Forum Discussion
Legacy Outlook for Mac from 01 October 2026
The following points summarise my concerns regarding key Legacy Outlook for Mac issues arising from the Exchange Web Services (EWS) retirement on 01 October 2026:
- I route my Gmail account via IMAP/POP to my subscription Microsoft 365 Family Outlook for Mac, Legacy version.
- The Legacy version is great because I use plenty of my own “On My Computer” folders, subfolders & client-side rules for routing incoming messages. Whereas the New version loses this important functionality.
- I’m confused & concerned by the only official MS Support advice on this subject below that the Legacy version will not continue from 01 October 2026 when EWS for Exchange Online accounts is retiring:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/end-of-support-for-legacy-outlook-for-mac
- I understand that Gmail is not an Exchange Online account & AI suggests this EWS retirement will not impact my Legacy Outlook. However, it’s not crystal clear that I will maintain full functionality - particularly my folders & client-side rules, contacts, calendar, tasks & notes, etc.
- And when I receive my regular MS 365 updates from October, will I still receive updates for Outlook generally, but not the Legacy component, or will I not receive any updates for Outlook whatsoever?
- As a safeguard, should I save my very large Outlook for Mac data on 30 September & if so, what would be the best format?
I guess we won’t know how it will really work until October, but I welcome feedback from anyone that’s dealt with this dilemma already & I especially look forward to definitive clarifications from MS technical staff. 🤞
Much obliged...
2 Replies
Although they have similar timing, the retirement of EWS and the end of support for Legacy Outlook for Mac are 2 entirely different things.
The EWS retirement affects Legacy Outlook for Mac users which are connecting to Exchange Online. This includes M365 Business, Enterprise, Education and Outlook.com users. If you need to continue to connect to Exchange Online, you'll need to switch from Legacy Outlook for Mac to Outlook for Mac.
End of support for Legacy Outlook for Mac will not cripple the software. You can continue to use it with any supported mailing service such as Gmail.
However, when it is part of your Microsoft 365 Personal or Home subscription, Microsoft will no longer allow you to create support cases with them after October 2026. Updates after this date are also no longer guaranteed and at the discretion of Microsoft (in praxis this means only a few high-profile Security Updates).
Since Legacy Outlook for Mac is still supported in M365 Business and Enterprise plans, as well as for Office LTSC 2024 licenses, it could be that these updates are also still pushed to M365 Personal/Home users. This still doesn't mean that Microsoft supports these license types in case of issues.
Regardless of any of this, backups are always a good idea when storing things only locally ;-)
Thanks RobertSparnaaij. Good to hear that Legacy will continue to function, just without some or all of the appropriate updates. I still don't know whether my folder heirarchy, client-side rules, contacts, calendar, tasks & notes will function properly but it seems to be wait & see. I'll save everything as an .olm file on 30 September & hope for the best. 🤞
