If you want to see the comparison of LibreOffice suite vs. MS Office, see here: Feature Comparison: LibreOffice - Microsoft Office.
Introduction
This page compares the features of Mozilla Thunderbird 60 (download) and Microsoft Outlook 2019. LibreOffice does not have a PIM module and therefore users looking for a suitable PIM software need to seek alternatives for email, calendars, contacts, tasks, and chat features. This comparison table has the objective to assist users in this search. Mozilla Thunderbird is a fully-featured PIM tool. Like LibreOffice, Thunderbird is a free, open-source, cross-platform program. There are alternatives to Mozilla Thunderbird available, such as Evolution and Kontact.
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Please note that neither the LibreOffice developer team nor the Document Foundation gives any official recommendation for a PIM software replacement for LibreOffice.
This table separates major and minor feature differences and also includes notes on Thunderbird add-ons. The comparison highlights differences and therefore does not display any features which are present in both PIM programs.
The feature comparison table is work in progress and currently incomplete. |
General Personal Information Managers: Mozilla Thunderbird vs. Microsoft Outlook
| Major Feature Differences | Thunderbird 60 | Outlook 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Availability free of charge | Yes [1], donations are accepted [2] | No, proprietary software plus additional charges for language packs |
| Open-source software (OSS) | Yes, licensed under MPL | No, proprietary and closed-source software |
| Portable version that runs on USB flash disks (without installation) | Yes [3] | No |
| Sharing a profile between different operating systems | Yes [4] | No |
| Cross-platform availability | BSD, Linux, macOS, Unix, Windows | macOS, Windows (based on different code bases [5]) |
| Supported versions of Microsoft Windows | Windows 7, 8, 10; Windows Server 2008 R2 [6] | Windows 10; Windows Server 2019 [7] |
| Eco-system of add-ons/extensions | Complex ecosystem of over 1,200 valuable add-ons [8] | Many proprietary add-ins available [9] |
| Message store type/profile data | Supports one large file (mbox) per mailbox and file per message (Maildir) [10] | Supports only one large file (.pst and .ost) [11] |
| Localization | 100 languages (59 fully localized [12] and 41 partially localized) | 96 languages (60 main languages for purchase, 44 more languages (in total 60) from Language Interface Packs (LIPs) for free download) [13] |
| Changing language of the user interface on the fly | Yes [14] | Supported, but requires additional purchase of language packs / download of local LIPs |
| Officially available as native 64-bit application on OS | Linux [15], macOS [16], Windows [17] | macOS, Windows |
| Bi-diectional text support (eg. right-to-left languages) | Mediocre support under the hood, but mostly unexposed by default. Better but incomplete support using the BiDi Mail UI extension, including most advanced features Outlook lacks) | All fundamental functionality supported out of the box for HTML mail, not for plain text. Lacks per-paragraph direction and charset auto-detection capabilities and charset error correction support |
| MAPI (Microsoft Exchange server protocol) | No, but supported via ExQuilla for Microsoft Exchange, DavMail add-on or How to connect Thunderbird to Microsoft Exchange | Supported |
| Encrypt email/PIM database | Partial, several methods (from weak to strong) described in Protecting the contents of the profile | Supported (via password setting for .pst file) |
| Deployment method | On Premises | On Premises, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)/Online |
| Support for ActiveSync | No, but supported via TbSync add-on TbSync supports via Exchange ActiveSync:Freenet,Hotmail,Kopano,Office 365,Outlook.com,Strato,EAS v2.5 or v14.0 compatible servers. | Supported |
| Integrated Development Environment (IDE) | Not supported | Supported with Developer tab in Ribbon |
| Minor Feature Differences | Thunderbird 60 | Outlook 2019 |
| Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) | Supported | Not supported |
| Usenet News Reader | Supported | Not supported |
| User Interface | XUL interface can be user customized via the use of themes (which can reposition and skin controls) [18]. | Ribbon UI; Classic UI available as third-party paid extension |
| Unicode paths support | Thunderbird does not appear to support UNICODE paths on Windows [19] | Supported [20] |
| User interface improved to enable use on touch screen devices on desktop operating systems | No | Slightly adjusted user interface for touch screen devices, but no redesign |
| Versions of PIM for mobile operating systems | No | Outlook App (for Windows Phone, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android) with reduced functionality [21] |
| Online/cloud version of PIM | No | Outlook web apps with reduced functionality. [22] |
Email module: Mozilla Thunderbird vs. Microsoft Outlook
| Major Feature Differences | Thunderbird 60 | Outlook 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Send large attachments via web services | Supported (Inbuilt support for Box, Hightail; support for other services available via WebDAV add-on | Not supported |
| Unified/Global Inbox | Supported for multiple POP accounts (see Global Inbox) | Not supported |
| Unified folders | Supported (see Unified folders) | Not supported |
| UTF-8 | Supported support for various ‘Latin letters with double acute' (eg. ő) representations: entity (ő), decimal (ő) and hexadecimal (ő) [23]. | No support for ‘Latin letters with double acute' representation: entity (ő Ő ű Ű) [24] |
| Spell checker, AutoSpellcheck, Spelling as you type | 130 languages supported [25] | Limited, requires additional purchase of language packs |
| Email Merge | No, but supported via Mail Merge add-on | Requires the same versions of Outlook and Word [26] |
| File size limit | [27] IMAP: available storage | [28] default: 50 GB |
| Delay sending email | No, but supported via Send Later add-on | Supported |
| Conversation view | No, but supported via Thunderbird Conversations add-on | Supported |
| Email tracking read (date and time) receipt collated in sent email | Not supported | Supported |
| Follow up attribute | Not supported | Supported with ability to set: sender flag {Call, Do not Forward, Follow up, For Your Information, Forward, No Response Necessary, Read, Reply, Reply to All, Review}; start, due and reminder dates/time; recipient flag |
| Email voting | Not supported | Supported with voting buttons {Approve;Reject}, {Yes;No}, {Yes;No;Maybe} |
| Minor Feature Differences | Thunderbird 60 | Outlook 2019 |
| Bottom-posts replies | Supported | No, but via add-on |
| Edit received email messages and subjects | Not supported by default, but workaround | Supported [29] |
| Set permissions on IMAP mailboxes/folders | No, but supported via IMAP ACL extension add-on. | Not supported |
| Email category | Not supported | Supported |
Calendar module: Mozilla Thunderbird vs. Microsoft Outlook
| Major Feature Differences | Thunderbird 60 | Outlook 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| CalDAV (Calendaring Extensions to WebDAV) | Supported | No, but via add-on |
| Connect Calendar to MS Exchange server | No, but supported via Exchange EWS Provider add-on | Supported |
| Show birthdays from address book in calendar | No, but supported via CardBook add-on | Supported |
| Connect to Google Calendar | No, but supported via Provider for Google Calendar add-on | Supported |
| Viewing more than one calendar next to each other | Not supported | Supported |
| Minor Feature Differences | Thunderbird 60 | Outlook 2019 |
| Auto-detect date information in emails | Supported | Not supported |
Contacts module: Mozilla Thunderbird vs. Microsoft Outlook
| Major Feature Differences | Thunderbird 60 | Outlook 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Chat/IM/VoIP details | Supported (Google Talk, AIM, Yahoo!, Skype, QQ, MSN, ICQ, Jabber, IRC) | Partial support (Skype, IM address) |
| Automatically add contacts to address book (recipients of emails or replies) | Supported | No, but via add-on |
| CardDAV (vCard Extensions to WebDAV) | No, but supported via CardBook add-on CardBook supports:1&1 MailXchange,atmail,Baïkal Server,Cozy,DAVdroid,DAViCal,Deepen Dhulla OpenSync App for Android,Fastmail,Framagenda,GMX,Google,Horde,Hover,iCloud,Kolab,Kolab Now,Kopano,macOS Contacts Server,Mail Fence,Mail-in-a-Box,mailbox.org,MDaemon,Memotoo,MyPhoneExplorer,Nextcloud,Open-Xchange,outlook.com/hotmail,ownCloud,Posteo,Radicale,sabre/dav,SecureBlackbox,Synology,Tine 2.0,WebDAVBlackbox,Xandikos,Yahoo!,Yandex,Zarafa,Zentyal,Zimbra,Zoho,and more | No, but via add-on |
| Storing multiple phone numbers of the same type | No, but supported via CardBook add-on | Partial support (Business, Business 2, Home, Home 2; however, problems occur if contacts have multiple mobile phone numbers or more than 2 business/home phone numbers) |
| Categories | No, but supported via CardBook add-on | Supported |
| Notes | Plain text in default AddressBook and CardBook add-on | Supports complex formatting and pictures |
| Search | Name or email when using default Address Book name, email, telephone number, address, notes when using CardBook add-on | Name, email, telephone number, address, notes |
| Viewing options | No, but better support with CardBook add-on | Supported (People, Address Cards, By Category, Detailed Address Cards, Business Cards (with photos showing), Card, Phone, List) |
| Support for editing LDAP address books | Only support for reading LDAP address books (moz#86405) | Supported |
| Attaching files to contacts | Not supported | Supported |
| Rich text editing in notes field | Not supported | Supported |
| Show posts from social networks in address book | Not supported | Supported (Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing) |
| Minor Feature Differences | Thunderbird 60 | Outlook 2019 |
| Telephone number verification | No, but supported via CardBook add-on | Supported with 'Check Phone Number' dialog box |
| Address (home, business, other) displayed in correct format for country | No | Supported with 'Check Address' dialog box |
Tasks module: Mozilla Thunderbird vs. Microsoft Outlook
| Major Feature Differences | Thunderbird 60 | Outlook 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Tasks | Supported | Supported |
| Minor Feature Differences | Thunderbird 60 | Outlook 2019 |
Chat module: Mozilla Thunderbird vs. Microsoft Outlook
| Major Feature Differences | Thunderbird 60 | Outlook 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Chat networks (group limit) | Facebook Chat (varies [30]), Google Talk (100 [31]), IRC (varies), Twitter (unknown), XMPP (user defined [32]), Yahoo (unknown) | FreemiumSkype for Business (Free 20; $2 per month per user 250) [33]. |
| Minor Feature Differences | Thunderbird 60 | Outlook 2019 |
Important Thunderbird add-ons
Many add-ons are available for Mozilla Thunderbird. Most add-ons can be found at ATN. Below is a small sample of some Thunderbird add-ons:
Email module
- CompactHeader. Switch between compact and expanded view.
- Enigmail. OpenPGP message encryption and authentication.
- ExQuilla for Microsoft Exchange. Connecting to Microsoft Exchange Web Services.
- ImportExportTools. Adds some tools to import and export folders and messages.
- Mail Merge. Mass mail and personal mail.
- Mail Redirect. Allow to redirect (a.k.a. 'remail') mail messages to other recipients.
- QuickFolders (Tabbed Folders). Turn your favorites into tabs - open folders and subfolders, move mails without scrolling around or searching.
- Send Later. True 'Send Later' functionality to schedule the time for sending an email.
- Signature Switch. Switch the signature on/off or choose a new one from your predefined set of signatures.
Calendar module
Posteo Thunderbird Calendar
- Lightning Calendar Tabs. Displays tabs which allows quick navigation between time periods in Lightning calendar.
- More Snooze. This add allow to customize the snooze delay when snooze popup appears.
- Purge Events Plus. Purge events from Sunbird and Lightning files and thereby cleans the calendar.
- TbSync. Synchronize calendars, contacts and tasks to Thunderbird via Exchange ActiveSync or CalDAV/CardDAV.
Contacts module
- CardBook. A new Thunderbird address book based on the CardDAV and vCard standards.
- Contact Tabs. Enhances Thunderbird to give you quick access to all your contacts directly from Thunderbird's main window: Use the powerful search field to find your contacts and open them in a new tab for viewing and editing.
- gContactSync. Synchronizes contacts & groups between Thunderbird and Google Contacts. Imports Facebook friends, contacts you follow on Twitter, and more.
- TBDialout. Place phone calls directly from Thunderbird's address book.
- TbSync. Synchronize calendars, contacts and tasks to Thunderbird via Exchange ActiveSync or CalDAV/CardDAV.
- Telify. Converts telephone numbers into clickable links for use with CTI applications, SIP clients, Skype, Netmeeting, snom phones, the AGFEO TK-Suite Client and SerVonic IXI-PCS.
Posteo Thunderbird Alias
Tasks module
- Chromatasks. Color task rows with calendar color.
- TbSync. Synchronize calendars, contacts and tasks to Thunderbird via Exchange ActiveSync or CalDAV/CardDAV.
Posteo Thunderbird For Sale
LibreOffice extensions for the integration with Thunderbird
- EuroOffice Mail Archiver. Store and organize your e-mails in an OpenOffice Document. This version works only with Thunderbird mail folders, IMAP folders are not supported.
See also
Posteo Thunderbird 3
