Forum Discussion
Mail & Calendar Apps Will Be Replaced with New Outlook for Windows December 2024
Original Publish Date: June 2023 | MC650424 Revised Date: August 30, 2023, based on Microsoft's Updated Message See text in red font.
Microsoft's revised announcement states that the Mail and Calendar Apps will no longer be supported at the end of 2024 and will become the New Outlook for Windows. In the meantime, users are encouraged to try the New Outlook for Windows while they can switch back and forth between the Mail App and New Outlook versions.
At the beginning of 2024, all Windows 11 devices will include the Free version of New Outlook for Windows as the default mailbox application.
Supported Accounts: The new Outlook for Windows can currently support Microsoft 365 consumer accounts such as Outlook.com, Hotmail.com, and Live.com, as well as Microsoft 365 work or school accounts and Gmail. In the near future, we plan to add support for Yahoo!, iCloud, and other email providers through IMAP and POP. Stay tuned.
For those who want to learn more about the exciting features of the New Outlook, head over to New Outlook for Windows - YouTube for a series of how-to videos. And don't miss out on the advantages of being an early adopter - check out this must-see video to encourage a smooth transition.
Share how you use the classic feature to give Microsoft constructive feedback on missing features. To do so, select the Help option in the ribbon while in New Outlook.
Microsoft Message Center Details In Part
We will replace the Mail and Calendar apps in Windows with the new Outlook for Windows by the end of 2024.
After this change is implemented:
- Users can no longer use or download the Mail and Calendar apps.
- Users with a Microsoft 365 or Office 365 subscription with access to the Microsoft 365 desktop apps can use the new Outlook for Windows.
- Users can use the new Outlook for Windows with any personal email account (Outlook.com, Gmail, etc.), even without a subscription.
- If you would like to prevent users from adding their corporate email accounts to the new Outlook, you can follow the instructions in this document to disable the application for a single user, group of users, or the whole tenant:
- In mid-September 2023, we will begin auto-migrating Mail & Calendar app users to the new Outlook for Windows with an option to go back if they choose. Users can return to the current Mail & Calendar apps by clicking the toggle in the new Outlook for Windows. We also want to reiterate that these changes will not affect your organization’s use of classic Outlook for Windows.
What you need to do to prepare:
There is nothing you do to prepare now, but we recommend you:
- Let your Microsoft Windows users know about the change to the Mail and Calendar apps
- Start trying and testing the new Outlook for Windows
- Read this support article - Getting started with the new Outlook for Windows
- Read this article communicating the change - https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/outlook-for-windows-the-future-of-mail-calendar-and-people-on-windows-11-715fc27c-e0f4-4652-9174-47faa751b199
- Read this article: Windows Mail, Calendar and People are becoming Outlook - Microsoft Support
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My Dedicated New Outlook Video Series:
https://youtu.be/d7bEb20pCZU | https://youtu.be/ehUp2usOVqo |
#traccreations4e
160 Replies
Is there any word on API? I could adapt to a new language but I need an API to do automations like we could in VBA
I don't know why anything is put in this Microsoft forum because nothing ever changes. I put things here and have never ever had Microsoft fix anything.
- It's just venting. We all know that Microsoft thinks of us as peons and couldn't care less about what insignificant beings think. Some of them might read this as amusement but that's about it.
- This is actually terrible. MS doesn't need to keep supporting the Mail app, but they also don't need to get rid of it and replace it with Outlook. There's only one reason to do this, and that's to upsell people to their subscription tier for Outlook to remove ads. I'm sick of companies creating problems to then sell the solution. I'll buy Mailbird instead.
- Since October 2023, I have had problems with the New Outlook. I hope my saga might help others in a similar situation.
I have had problem after problem with the New Outlook trial program: a dropped email account which couldn’t be added back, calendars in the Old Outlook which were not there in the New Outlook, sign-on error messages, etc.
On May 15, 2024, through an Outlook Help live chat session, I was told that the use of my Earthlink.net email/username (as my primary alias) tied my account to POP/SMTP. I was told this protocol is not supported in the New Outlook yet. I found supporting information about this in the Microsoft article on “Getting started with the new Outlook for Windows” quoted below.
Important: Most accounts are supported in New Outlook. This includes Microsoft accounts such as Outlook.com or Hotmail.com account, work or school accounts assigned to you by your organization’s admin, third-party accounts such as Gmail, Yahoo!, iCloud and other third-party accounts connecting through IMAP.
Finally on May 24, 2024, in another look at the New Outlook, I got a message which stated that to add my outlook.com email account:
…you must have an outlook.com or Hotmail email address set as Primary alias. You can do so in your Microsoft account.
I made the change, and now my Outlook.com account email/username is my primary alias. I have been able add that email to the new Outlook. My Email and Calendar apps seem to be working in both the Old and the New Outlook modes. This article says this will happen at the end of 2024. As of last week it no longer gives me the option of switching back to the old version. The switch is there in the top right corner but it no longer works. In particular I do not like the look and function of the new calendar. Something I use often. Especially the fact that you can't easily scroll forward and back any more. The rest of the new Outlook is fine just bring back the better calendar. I am curious though. Since your designers are supposed to improve systems every time you roll out a new one. What part of the new calendar do you think was an improvement?
Teresa_Cyrus Mail is way simpler, cooler, has the possibility to have pro and perso accounts in one single place ...
LouisP24 Yep. Simple and local desktop based which also makes it faster without the frustrating rendering of Web Apps.
Well another reason to not give microsoft any more money for their services. Hassling with Teams which is a total garbage even after all these years was enough. I'm not going to use another stupid webapp. Mail and Calendar was one of apps that worked just flawlessly and did exactly what I need. No need for slow buggy New Outlook with horrible UI/UX.
Teresa_Cyrus I can't stand this outlook and was transferred over without my permission. I tired it out a while ago and didn't want or like it. I am on emails all day and night long. The emails on outlook are labor some and painful to use on my body. I have to use my hand to mouse 3x more on outlook. I can't seem to download it in my tray like I have @live.com email platform. There are some features that I used on @live.com that aren't available in outlook. There is nothing in outlook that interests me at all. I was moved on to outlook on 3/13/2024, just two days ago. With no warning whatsoever. I am now having problems with update downloads that I wasn't before this happened. I can't find any reason for this other than outlook. I want my @live.com email system back!
The functionality that once made Outlook the best digital mail program is gone. GONE. I am so frustrated by this "NEW" Outlook. Whoever or whatever decided to discontinue what has been working so well for decades killed Outlook's reputation; it wouldn't surprise me if businesses - especially corporations with 100 or more employees begin seeking another email platform. The functionalities that made Outlook unique over more common email platforms are gone and Outlook has become as dumb -- i.e., so simplistic that nothing functional remains that used to make Outlook stand out among other platforms -- as those other platforms. Who is ramrodding this change that makes no sense whatever?
Teresa_Cyrus What happened?!? I was liking the new Outlook (mostly because the old mail program sucked), and didn't really have to do anything to get to it (since I toggled the switch in the old mail program and it just took me to Outlook). And then last night.... [boom] it's gone! I haven't been able to get to Outlook at all today.
And just to give you an idea how bad the old mail sucks, since it still opens, I was able to see how up-to-date it's been keeping itself. The last time it downloaded mail was January 27
I have been trying to the new Outlook for Windows this week and am very disappointed. It would replace the Microsoft 365 version for me. Potentiall a deal breaker for me is the absence of rules for non-.live accounts. My primary email account is verizon.net and has been for decades. I have rules that file emails into about a dozen folders based on who sent them. I rely on this feature to simplify answering emails -- there's so much junk to wade through otherwise.
As an aside, the process for importing IMAP emails from aol.com, which now manages verizon.net, is arcane. You might feel that's AOL's fault, but it's your problem to fix. To start with, the default info in the wizard for aol wants to use Yahoo servers, which I don't believe is supported anymore by aol. So you need to make imap.aol.com the incoming server and smtp.verizon.net the outgoing one.
Importing an email account takes forever. As a test, I imported about 18k emails into gmail and it took less than a day. In that same amount of time, less than 4k have shown up in New Outlook. I cannot yet tell if the folders I have set up under old outlook will import and fill properly; they worked fine in gmail.
What is Microsoft's plan for the 365 desktop version of Outlook? will it continue supporting that for non-Exchange users? Will it continue with the web browser client?
Teresa_Cyrus
I am frustrated with this new Outlook. It appears to have removed key syncing with Gmail features so that even folders have disappeared. I have used Microsoft Outlook for more than two decades. This new version is the first time it doesn't make logical sense to me. I have to use Gmail because of my work, and was able to transparently sync with Gmail previously (I personally do not like how Gmail works after having the immense flexibility with previous versions of Outlook for so long). Outlook was clean and more logical to use; there was no long thread attached to each email and/or you could delete the thread if you did not want it to be included in the new email, the email addresses were more contiguous rather than the isolated boxes of Gmail which make little sense and are challenging to manipulate, and there were more features for composing emails, and I could go on. Now this new version of Outlook has made a once easiy to communicate option so very difficult; a fixed reading pane that cannot be narrowed being one of a number of bad changes. Increasingly, I am having to flip back and forth with Gmail because the previous features in Outlook that supported such syncing have failed. The clean look of previous versions of Outlook made business communication more professional looking and archive-worthy. This new version - not so much. What is a long-time Outlook user to do with these abstract changes and deviations? I add my voice to the growing number of persons who have been stymied by Microsoft's extreme changes to its products in an attempt to make them more 'sleek' and appealing. They are not, sadly. They are not.Thank you for the opportunity to share this feedback.
-Jo Mimms-Bolden, Outlook user and Microsoft subscriber for more than two decades (both on the job or a personal subscriber)
I apologise, but my organisation will cease the use of Windows Calendar. We required only this functionality, not compulsory updates with extra features (that are not functioning adequately) for email, contacts, etc.
This constitutes a poor decision on Microsoft's part. A significant number of users require nothing beyond the calendar. We shall transition to a third-party application for scheduling needs.
- I don't like that change. Outlook misses one essential function which will affect everyone at my university. We have the Office365 accounts and gmail-hosted e-mail accounts with identical e-mail addresses as the login. It seems impossible in Outlook to add an Office356 account and gmail e-mail account with the same e-mail addresses. Calendar and Mail programs handled that without any problem.
