Microsoft Outlook is synonymous with email and calendar functionality so much so that many people don't know that it's actually a paid part of the Office suite. But that is changing. Starting in August, Microsoft plans to remove the current free Windows Mail and Windows Calendar programs in Windows 10 and 11 and replace them with the new Outlook for Windows. The new app, which has been available in the Windows Insider update channel for months, is also free.
The transition will be completed at the beginning of calendar year 2024, when the current Mail and Calendar applications will no longer be available. Users can temporarily switch from Outlook for Windows to Windows Mail and Calendar, but that doesn't make sense. According to BleepingComputer, users will be "forcibly relocated" before the end of the year. Recently sold Windows 11 laptops and desktops come preloaded with the new Outlook program.
The new Outlook for Windows should not be confused with the Outlook version of Microsoft Office and Office 365, which offer more premium features. But this can be difficult because Outlook for Windows is visually very similar to Outlook on the web, which in turn is quite similar to popular web-based email services such as Gmail. Microsoft has been slowly adding important features to the new Outlook app since its launch in mid-2022, such as support for popular third-party email services.
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