Two way read/write access of Mac and Windows files

Hi there,

I think this question has been asked several times before but I would like to add a few things.

I have an MBP with Bootcamp ((Windows 7). I use both OS's depending on whether I'm at work or home and also some applications I have can only be used in Windows.

As I'm new to the Mac and as I'm not yet confident to take the plunge and switch 100% to the Mac, I still use the Windows version of Word and Excel on bootcamp. I have used Mac Office and it's pretty good. However, I very much prefer the Windows Outlook to Mac Outlook because some of the functionality in the Windows version is not available on the Mac version (such as tables and easy of use of bullet points).

My first point is this. I have transferred my Outlook PST file to Mac and Bootcamp directories with no problem. Also, I access Windows Outlook and download my emails and Mac Outlook and download my emails so I believe they are pretty much synchronised.

My second point is that I have transferred all my document files from my old PC to Bootcamp and I have discovered that I although I can read them from the Mac partition, I have no permissions to edit or modify them. If I copy them to the Mac partition, I cannot modify them on the Bootcamp partition. I do not want duplicate files on both partitions because I want the files sync'd all the time (as well as the fact that 80Gb of data will become 160Gb of data with duplication). Also, I do not want to use an external drive or DropBox or something similar.

I've heard of some software that will allow you to update from either side (for example, Paragon).

I don't know much about NTFS and FAT32 etc but I have read that this can be an issue.

So my questions are -

Is there a setting that I can set to allow me to read/write files for use with either partition on the MBP without using a 3rd party software?

If not, and I end up using a 3rd party company, is there software that will allow me to not only use files on Mac and Windows, but also let me use a single Outlook PST file that can be used by BOTH Windows Outlook and Mac Outlook? i.e. allows the ability to have 1 single PST file that can be used/accessed/updated by both Outlooks depending on which OS I'm using.

Thanks in advance,

Maz