Updates on the new Outlook for Windows

I would like to reinforce the comments here where Office InterOp and Programmability were mentioned.

I specifically do NOT mean add-ins. There is already longer the Javascript API for add-Ins and also a few Microsoft articles for the new Outlook.

I mean the millions of Windows applications that use your current COM object model and automation to create emails or calendar entries and much more. Be it that they use VBA from other Windows Office applications for that or anything else.

Will there be comparable programmability and automation "from outside" for the new Outlook?

If yes, when will there be information about this?

If no, can we have an "official" statement from Microsoft that there will be no more programmability and automation for Outlook from other Windows Office applications? I ask because there is some discussion about this out there.

Are there any plans to support Office Interop? We develop custom software for our customers and are using Office Interop all the time to create E-Mail objects with predefined recipients, text and attachments.

Hi, maybe you can create a blog post on how you proceed with the feedback that users send you via the new outlook and the feedback option. I like to get a new feature in the sort function in the inbox to sort for "categories".

Loss of programability from other Office programs, and here I mean Access, are going to devastate lots of existing development out there for our customers. They rely on that sort of integration to streamline their processes and ensure accuracy in the information sent.

The loss of that integration and presumably the same loss in the future in other applications are starting to sound the death knell for Access and put Microsoft's commitment to Access itself in severe doubt. It sounds like we are seeing the long death throw of VBA itself.

This will give the oath sayers who have been predicting the demise of Access for many years, truths that we won't be able to counter and the damage will, in my opinion, be severe long before everything is converted to WebView2 unless Microsoft have any real future plans for Access.

Karl-WE 

and 

Neil Jordan 

I agree with your feelings of concern for the direction that Microsoft seem to be moving, and the way that they are doing that.

I have been seeing lots of declarations re the intent to replace VBA, with scripts, or other Microsoft profferings.

But - I then find that while VBA was available for use throughout the Office applications, and at all Licence levels, Scripts is apparently only available to those with a corporate level licence, and business version of OneDrive, and, when someone actively tries to start learning the language and needed techniques, they find that it also only seems to be accessible through the Excel App.

Basically - Microsoft seem intent on stopping the general public from using any automation facilities.

Regarding Access - that seems to be getting some additional features, and a few fixes, but nowhere near the attention and improvements in facilities being forced on users of the other Office Apps.

OK, maybe the stability is a "pro" rather than a "con" point.

Regarding VBA experienced staff - 

I am a self-taught  technician, starting in the early 90's, having discovered the forms based facilities for data entry validation, as well as the data management facilities available trough SQL making it a much better approach to data handling in corporate environments than Excel, and freeing user departments from the need to get the IT specialist staff, or 3rd parties to do all the coding and associated work.

There are many people with VBA experience, and many adopting self-tutoring despite the MS attitude guiding them away from VBA.

The currently still excellent accessibility of VBA, meaning that self-learning is possible with a minimal PC system means that those organisations wanting VBA should find it easy to get experienced contractors and training for new staff.

And the ease of moving Access based data to larger server systems, while keeping front-end facilities almost unchanged should keep it in use as long as Microsoft do not depreciate its facilities and availability from the currently easy and relatively inexpensive acquisition and implementation state.

So - MS, please please do not move away from supporting VBA in all the Office Apps, and, if you want scripts to become prevalent - make it accessible to, and usable in the same environments as VBA, while, to stop forcing users to Oracle, and other data management facilities and front end data access.

And - towards that - 

Please detail an ongoing future for VBA, and Access !

And then publish those future prospects.

Automating tasks with outlook, e.g. create prefilled new mails from Microsoft Access, are ESSENTIAL. There are millions of Apps built around such features.

It please MUST be possible to do that in the future!

Thanks & Regards

This will not be a viable version of Outlook unless it has the following:

• Full IMAP support for GMAIL including being able to archive messages by deleting in Outlook just like you can with the current version.
• The ability to flag messages in PST folders for follow up or to create tasks from them that can be sorted by Due Date
• Search folders including the ability to select messages that are flagged for follow-up

I have been following this project since it was announced and contributing to the blog mentioned above that is discussing it, and have been very frustrated with the lack of interaction between Microsoft and its users.   The new Outlook at the moment is simply a re-release of Outlook for Web and there is no way that I would be using that as my main e-mail client.

Oh and I forgot to mention that the new Outlook doesn't even work with GMAIL IMAP at the moment.

Hi

I'm using  your current COM object model and automation to create emails from important applications (based on Access/VBA - frontend), these functions are absolutely essential for the whole business process. So please do not disable these posibilities!

Is there a list of Classic Outlook features that will not be moved into the New Outlook that can be shared and information provided as to why the feature will not longer work in the New Outlook and/or what the replacement feature is? 
I have been submitting feedback, and it would be nice to know what features cannot or will not be carried over. 

Like many other commentators I am also very concerned about the removal of COM technology in the new One Outlook.

Macros for automation and functionality expansion -which goes way beyond Outlook Rules- have been an important part of Outlook and other classic Office Applications for decades. From the perspective of Power Users (or Citizen Developers as they are often called nowadays) you really need an VBA replacement. Integrating Office scripts directly into Outlook (like in Excel) would be a good idea but in a way that is feature equivalent to VBA (which, as far as I know, is not yet the case in Excel).

By the way: My wife works for a large bank. There are 12 Com add-ins in her Win32 Desktop Outlook. The IT department will definitely not be amused to rewrite the mature C# code in JavaScript...