was first released on April fool's day in 2004, but it's no joke.
Both services are bundled into enterprise software suites, though both the email services can be used freely as a standalone product.
To be more specific, that's Gmail - formally Google Mail - and Outlook. And there are two main contenders for our email needs - Google and Microsoft.