Microsoft’s messy email history continues.
Microsoft has a long history of poor execution of the mail program it includes in Windows. It’s not unfair to say that it’s been downhill ever since Windows XP’s Outlook Express, which was loved and used by many. Each new version of Windows has had a different attempt at an email program.
While this one isn’t tied to a new release of Windows, all I can say is: here we go again.
Goodbye Windows Mail
Microsoft is ending support for Windows Mail, Calendar, and People apps on December 31, 2024. You’re encouraged to transition to the “new Outlook”, which will replace Windows Mail as the default. If Outlook doesn’t meet your needs, look into alternatives like Microsoft Office Outlook, Thunderbird, or others.
Windows Mail
If you use Windows’ free built-in email program, Windows Mail (shown above), you’re used to seeing admonitions to “Try the new Outlook.”
Of late, it’s accompanied by a somewhat dire warning:
Support for Windows Mail, Calendar, and People will end on December 31, 2024.
This message means exactly what it says: as of the end of 2024, the Windows Mail program will no longer send and receive email. Presumably, the associated Calendar and People (contacts) apps will suffer a similar fate.
“Try” the new Outlook has become more of an imperative than a suggestion.
The new Outlook
Click on Try the new Outlook. The Mail program will close, and the new Outlook email program will take its place.
The new Outlook includes your calendar and contacts. All the accounts you’d configured in Windows Mail should appear as well.
It’s more than a trial. Once enabled, the new Outlook becomes the default mail program for your machine.
It’s a fine email program, if somewhat limited in terms of features.
But there’s an important catch.
Related
What’s the Difference Between Outlook, Outlook, and Outlook.com?
Microsoft continues to confuse us with product names. I'll clarify the difference between Outlook, Outlook, and Outlook.com, and help you decide which you want.The “new” Outlook is not Microsoft Office Outlook
If you’ve been using Microsoft Outlook, which has been included with Microsoft Office for years and must be purchased or subscribed to, this isn’t that. These are two separate email programs with two different sets of features. The only thing they share is the concept of email and the name.
It’s exceptionally confusing.
This makes it important to understand which Outlook you’re using when looking for information or asking for help.
There are rumblings that perhaps someday these two Outlooks might become one, but given the huge feature disparity between them, I expect that to take some time.
Going back
If you try the new Outlook and want to go back to Windows Mail, you can, but it’ll only work until the end of the year.
In the new Outlook’s settings (click the gear icon at the upper right of the window), click on the General tab and then the About Outlook sub-tab.
Click on Open Mail now to revert to Windows Mail.
For now. As the message indicates, “You can switch back now, but you will be returned to the new Outlook in the future.”
My recommendation: stick with the new Outlook (unless you can’t, in which case you need other alternatives).
Go elsewhere
If the new Outlook isn’t your thing, the only real alternative is to install and use a different email program entirely. You might consider:
- Microsoft Office’s Outlook
- Mozilla Thunderbird
- emClient
There are many, many others.
Do this
Windows Mail is going away. There’s no changing that. My recommendation is to try the new Outlook sooner rather than at the last minute. If you find you just can’t handle it, then consider a different email program or rely solely on web access for your various email accounts.
Regardless of which you choose, use it to subscribe to Confident Computing! Less frustration and more confidence, solutions, answers, and tips in your inbox every week.
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If I understood the article correctly, if I get a new Windows 11 PC desktop after Dec 31, 2024, it will have the “new” email program as its default. BUT … if I get the new PC with MS Home & Office Business 2024 (for an extra $299) it will include the “older” version of MS Outlook’s email program as default. Am I correct?
I, like a great many, have for years found the fully integrated email, calendar, and contacts capabilities of the “old” MS Outlook to be an excellent tool!
NO
It’s way more confusing than that.
The Outlook that comes with Office is unaffected. That’s a completely different, larger, and much more powerful program.
The Mail/Outlook/Outloo[new] we’re talking about here is only the email program that’s included with Windows.
I have a subscription to Microsoft 365 and am using the “Classic” version of Outlook (yes, it appears as Outlook (Classic) on my taskbar).
I wonder if at some point I’ll have to switch to the new Outlook, which I don’t really care for. Some of these changes Microsoft is making appears to be directed at those who use touchscreen tablets and laptops as their main devices at the expense of those who use desktop PCs and larger screens along with traditional keyboards and mice.
No Outlook (classic) won’t be affected by the changes. If it’s installed, it will remain your default email program as long as your MS 365 subscription is valid. (Unless Microsoft screws up and makes Windows Outlook AKA Outlook (new) your default program. It’s unlikely, but too often, Windows updates change some to their defaults, not the ones we’ve set.)
That is NOT outlook classic. Outlook classic is not the same as Microsoft Office Outlook.
Thanks, Microsoft.
Whe I press the Windows key and type Outlook and click on Outlook(classic), it opens Outlook MS 365 edition.
My research shows that it’s even more convoluted than that.
If you DON’T have Office installed, the Outlook(classic) icon appears to open the prior, non-office version of Windows Outlook.
In other words, it appears that the meaning of the Outlook(classic) icon is different depending on whether you have office installed or not.
LOVELY.
And, of course, Outlook(new) is in no way a reasonable replacement for Outlook(office).
Really bizar.
I never used windows mail. Even didnot know that this thing existed. I have the habit to avoid microsoft when
possible.
Alternative : Google and thus also Google mail . Never had problems.
As far as I know there is not an obligation to stick to microsoft for everything.
Have a look at all the usefull apps Google is offering.
Using Gmail’s web page to manage emails is a great idea. It functions as a well fetured email program. You can even use it to fetch emails from other email service providers. It also has the best spam filters of any program or website I’ve used.
I use their “Contacts” to sync all my contacts. If I add or change an entry on Gmail’s website, it will automatically update on my Android phone as they’re all part of the Google ecosystem and since it’s on the web, I can use it on any computer I have access to. Don’t forget to log out if you use it on a public computer.
Thanks for all your warnings.
I use eM Client mainly, and T-bird backup. But both link to around 30 years of Outlook Calendar and Local Folders. with important legal info.
Unfortuntely, every email program uses different file formats for info, so I can’t easily export the data. (eM client only offers to import Google.)
How can I export all the Outlook calendar and local folders to eM, Tbird…. or in a file like CSV that other emails can use?
Or can I transfer to Google, then from there into eM?
I think I have solved this. Outlook has a Backup command that should export all its info.
When I purchased my Windows 10 computer several years ago I created a MS Live account using Outlook.com . I eventually bought a new Windows 11 desktop and I continue to use the Outlook.com that I used in the past. Will the Outlook.com be phased out too? If so when and what do I then?
Outlook.com is a website, completely unrelated to the mail program(s) installed in Windows. It’ll keep working.
But you never know when Microsoft will change that name. If enough people get used to it they may have to make it more confusing.
I’m more concerned about lack of support for Calendar after 2024. Does this mean I will no longer be able to access my old calendar entries, let alone not be able to create new calendar entries? Can you recommend a replacement calendar program, and would I be able to export my current entries to the new program?
I use Google Calendar, Contacts, and Gmail. They sync automatically with my Android phone and can be made to sync with Apple phones and tablets.
Note that “New” Outlook email software, takes copies of ALL emails (Microsoft or otherwise) onto their own servers!! Or so it tells you when you set up accounts.
Why?
All of Microsoft’s email programs, apart from Outlook Express, have been absolute abominations, and that includes Microsoft Office Outlook, which is the single most problematic email client program I have ever had to deal with.
(your experience may of course differ)
Even Microsoft do not fix the problems encountered within it in anywhere near any timely fashion.
For simple peace of mind and avoidance of problems, I would encourage everyone to steer very well clear of ANY Microsoft email client program (or app).
Although nothing is ever perfect, there are a few excellent alternatives, Thunderbird being number one of course and RitLabs The Bat being another.