Microsoft will replace Windows 11's terrible Mail & Calendar apps with the new Outlook app in 2024

News
By Zac Bowden
published

The new Outlook will officially launch next year.

Outlook Client Hero
(Image credit: Future)

What you need to know

  • Microsoft has provided a timeline for when the new Outlook app will replace Mail & Calendar on Windows 11.
  • Users will begin seeing the new Outlook app pre-installed on Windows PCs starting in early 2024.
  • The Mail & Calendar apps will be removed from the Microsoft Store in September 2024.

Microsoft has today issued an update on when users can expect to see the new Outlook client launch as a replacement for the built-in Mail & Calendar apps on Windows 11. Starting in early 2024, new PCs running Windows will ship with the Outlook app pre-installed, in-place of the old Mail & Calendar apps.

The app will continue to be available to download from the Microsoft Store until September 2024 some point before the end of next year (Microsoft has since stated that the change will be implemented by the "end of 2024"), which is when Microsoft plans to pull the app and stop supporting it. By that point, the new Outlook Mail client will be the default email and calendar experience on Windows PCs.

Curiously, September 2024 is close to when Microsoft is expected to ship the next major version of Windows, codenamed Hudson Valley. It's likely that the next version of Windows will ship with the new Outlook app pre-installed as the default email client. 

The new Outlook has the same UI as Outlook on the web. (Image credit: Microsoft)

The Mail & Calendar apps on Windows 11 have been neglected by Microsoft for well over two years at this point. The apps haven't received any new features or major updates since the launch of Windows 11, and many users find the apps to be too basic for use as a serious mail client. 

The new Outlook client is web-based and builds off the excellent Outlook Web service, complete with a similar interface and advanced email controls. By September 2024, Microsoft says the app will support work and personal accounts, including third-party email provides such as Gmail, Yahoo, and more. 

This app is already available to try today in preview, which can be accessed by heading to the Mail & Calendar app on Windows 11 and selecting the "Try the new Outlook" toggle in the top right-hand corner of the app. Alternatively, you can manually download the new Outlook directly from the Microsoft Store.

Outlook for Windows | Download

Outlook for Windows | Download

The new Outlook app for Windows builds off the excellent Outlook Web service, with advanced features, a beautiful UI, and much more. 

Zac Bowden
Zac Bowden
Senior Editor

Zac Bowden is a Senior Editor at Windows Central. Bringing you exclusive coverage into the world of Windows on PCs, tablets, phones, and more. Also an avid collector of rare Microsoft prototype devices! Keep in touch on Twitter and Threads

9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • DontBeEvil10
    Microsoft will replace Fast, Light, touch&pen friendly native Mail & Calendar apps with the new terrible, slow, heavy, pen&touch unfriendly web tech based Outlook app in 2024 that doesn't even work in background and use 500mb of Ram for nothing.

    FIXED
    Reply
  • Hanley Gibbons
    Microsoft will replace Fast, Light, touch&pen friendly native Mail & Calendar apps with the new terrible, slow, heavy, pen&touch unfriendly web tech based Outlook app in 2024 that doesn't even work in background and use 500mb of Ram for nothing.


    You forgot lack of offline support! It literally can't even open to let you see cached emails without an internet connection.
    Reply
  • TheFerrango
    DontBeEvil10 said:

    Microsoft will replace Fast, Light, touch&pen friendly native Mail & Calendar apps with the new terrible, slow, heavy, pen&touch unfriendly web tech based Outlook app in 2024 that doesn't even work in background and use 500mb of Ram for nothing.FIXED
    Indeed, I tried it on one of those cheap old tablets that were popular some years ago, and it is completely useless: it's slow, the elements don't scale properly and result hard to interact with, and it's generally not a tablet-friendly experience.
    The current UWP apps, whilst not perfect, offer a much more optimized experience that results usable even on a low end, el-cheapo tablet with barely 2GB of ram and a low-power Atom processor
    Reply
  • Kaymd
    DontBeEvil10 said:

    Microsoft will replace Fast, Light, touch&pen friendly native Mail & Calendar apps with the new terrible, slow, heavy, pen&touch unfriendly web tech based Outlook app in 2024 that doesn't even work in background and use 500mb of Ram for nothing.FIXED
    Thanks a lot for this comment! I thought I was the only person who's been far from impressed with the 'New Outlook Experience'.

    It's a terrible downgrade from the super-fast, fluid, light, touch friendly (and pinch to zoom friendly as well) Mail and Calendar app. It can't even sync consistently in the background! Scrolling is also janky.
    I've never understood why Microsoft did not simply fixe the only weakness of Mail and Calendar which is the rendering issues of content from some sources.
    I've had to revert to Mail and Calendar. I'll take it over the 'New Outlook' any day. I'll simply use the web client when I need to see content that can't be properly rendered on the Mail and Calendar app.

    Anyone know how to save an offline installer for the Mail and Calendar app before it gets delisted from the Store?
    Reply
  • mfranov1
    I agree with the other commenters - nothing really to look forward to: new app takes more RAM, is slow, doesn't provide unified inbox view anymore, mimics awful web mail interface and is not working offline at all. Oh, and isn't working with pen at all.

    Getting from bad to worse on Microsoft side.
    This trend of replacing tailored desktop or UWP apps with their web equivalents is just getting worse and worse while not bringing anything better for the end user.
    Reply
  • DontBeEvil10
    Looks like the only one excited is Zac ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    Reply
  • wendi martin1
    Windows Central said:
    Microsoft has today issued an update on when users can expect to see the new Outlook client launch as a replacement for the built-in Mail & Calendar apps on Windows 11.

    Microsoft will replace Windows 11's terrible Mail & Calendar apps with the new Outlook app in 2024 : Read more
    For personal use, the outlook mail program is perfect. it's a shame that windows doesn't realize that and updates the mail program instead of getting rid of it. I don't want Outlook on my home computer. it's too much and I hate it. I really like the mail program. Outlook is great at work but it's not good for personal use. Simple is better when there's just one or two emails.
    Reply
  • HoosierDaddy
    How does this impact the Outlook program included in Microsoft 365? Please don't say that will go away.
    Reply
  • TheFerrango
    HoosierDaddy said:
    How does this impact the Outlook program included in Microsoft 365? Please don't say that will go away.
    The proper Microsoft Outlook that's part of the Office suite should remain for the foreseeable future. The new Outlook for Windows (the web wrapper) has no support for offline mode and many of the advanced feature of the native Outlook, so we should be fine for at least a couple of years
    Reply