Ever evolving, the new Outlook for Mac adds more.

[Faisal Jeelani]

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.

[dave_ings]

Thanks for taking the time to write this.

But when I try the new outlook, it fails at the first thing I try - writing a new email to an existing contact. It can't find most of my contacts - only recent addresses are shown as well as a lot of random names that appear to be sourced from some online exchange directory - that's really odd.

If the new outlook can't even create an email to an existing contact, why on earth would I use it? That's email 101.

By the way I contacted Microsoft support about this, they told me it was working as designed. That's crazy. 

[jasonwestmoreland]

I am curious when Outlook for Mac is actually going to be able to access/use the cloud based 'Your Contact Lists' from OWA (M365). We use Outlook for Mac with 95% of our users using Apple hardware (Mac, iPad, etc.) and none of them can currently use Contact Lists created locally with the Web nor created on the Web locally. Additionally, if a user has to swap hardware (i.e. has a machine replaced), any Contact Lists they have are lost - and there is no good way to migrate those to any new system even if they have the foresight to export those lists (the import process on a new machine rarely imports things back correctly without corruption). This is a significant hardship for our users - and would love to see if fixed ASAP.

NOTE: If you enable the 'New Outlook' features (as of April 2021), it will actually make it impossible for users to use the existing Contact Lists they have created and used in the past locally on their machines because it does not even give you the option to see 'On My Computer' data. It is like checking the Preferences > General > Hide On My Computer folders option on for all users. Our users HATE the new version for this reason alone, they lose access to things they use everyday.

[Patrick_Na]

Microsoft,  Can someone please tell me when we will be able to access our Computer Data and local archives, files, contacts with the new version?  What are the issues, why is it complicated ? Is there a roadmap ?  If not, just tell us that it will not happen.  Everytime there is an update I get the suggestion to move to the new version... it is becoming irritating not to be able to.

Thanks,

[Ian_BakerIanB]

"Ever evolving' heading should read "Forever evolving"...

It seems to be taking forever to get the basics of the so-called New Outlook Mac to a level of usability that is in any way acceptable.  Still so much missing from what I see.

Absolute SHOW STOPPERS for me are 'On My Computer" archive files.  I have 30+ years of critical history archived currently and without the ON MY COMPUTER capability, Microsoft you've lost me!  (I will NEVER EVER upload & store my 30 years of archies on MS Servers - EVER!!)

iCloud and iMap are also show stoppers for me.

What's taking so long Microsoft???  Just get it done!!

I refuse to 'switch-on' the top of the page new outlook until it is a LOT more functional and a LOT more stable tahn it is right now.  :ast time I 'gave it a try' it took me all afternoon to recover what got dumped when I swithced to try it out.  Not nice at all...  

In the meantime, I'm looking at other options to consider...

IanB (Australia)

[alastairdodwell]

Lot software info in the post. Some goo changes, likes adding IMPA accounts. We still have clients with many IMAPs.

The big issue, as other have mentioned is the compartmanting of address / contacts. Like many other I use Outlook with many email account, in my case 5 Office 365 email accounts. It is a real pain to have to change the default sending account to find a contact and then change the account back. Why can't there be just one address book, list of contacts. If people are concerned about security between accounts there could be a setting to enable. 

This would save me a huge amount of time.

Thanks

[PaddyOL]

The failure to provide a straightforward option for making and using contact lists or groups is unfathomable.  Currently to email a list consistently I would need to manually load every email address! This is ridiculous and a basic operational requirement.  When are you going to fix this issue that needs urgent remedy. It almost makes New Outlook for mac un-useable.  Not to mention all the previous contact lists I used are not available in the New Outlook mode. 

Please reply about your plan, or lack of, to fix this overwhelmingly important problem. 

[WiseOldNerd]

This article says IMAP is supported. It is not functioning on my MacBook Air M1 running Big Sur. What gives. I am really quite frustrated between your utterances and reality!!

[Paul Mitchell]

Do you know if it possible to add a shared calendar?

I can add a shared mailbox that includes the calendar, but we would like to be able to add a shared calendar, like you can in Outlook for Windows or Outlook on the Web.

for example,

The default calendar permissions for users in our tenant is "Can view titles and locations"

From Outlook for Windows I can simply go to my calendar 

Shared Calendar - Add Calendar - From Address book and add any user's calendar

[GingerN23]

As of yesterday the OLD outlook strips attachments from gmail accounts being pulled into the Outlook. But it works in NEW outlook. Is this an attempt to force me to switch? I am a power user and HATE the new Outlook, even before any of the aforementioned issues with it. I'd go back to Mail before I use it, except I hear that they are replacing Mail with this new beast as well.....

On the lookout for an alternate.

[PaddyOL]

GingerN23 this has been happening to me too.   All the attachments are stripped from received or sent mail in old outlook, which is I presume something to do with me using gmail as it sound like for you. New Outlook is the only way I can veiw them, but it's got dramatically less functionality than Old Outlook, including, unbelieveably, no contact lists or ability to quickly mail groups of people.   And other missing features.   Incredibly frustrating, unless this stuff is sorted soon I'll be looking at non-outlook email solutions...crazy stuff. 

[Dr_James_E_Freedle_II]

I installed and looked at the new Outlook, and it makes me look fondly of Schedule+, which was much better than the current design. I prefer to have the tasks in Outlook proper, not another waste of space like Microsoft ToDo. Actually I feel that the design is so poor, I would rather use the native apps in macOS over ever using Outlook. Microsoft should ensure that all Office 365 APIs are open and Outlook does not take unfair advantage of hidden APIs. This new design is the absolute worst design I have seen such that I would rather use paper-based day timer organizers than Outlook.

[TradeshowGuy]

I have yet to switch over to the new Outlook for Mac, even though this article says I can use IMAP and POP Accounts. When I click the button to switch, I get the notice that I will no longer be able to use IMAP or POP. And after reading all of the comments above, I am even more uninterested in the "NEW OUTLOOK" for Mac. Sheesh.

[Howie_Isaacks]

This is a lousy way to develop a new app. I have one of my Macs setup to receive Office updates using the beta channel. Every time there's a new Outlook update, I install it and test it. It's STILL not feature complete yet. The current release version of Outlook set to use the "new" version cannot connect to contacts in shared mailboxes. Every time one of my users switches to the new version, they end up having to switch back. Therefore, they never get a chance to benefit from the new Outlook. If Apple handled software development this way, there would be mass complaints. Apple releases beta software, but they don't distribute the beta inside of the currently shipping application, and they don't nag users to switch to the beta. You started this fiasco in September 2020. It's now July 2021. That's 10 months. Exactly when are you going to release this thing? I have users who have switched to Apple Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Reminders, and Notes because the current Outlook has far too many issues, and that's the shipping version, not the "new" or beta version.

[jaylindell]

I just tried the new Outlook design view, as the major impediments to my switching have been removed since I last looked (Personal Folders and Shared Mailboxes). I like it.

But, one thing I noticed is that I cannot select any of a Shared Mailbox's folders as Favorites, specifically inbox or sent, as I do on the 'old' design. Is this a known issue?

[mvspo]

Shared Contacts is a mess, and this would be the time to clean it up (creating Contact Lists on the web, in Outlook for Windows , Old Outlook for Mac, and New Outlook for Mac (well you can't) is all different. We need some consistency (when it gets added to New Outlook).

Also, the contact syncing seems to be getting worse but I can't tell why. Contacts show up on my mobile devices, and in Old Outlook, but not in New Outlook?

And still no Notes or Tasks? It's been 2 years. It's time to get it done since it doesn't look like Old Outlook is getting anything new added other than bug fixes.

[adamonperry]

adam

[StefK2684]

I use New Outlook for Mac for mail and calendar and am liking it, but have to switch to Old Outlook for Mac to get anything useful from contacts.  I can't use my email groups that were set up on my computer, and when I search for a name, it seems to pull up every variation from email messages, contacts, etc.  I just want to see the contact I searched for, not 6 variations that all want me to 'Add to Contacts'.  I send out weekly rental availability emails to all the realtors in Ocean City - w/ New Outlook for Mac, I'd have to enter each of the 23 email addresses every time I needed to send an update.

[ToddM515]

Hi - is there a way to enable the 'automatically add a TEAMS meeting' in the NEW UI?  

The 'automatically add an online meeting' preference does not seem to automatically add a TEAMS meeting.  Well for me it does not seem to do anything. 

Using Mac M1/BigSur/Outlook365.  

[MACusersince1985]

The article claims that "new" Outlook 365 supports IMAP; my experience says otherwise.

Just set up a new Mac with Office 365. First time I used Outlook it offered to migrate my email account -- so far so good. But it took about 20 seconds for "new" Outlook to spit out the notice that it 'failed to migrate' my IMAP email account. 

Further attempts to migrate the IMAP account have failed and I have to use "old" Outlook or go to some other email client. Disappointing, MS.

Running a new M1 Pro Mac with Monterey.

[gwiz62]

THIS really needs to get fixed. All individual account Deleted Items folders are correctly displayed.

[JonAFaulkner]

I have tried to switch several times in November 2021 to New Outlook but I have run into two issues. First, one of my mail accounts is a Microsoft Exchange 2013 and our administrator was unable to come up with any combination of credentials to make it work. I can sign up fine with the old version. Second, I keep losing contacts when I convert. I have three accounts, an Exchange email account, a corporate 365 account, and a personal Gmail account. I can not get all three contact lists to pull into my contacts. It will not take any of my Gmail contacts (I have 30 years of Gmail contacts so it is critical to have access to these contacts). When will these items be fixed? If the Mac platform is important it should be equal in functionality to Windows. If not, then drop support for Office on this platform.

[nicokaiser]

The current version of the New Outlook for Mac does not support composing Plain Text messages anymore. This functionality really needs to be restored, since many users cannot accept that all outgoing messages will be HTML mails in the future.

Furthermore, there is not Feedback button in Outlook for Mac, so unfortunately I cannot report this bug to Microsoft directly...

[SPOM1]

I do have a Contact Support button, and there is a Give Feedback menu option under the Help menu.but definitely no plain text. 

I am astonished that they are pushing New Outlook to the front next month, despite the numerous bugs and missing features. We are distributing preferences to suppress the switch as the only significant tangible benefit is the new Search index, but other than that it has been 2 years of waiting for a functional and polished client experience. I understand the need to ship something, but development has taken way too long not that it has had so much development work and is now ready.

[nicokaiser]

Interesting. My installation (Microsoft 365 Family) has no Feedback button, neither a "Give Feedback" menu option. Only Word and Excel have this function.

I really like the new design (and the lack of clutter compared to the "old" Outlook), but some features really must work IMHO.

[TradeshowGuy]

I've moved on. MS Outlook is no longer installed on my Mac. I still use Excel and Word, and perhaps Powerpoint once or twice a year. Yeah, it would have been nice if Microsoft had kept the promises they made regarding the new Outlook, but I finally gave up and moved everything over to Mac Mail, which works fine and does all I need it to do. 

[Eden2022]

Anyone know how to get this outlook for mac design on windows? I use mac at home and love the new outlook on there, at work i use windows and hate the outlook look. (yes its the "new outlook" on windows)

[Ian_BakerIanB]

Now FEB 2022 - 'on my computer' scheduled AUG 2022 - SIX Months!

In the meantime I am using alternative email clients and will ONLY go back to Outlook WHEN on my computer is tested and working properly!

[RickHopkins]

It's driving me nuts that the Mac OS sidebar widget for agenda is just blank... Is there something I can fix to get this working?