Email, Calendar and Chat on Linux

Part 4 of 8 in the Linux Business Playbook.

If the books are the owner's worry, email is everyone else's. Reception needs the shared calendar. The tradies need the quote emails on their phones. The office manager has eleven years of folders in Outlook. Any plan to change the office computer that puts these at risk is going nowhere, and rightly so.

Here is the reassuring part. Modern business email does not live on your PC. It lives on Microsoft's or Google's servers, and your PC is just one of several windows onto it. Change the window, and the mail is still there.

If you use Microsoft 365

Most Australian small businesses on Microsoft 365 already use Outlook on the web on their phones and laptops without thinking about it. On Linux, that becomes the main way in. Open a browser, go to the Outlook address, and you have your inbox, folders, rules, signatures, shared mailboxes and calendars, exactly as they are on your other devices.

Teams works on Linux too. As of late 2026, Microsoft delivers Teams on Linux as a web app that installs from the browser and behaves like a desktop program, with meetings, chat, screen sharing, backgrounds and notifications. For a business that spends its day in Teams, this is the piece that removed the last real objection to Linux on the desktop.

Word, Excel and PowerPoint in the browser are part of the same subscription and are covered in Part 2 of this series.

If you use Google Workspace

You are already done. Gmail, Google Calendar, Meet and Chat were built for the browser from day one, and Chrome on Linux is the same Chrome you have on Windows. Sign in once and everything appears.

If you want a proper desktop email program

Some people prefer a desktop client over a browser tab. Linux has two good ones.

Thunderbird is the best known. It is free, mature, and looks and behaves much like the Outlook of a few years ago. It works with Gmail and Google Calendar out of the box. For Microsoft 365, Thunderbird added native Exchange support for email in late 2025 and has been extending it through 2026. As of late 2026, calendar and contacts for Microsoft 365 are still on its roadmap, so Microsoft 365 users who want a desktop calendar should use Outlook on the web for that part, or choose Evolution.

Evolution is the other option. It has supported Microsoft Exchange, including calendar, contacts and shared mailboxes, for many years, and is the safer pick for a business that lives in Microsoft 365 and wants everything in one desktop window.

Our advice for most small businesses is simpler: use the browser. It is what your staff already use on their phones, it is always up to date, and there is nothing to configure on each machine.

Shared mailboxes and calendars keep working

This is the question we hear most from reception desks and office managers, so it deserves its own answer. Shared mailboxes such as info@ or bookings@, shared calendars, meeting rooms, and the "who is in today" view all live on the server. They are permissions attached to your account, not files on your PC. Whatever device you log in from, they are there. Nothing is moved, copied or re-created in a Linux move.

Chat and messaging

• Teams: covered above, installed from the browser or used in a tab.
• Slack: has an official Linux app.
• Signal: has an official Linux app.
• WhatsApp: works through WhatsApp Web in the browser, the same way most people use it on a PC already.
• Telegram: has an official Linux app.

If your staff chat with customers through any of these today, they will do so tomorrow.

Phones

Many small businesses have moved to internet phone systems, where the desk phone is either a handset that plugs into the network or an app on the computer. The handsets do not care about the PC at all. For the app, Linux has well-established softphones such as Linphone and Zoiper, and most hosted phone providers either support one of these or offer a browser-based phone. Check with your provider before the move; it is a five-minute question.

Worked example: a dental clinic on Microsoft 365

A suburban dental clinic has two reception computers, three dentists, and a practice manager. The clinic runs on Microsoft 365: shared reception@ and accounts@ mailboxes, a shared calendar for each surgery, and Teams for the daily huddle. Patient records are in a cloud-based practice-management system that runs in a browser.

Both reception PCs are due for replacement. Rather than two new Windows licences and the cost of the machines, the clinic puts Linux on the existing hardware.

On the first morning, reception opens Chrome. Outlook on the web shows the shared mailboxes and the surgery calendars, with the day's appointments in place. The practice-management system opens in the next tab, exactly as before. The 8:30 huddle runs on Teams. A patient calls to reschedule; reception drags the appointment in the shared calendar, and the dentist's phone updates seconds later.

No patient notices. No staff member asks for help. The practice manager spends the afternoon on something other than IT.

What still needs Windows

• Outlook add-ins. Some add-ins, particularly older ones from industry suppliers, only load in the Windows desktop version of Outlook. Most modern add-ins now work in Outlook on the web, but check the ones you rely on.
• Legacy practice-management or CRM integrations. A few older systems bolt themselves onto desktop Outlook to log emails or sync contacts. If yours does, it needs Windows, or a newer version of the system.
• Desktop-only phone software. Rare now, but some older hosted phone systems supplied a Windows-only app. Ask your provider.

As with accounting, the fix is usually one Windows machine for the one job, not a reason to abandon the move.

Key takeaway

Email, calendar and chat are the tools your business cannot be without for an hour, and they are also the ones least affected by a move to Linux, because they stopped living on the PC years ago. Microsoft 365 users get Outlook on the web and Teams. Google Workspace users get everything they have now. Desktop fans have Thunderbird and Evolution. Shared mailboxes and calendars come along untouched. Check your Outlook add-ins and phone app, and the rest looks after itself.

Next in the series: Files and Collaboration: Nextcloud as Your Own Drive.

How We Help Your Business

• We audit your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace setup before the move, including shared mailboxes, add-ins and your phone system, and give you a plain-English list of what works and what needs attention.

• We set up each Linux machine with the browser, bookmarks, Teams and any desktop client your staff prefer, so the first morning feels like every other morning.