Microsoft brings premium Outlook.com features to Office 365

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Microsoft is adding some new premium Outlook perks for Office 365 subscribers.

Office 365 subscribers will now have access to premium features on Outlook.com. Microsoft has announced (opens in new tab) the premium features, which include ad-free inbox and larger mailbox sizes, are now rolling out to subscribers, with more features to be added in the future.

The biggest change most will notice is the elimination of ads on Outlook.com for Office 365 Home and Personal subscribers. Additionally, Home and Personal subscribers will also get access to some extra malware protection in the form of more robust attachment scanning and link checking. From Microsoft:

  • Scanning attachments—Sophisticated techniques detect new types of malware previously not seen, giving you protection against today's most advanced threats.
  • Checking links—When you click a link in an email, it is checked in real-time to determine if the destination website is likely to download viruses or malware onto your computer. If the site is found to be malicious, a warning screen alerts you not to access the site.

Finally, Office 365 Home and Personal subscribers will also now have a larger mailbox storage size of 50GB, compared to the 15GB offered to a standard free account. Microsoft says it is also boosting storage limits to 50GB for its "loyal Outlook.com users whose mailbox size is 12GB or larger." Premium technical support is also now included with Office 365 subscriptions.

Premium Outlook.com features are currently in the process of rolling out to Office 365 Personal and Home subscribers worldwide. According to Microsoft, the process could take up to a month to complete, so you may not see the new features right away.

Dan Thorp-Lancaster
Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the Editor in Chief for Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. Got a hot tip? Send it to daniel.thorp-lancaster@futurenet.com.
10 Comments
  • I have been asking for this for years. It was stupid that you had to pay for two separate subscription within the same service. Glad Microsoft decided to change it for the better!
  • Indeed, good decision 👍
  • I was going to literally post the same thing. I've sent tons of feedback on this.   Good job Microsoft!!
  • How about Office 365 University?
  • Hey, that's great news. MS has really been improving their products giving us a better experience.
    I would really like to see in Edge that when I Pin folders that they are still pinned after a Windows restart. Sorry but like Chrome.
    Bob
  • The ad free is only change i see.  When I add my outlook.com emails, one with and one without a Office 365 subscription, email to outlook 2016, they both show a 50GB mailbox under Outlook 2016 account information.
  • Would be great to also get bigger size attachments. The current 20 or 25 mb is only something like 3-4 pictures
  • The main reason for this is because usually the client's email service won't like large attachments and most of the time, decides they are spam and/or dangerous. Best to upload large files to a file sharing service and link them in the email IMHO.
  • Personalised addresses are the only thing I wanted Outlook Premium for (so I can stop hosting email myself). That feature doesn't seem to have made the leap.
  • I was paying MSN Premium (I think $50/year) because it supports up to 10 accounts. Main benefits were ad-free MS service portals, no deactivation of accounts, and larger mailbox storage... I have Office 365 Home but unfortunately MSN Premium still has it beat by the number of sub-accounts.