Users using the existing Outlook can switch to the new Outlook at any time using the slider in the upper right corner. Windows 10/11 users with Microsoft Office or Microsoft 365 licenses can use the new Outlook for free.
There will be two versions of Outlook from Microsoft going forward: the older Outlook from the Microsoft Office package, and the Microsoft 365 Apps, which will remain for the next few years and will be called “Classic Outlook.” The new Outlook is an alternative to the Windows Mail and Windows Calendar apps for end users using Windows 10/11.
Microsoft has announced that it will discontinue the existing UWP-based Mail app and roll out a new Outlook app in September 2024. Individuals who are working with the old program will need to make the change as the program is being replaced.
The new Outlook user interface is based on WebView2, which means that the Outlook website runs in a native Windows window. This sometimes leads to a cluttered and inefficient user experience. It is slower than the classic version and has annoying ads, some of which are disguised as email.
All emails containing login information are routed to the server.
The new Outlook is closer to a web-based app in terms of operation and interface. You can connect your Microsoft email account to the new Outlook, as well as accounts from third-party providers. However, all email from providers, including your mailbox login details, is typically routed through Microsoft servers.
It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Microsoft mailbox, such as Microsoft 365 or Outlook.com, or a mailbox from another provider, such as Google.
Anyone who doesn’t want this experience shouldn’t use the new Outlook. However, Microsoft plans to remove the discontinued Windows Mail and Windows Calendar apps from Windows by the end of 2024, so you’ll need to find an alternative after that.
The most popular alternative is Mozilla Thunderbird. Data protection issues are made worse by the fact that Microsoft shares data with over 770 third-party vendors.
Microsoft already offers a number of email accounts to connect, including Microsoft 365/Exchange Online, Outlook.com, Gmail, Yahoo, and iCloud, as well as IMAP4/POP3 and manually configurable connections. More providers are coming soon, as well as on-premises Exchange.
Experts can decide for themselves when to use the new Outlook.
Enterprise customers will be able to continue working with the old Outlook for several years without any issues. The new Outlook is currently scheduled to be supported until 2029. While it is already possible to connect mailboxes in the new Outlook to Exchange Online, connecting to a locally installed Exchange Server is not yet possible. However, according to Microsoft, this is expected to change very quickly, at the latest when the new Exchange version, Exchange Server SE (Subscription Edition), is released.
Company administrators or advanced users can use policies to block other users on the PC from activating the new Outlook. If this block is not activated, all users can change the Outlook installation via the Test New Outlook slider. You can undo this step, but doing so can result in data loss. In my testing, this switch worked several times without a problem, but it is hard to say for sure if it will work in all cases.
You can also use the slider to switch back again. At least you can’t use two versions of Outlook side by side without a lot of effort.
The new Outlook is still in development: not all features work
Over the past few months, it has become clear that the new Outlook is lacking in features. Microsoft is regularly expanding the range of features, but the fact remains that many features are still missing. For example, there is no support for PST files, and there is no way to import or export data. Anyone who needs these features will have to wait until Microsoft integrates them into the new Outlook. At present, it is unclear when that will be, and it is also unclear whether all the features of the classic Outlook will be included in the new Outlook.
There are many settings that are available in the options of classic Outlook that are not available in the new Outlook. One example is the Trust Center, which allows you to configure various security settings. External programs, APIs, and tools may also not work in the new Outlook. Many registry settings, such as signatures, profiles, and other settings that were previously exportable and importable, no longer work in the new Outlook.
Users also often miss the option to drag and drop attachments to the desktop, quick block creation and management, quick steps, and simple use of email rules. Options to resend emails, forward contacts via business cards, and export emails to PST files are either no longer available or are much more cumbersome.
Another particular issue is that the new Outlook no longer allows you to merge multiple mailboxes into a single inbox, making managing multiple email accounts much more difficult.
These limitations and the lack of intuitive customization of the user interface that was possible in previous Outlook releases have left many users frustrated and raising questions about the future viability of the new Outlook version.
editor@itworld.co.kr
Source: www.itworld.co.kr
