Report: Microsoft starts Mail and Calendar app migration to the inferior Outlook app
Windows 11 users who use the Mail and Calendar app and have steadfastly refused to switch to the new Outlook app will be redirected to the new Outlook app forcefully. Microsoft announced plans to retire the Mail and Calendar apps in mid-2023. It created a new Outlook app for Windows and began tests in 2022.
In 2023, Microsoft announced that it would redirect the Mail and Calendar app to the new Outlook application. It allowed users to go back to the Mail and Calendar app for a while but noted that this option would become unavailable in 2024.
Reports suggest that Microsoft has now started the migration of users from Mail and Calendar to the new Outlook app.
A short notification is displayed to users who launch Mail and Calendar on their devices. This notification is removed automatically and users are redirected to the new Outlook app afterwards. There appears to be no option to stop the redirection or do anything about it.
Not all users are redirected at this point. A test on two Windows 11 systems was unsuccessful. Mail and Calendar opened as usual on these systems and there was no redirect. It is likely, however, that Microsoft is rolling out the change over time to the entire population.
Not all Windows users are happy about the migration. The new Outlook app should not be confused with the dedicated Outlook app that is part of Office. It is a free app that looks very similar to the Outlook web application. This does not surprise, as the new Outlook client is based on the web version.
Critics of the move argue that the new Outlook app is not matching all features of the removed apps. It also feels slower and less native than the removed apps. Proton, maker of Proton Mail and other services, claimed recently that Microsoft's new Outlook app was communicating with over 770 advertising partners.
The new Outlook app is the new standard email app on Windows. While the classic Mail and Calendar app may still be installed on older devices, only Outlook is installed on newer devices.
Windows users who want to avoid this may switch to a different email client. There is the open source and free Thunderbird email client and others. The dedicated Outlook app for Office may also look like a good choice. It is for now, but Microsoft revealed plans already to migrate it to the new Outlook app as well in the future.
Now You: which email program is your favorite?
I took a look at the “Outlook (new)” app.
When adding an email account to it you have 3 choices.
#1 Sign into your PC with the account your trying to add.
#2 Sign into all Microsoft apps on your PC wit the account your trying to add.
#3 Close the program and uninstall it.
I chose #3.
Thunderbird to the rescue.
I’m starting to wonder whether MS will pull the same trick with Word, Excel and PPT, and turn all of their desktop versions into awful web wrappers.
Thunderbird !
Microsoft created something a million times worse than UWP apps… Bloated and sluggish web applications. Microsoft no longer makes good software. Why don’t they just let people continue to use Mail like legacy Photos? Wino Mail and Thunderbird are the only viable choices left.
Not to add that the same nonsense will be forced on paying 365 customers. When you switch to the new Outlook, it turns out to be a bloated Outlook.com wrapper with no feature parity with the win32 version. I feel sad for customers who have paid for Office 365 and will soon be required to use a web wrapper rather than a native client.
Ditch Microsoft clients and move to Thunderbird or eM Client on desktop.
If using outlook.com as your email provider, then eM Client for desktop and the Samsung Email app on Android – they will sync outlook.com email/calendar/contacts without any issues.
Nice of Microsoft to just force their new Outlook app onto users. Not that Mail/Calendar was any prize of a mail app. But part of Microsoft’s problem is their inability to recognize that some users don’t want to be pushed into using a new app.
Fortunately it is easily deleted.