Back in September of 2020, we announced the new Outlook for Mac preview experience, available as a toggle for all our users. Now more than a third of Outlook for Mac users are using this new experience and that number is growing every day.
From the very beginning our strategy has been to build an exceptional Outlook experience based on direct feedback from you, our users. We've paid very close attention to what you have to say, and since September, we have added more than 50 top-asked-for features to the new Outlook for Mac, including support for additional account types, security enhancements, and more ways to stay on top of your calendar. The valuable feedback we've received has also helped us adjust our priorities.
Support for iCloud, Yahoo, & IMAP Accounts
Let’s start with your accounts. The new Outlook for Mac now supports iCloud and Yahoo accounts, with full mail, calendar, and contact synching. IMAP support is also now available for your other email accounts. Additionally, when you first switch to the new Outlook, you'll be asked about bringing your accounts into the new Outlook. Once you provide any missing account details, your account will appear in the new Outlook and start synching.
Shared Calendars, Shared Mailboxes, & Delegation
Since first releasing the new Outlook for Mac preview, support for shared calendars, mailboxes and mailbox delegation has been one of the top asked for features, critical to daily workflows of many users. We are very excited to announce that these are now available.
You can add a shared calendar, a shared mailbox, or a mailbox that has been delegated to you directly from within the new Outlook for Mac. Not just that but you can also manage your delegates via Outlook.
Preferences > Account settings.
Get caught up with updates around Security & Enterprise Features
S/MIME? You bet! With S/MIME support, you can add additional security by signing and encrypting messages end-to-end ensuring only you and your email recipients are able to view messages sent back and forth and rest assured that your emails haven't been tampered with.
We’ve also added support for Microsoft Information Protection, to help you classify and protect your organization’s data. MIP policy labels can be configured in various ways to suit the needs of your organization.
Focus, Share, and stay on top of your calendar
The new Outlook for Mac continues to improve, to help you focus on what matters. Without leaving your inbox, you can now respond (RSVP) to events right from your message list and share an email to Teams.
If you are running Mac OS Big Sur, you can add the calendar widget to help stay on top of your day. You can even add events right from within the widget or click on an event to open it in Outlook.
Manage your contacts, in more ways than one!
You probably find yourself looking for emails from people with whom you interact a lot. Now you can add your most important contacts to your “Favorites”, so you can prioritize their messages and never miss an email from them. Simply click on a favorite person in the Sidebar in your mail view to see your recent email interactions with them.
We also have an updated contact card that has new panels for emails and files, providing quick access to relevant items for the contact.
Enhancements to Search, add-ins, and more
Do you find yourself often doing the same search over and over? Now you can save those searches and access them in one click! Saved searches are virtual folders that dynamically display a set of search results.
Add-ins have also been improved as frequently used add-ins are automatically pinned in your toolbar, and some add-ins can also be activated automatically and contextually, like from the text in an email or an appointment. To help with security and organizational compliance, emails and calendar invites can be blocked synchronously by an add-in at send time.
Our adaptive cards have been redesigned, which scale across several Microsoft services, including Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Azure, and more, to bring about a seamless and consistent developer and user experience.
If you have not yet, you can preview and experience the new Outlook for Mac by turning on the “New Outlook” switch. If you would like to access features not yet supported, you can keep the "New Outlook" switch in the Off position and use the current version of Outlook for Mac.
To learn more about the requirements and detailed instructions on to enable the new Outlook for Mac preview, visit our support page.
Thank you for all your feedback, please keep it coming in our UserVoice channel as it helps us build a better product and prioritize our work.
If you want to learn more about how Microsoft 365 is improving the experience for Mac users, we recently shared a blog with 4 ways in which we are doing so.
Please note: The new Outlook for Mac is available as a preview experience. Certain features and account types are currently not supported in the preview. More information about the preview experience and known issues are available on our support page and as always, new feature availability is shared on the Microsoft 365 roadmap.
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