With the many email tools that users have available to them they are bound to run into problems and compatibility issues at one time or another. One of the activities that many email users employ is the ability to read their emails from outside clients other than Outlook. But when it comes to synchronizing your outside email accounts while at the same running Outlook then issues can arise.

Some email applications only support POP3 access to their end users email folders. While POP3 access from the outside will allow users the ability to read their email messages in an offline mode from other clients such as Outlook, that capability does not extend to being able to synchronize their external email with Outlook. Thus an end user can spend a lot of time performing a manual synchronization which can be a laborious process.

If employees within your company need to access their email from external sources other than Outlook then they can download their external email into Microsoft Outlook and read their email messages. Likewise, end users can delete those messages while running Outlook but those deleted messages will not show up as deleted within their external email applications.

Users can get around these constraints by running versions of their external email applications that support the IMAP protocol which will allow them to read and delete email messages via Outlook and have those read and delete actions reflected within their external email applications.

This capability can most likely be found and enabled via the POP/IMAP settings of your end users email application.

If however your end users require additional synchronization capabilities then here is a list of tools to help with synchronizing Outlook with external email applications.

1. EnterpriseSync is a multi-mailbox automated tool that enables syncing of public folder items with Blackberries, iPhones and other PDAs. Since the tool requires no installation on client systems and it can run as a service this makes it the ideal tool for administrators to manage groups of users. It has the ability to sync Contacts, Tasks and Calendar Items, filter items to be copied based on the category of the item and copy from up to three central folders into one local folder per item type.
2. PSTsync allows your end users to select only the folders they wish to synchronize. Most all folders can be synchronized such as Contacts, Calendar, Notes, sub-folders and even custom folders.
3. Easy2Sync for Outlook keeps your personal store in sync on multiple computers. The free version of Easy2Sync synchronizes the inbox and outboxes whereas the Home Edition can synchronize all email folders. The Business Edition can synchronize all folder types. Easy2Sync supports Outlook 2010 (32 and 64 bit) and portable USB installations for the synchronization of emails, contacts and calendars.
4. SimpleSYN supports synchronization of Outlook data on multiple computers. All emails, notes, tasks, appointments, contacts, deletions and folders are updated and immediately available on all computers. Each Outlook folder can be setup individually for independent synchronization directions such as one direction for new email only.
5. Add2Outlook is a 2-way Outlook calendar, contact and/or task synchronizer for desktops, laptops and mobile devices. Add2Outlook is a client-side solution which offers 2-way folder replication of new calendar items, contact entries or task entries and 4-way synchronization of edits.
6. Qsynchronization for Outlook  can not only copy items between Outlook folders but it can also be used to synchronize folders between PST files on different machines.
7. CodeTwo Exchange Sync is an application which enables automatic synchronization of data between selected folders on Microsoft Exchange Server. Most all types of data are supported by CodeTwo Exchange Sync such as: email, calendar, contacts, tasks, etc. One of the nice features of CodeTwo is its ability to filter items before performing sync operations.
8. gSyncit is a tool which allows you to sync Outlook with Google Contacts, Calendars, Documents with Microsoft Outlook Calendars, Notes, and Tasks.
9. LG Outlook Sync is a utility to synchronize your MS Outlook data with your LG devices. The current LG Outlook Sync supports:  Verizon – enV Touch(VX11000), enV 3(VX9200), Chocolate Touch (VX8575), VX8370, Accolade (VX5600), Cosmos (VN250). MetroPCS (MN240) and U.S. Cellular (UN610). Currently LG Outlook Sync can synchronize your contact and calendar information only.
10. Sync your Samsung Phone’s Contacts/Calendar with Outlook using BitPim.  BitPim can be used to synchronize your Samsung phone with Outlook.