<p>Since Microsoft has officially released Outlook 2013, many organizations are wondering if theyshould take on an Outlook 2013 upgrade. The best way to decide if Outlook 2013 isworth the upgrade is to look at what's new in the release. Even though Outlook 2013 is viewed asonly a minor improvement over Outlook 2010, it has some new features worth considering.</p><p>One of my favorite new features in the upgrade is the AttachmentReminder. When a user attempts to send a message, Outlook 2013 checks the message's wording tosee if there are any clues that the message should include an attachment. If Outlook determinesthat an attachment may be missing, it alerts the user before sending the message. This featurecould be a huge time-saver and eliminate the frustration and lost productivity that come withreceiving a message that's missing an attachment.</p><p>Microsoft also has improved offline caching. Outlook 2013 uses a new type of OST file that compressesmailboxes' content so they are up to 40% smaller than they were in Outlook 2010. A feature calledthe Sync Slider lets admins control the amount of data synchronized to the OST file. By default,Outlook 2013 synchronizes 12 months of data, whereas previous versions of Outlook synchronized auser's entire mailbox. The idea of shrinking the OST file and storing a limited number of messagesmight seem trivial. After all, desktop computers routinely feature multi-terabyte hard drives, sowhat are a few gigabytes of Outlook data? But for organizations switching to virtual desktops,controlling the volume of Outlook data stored on the desktop can be a big deal.</p><p>The Outlook 2013 feature that has received the most press is the inclusion of ExchangeActiveSync. Previous versions connected to Exchange Server using protocols such as MAPI, but Outlook 2013 makes itpossible to use ActiveSync instead.</p><p><a href="http://searchexchange.techtarget.com/tip/Deciding-if-an-Outlook-2013-upgrade-is-right-for-your-organization">Keep reading...</a></p>