Microsoft Exchange was initially the universal email client that was part of Windows 95, but later on was an email solution that consists of Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Exchange Client. A stripped down version of the Exchange Client that does not have support for Exchange Server was released as Windows Messaging when Exchange Server was released to avoid confusion and later vanished as part of Windows 98 and later. That was because of the move to email standards.

Meanwhile, Exchange Client was replaced by Microsoft Outlook, which was part of Microsoft Office 97 and later. Outlook 97 had different versions (latest is 8.04, a part of Office 97 SR-2), and these were released as part of both Office 97 Service Releases and new Exchange versions. When Outlook 97 was released, Exchange Client 5.0 was still in development and to be later released as part of Exchange Server 5.0, primarily because Outlook was not available for platforms other than Microsoft Windows yet. Later, in Exchange Server 5.5, Exchange Client was removed and Outlook made the only Exchange client. As part of Exchange Server 5.5, Outlook was released for other platforms, which Exchange Client supported before.

Nowadays, Exchange is often used as a short for Exchange Server.