New Outlook for Windows is Now Generally Available

Microsoft’s new web-based Outlook for Windows is now generally available for commercial customers. While the new version of Outlook has been available in preview for many months now, the “general availability” milestone means that the app now receives full support from Microsoft’s support services. However, the new Outlook for Windows is still an opt-in experience.

Now that the new Outlook for Windows is generally available, the app’s icon has dropped its “New” label, while the app name for the legacy Outlook for Windows will now include a “classic” label. The new Outlook for Windows will replace the built-in Mail and Calendar apps on Windows 11 and Windows 10 by the end of the year, but users on the “classic” Outlook app won’t be automatically switched to the new Outlook client.

As a web-based app, the new Outlook for Windows looks a lot like Outlook.com and Outlook on the web for commercial customers. However, consumers will see ads unless they pay for a Microsoft 365 Personal or Home subscription.

In many areas, the new Outlook may look like a regression compared to the UWP-based Mail and Calendar apps. I would even say that the Outlook for Mac app, which is a native app, actually offers the best Outlook experience on the desktop with a better design, support for trackpad gestures, and unified inboxes.

In a message on the Microsoft 365 Admin center, Microsoft promised to not introduce any disruptive changes for organizations, which can still control the availability of the new Outlook. “We will provide a 12-month notice prior to initiating any Microsoft-driven migration steps in managed environments,” the company said.

If Microsoft will continue to support the classic Outlook for Windows until at least 2029, the company is already inviting organizations to prepare their migration plans. The new Outlook for Windows doesn’t support Exchange Server and COM add-ins, and organizations will need to transition to web add-ins instead. “A variety of equivalent web add-ins are already available, and we offer assistance for organizations who rely on COM-only add-ins,” the company explained.