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New MS Outlook for Mac - all features & issues

nothingtoseehere

nothingtoseehere

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 3, 2020
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Hi folks,

I thought that an all-encompassing thread for the upcoming "new" Outlook for Mac could be convenient. As it seems to come nearer:
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/12/15/microsoft-365-mac-apps-native-m1-support/

From within this article: "The updated Outlook for Mac app that's available today now includes support for iCloud accounts, allowing work and personal emails, contacts, and calendars in one app. This will be rolling out to Outlook for Mac users in the coming weeks."

I am rather anxious about that update because features that are very important to me seem to miss, quoting from here
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-for-mac-6283be54-e74d-434e-babb-b70cefc77439

"Features not yet available in the new Outlook for Mac​

There are several features that are available in the current version of Outlook for Mac for Office 365 that aren't yet available in the new Outlook experience.

  • Block sender
  • Contact lists
  • Delegates
  • Online archive
  • Resend message
  • S/MIME - Now available in Beta Channel version 16.43 (20100803)

Known issues​

The product team knows about and is investigating the following issues in the new Outlook for Mac:

  • Calendar events opened from .ics files can't be saved into accounts
  • Mail and events can't be moved or copied between accounts
  • Shared calendars can't be added using Open Other User's Folder
  • Delegated and shared inboxes can't be added using Open Other User's Folder"

Very annoying for office surroundings where delegations are critical, and also to handle multiple accounts, contact lists and so on - it looks like that lots of Pro features are going to disappear!

I have refused to "test" the new Outlook so far and am willing to omit this "update" as long as these indispensable features are implemented.

And of course I am really interested in hands-on experiences with the "new" Outlook for Mac! Please post here.
 
Lack of contacts list is dumb. I know it’s listed as coming, but still. Also, no status bar and when you pop out a window to type, it’s the old Outlook interface.
 
I haven't used Outlook for years, but will be trying it with the iCloud support. I have multiple accounts to deal with, but only in a self-employed manner now. I'm looking to streamline my workflow and actually HAVE a workflow instead of winging it. LOL
 
I would like to try and use Outlook 2019 (along with Word and Excel), but about 3 years ago, Outlook 2016 caused me some major problems, and hence I switched to Thunderbird and LibreOffice. Thunderbird does work real well (waiting on a Big Sur upgrade, and their latest beta version shows a lot of promise), as does LIbreOffice, but always liked the look of Outlook. I might try it while I am testing Big Sur.
 
I downloaded today's update to office, including Outlook for Mac. When I try the new Outlook experience, I still get the warning that my iCloud account is not supported. When I switch, the warning holds true as that account is not present but does work when I switch back. Is this something I'm not doing correctly? Anyone having luck getting iCloud to work with today's update?
 
I've been using the New Outlook on the Beta Channel (formerly called 'Fast Insider') and am wondering about a couple of things:

  • If I change the "Update Channel" to 'Current Channel' in the AutoUpdate app, will I be reverted to the public release version that has the New Outlook even if I have a newer version from Beta Channel already installed? Or will I need to uninstall and re-install?
  • Is it fair to assume that 'Current Channel (Preview)', formerly 'Slow Insider', now has New Outlook? I'd prefer to be on it (vs the more frequent and sometimes buggy Beta Channel updates) but if that's the case but if not, I'll just use the Current Channel public release
 
acousticbiker said:
I've been using the New Outlook on the Beta Channel (formerly called 'Fast Insider') and am wondering about a couple of things:

  • If I change the "Update Channel" to 'Current Channel' in the AutoUpdate app, will I be reverted to the public release version that has the New Outlook even if I have a newer version from Beta Channel already installed? Or will I need to uninstall and re-install?
  • Is it fair to assume that 'Current Channel (Preview)', formerly 'Slow Insider', now has New Outlook? I'd prefer to be on it (vs the more frequent and sometimes buggy Beta Channel updates) but if that's the case but if not, I'll just use the Current Channel public release
Click to expand...
If you're on a version later than 16.44, switching back to the release channel will not downgrade the apps on the computer, and they will not update until a newer version is released to the public.
The "New Outlook" has been in the release/current channel for a few months now. You don't need to be in any of the insider channels to use it.
 
Looking forward to trying, but I wish that Apple Mail would support the 'Other' folder feature that Outlook has.

I'm sure that Gmail readers wish for similar support.
 
It sadly doesn't support Exchange accounts, so my work email cannot be added to the new version. Kind of annoying, because it actually worked fine in insider builds through summer and then suddenly disabled through an update.

There is a long discussion about it here, where you can also vote on other requested features and see responses from Microsoft.
 
I have been using new outlook for two months now on Intel Mac OS and I would def switch to m1 inside ring office 365 updates they update the apps like 2-3 times in a week sometimes. You have to manually kick off the updates. I check daily and last week there 2 updates and 2 days ago I got outlook update.

I would recommend everyone on m1 to switch over what ever doesn’t work will work in 2 weeks.

inhave zero issues using with office 365 exchange it’s day and night different with layout and how it looks with Big Sur
 
DimaVR said:
inhave zero issues using with office 365 exchange it’s day and night different with layout and how it looks with Big Sur
Click to expand...
This is good news as I was also wondering how the new Outlook gets along with exchange, given that iOS 14 has issues with Exchange.

Do you, or does anyone else, have a comparison between the new Outlook on Mac and Outlook for iPadOS? I am a little bit worried that the Mac Version could get nearer to the iPadOS-Version which is lacking dozens of functions.
 
nothingtoseehere said:
This is good news as I was also wondering how the new Outlook gets along with exchange, given that iOS 14 has issues with Exchange.

Do you, or does anyone else, have a comparison between the new Outlook on Mac and Outlook for iPadOS? I am a little bit worried that the Mac Version could get nearer to the iPadOS-Version which is lacking dozens of functions.
Click to expand...
iOS 14 doesn’t have issues with exchange,

if you getting time out messages to exchange server you need to wipe your phone and restore you data! Ask me how I know. I have several exchange emails account and all them work fine with iOS 14.3

Trust me just install new outlook and use stop thinking to hard about. Get on insiders ring updates and me done what’s not working today will work in the next 2/4 weeks they update office very fast these days in the max os.

like I said before I get at least 2 updates per week on the insider ring and only twice in 2 years on the beta ch where office crashed and it was fixed with in 48 hours or so
 
DimaVR said:
Trust me just install new outlook and use stop thinking to hard about. Get on insiders ring updates and me done what’s not working today will work in the next 2/4 weeks they update office very fast these days in the max os.
Click to expand...
Sorry but I have to think hard about it. Our office has a mixed Windows/Mac constellation, workflows depending heavily on Outlook. It is disturbing when MS makes big changes only on the Mac site. Especially when MS already indicates that several features on collaboration will not work for an indefinite time. Good for you when your single-user experience is great but I need to know about the functionality of the team-related features of Outlook.
 
nothingtoseehere said:
Sorry but I have to think hard about it. Our office has a mixed Windows/Mac constellation, workflows depending heavily on Outlook. It is disturbing when MS makes big changes only on the Mac site. Especially when MS already indicates that several features on collaboration will not work for an indefinite time. Good for you when your single-user experience is great but I need to know about the functionality of the team-related features of Outlook.
Click to expand...
There’s a toggle to turn ‘New Outlook’ on or off, so it’s easy to switch back if you don’t like it
 
The calendar is not well usable in Outlook than any other accounts (You can't decide to calendar choice when creating the event but before that you need to select the calendar and then add new, wtf...) And I'm definitely waiting for shared mailbox feature of O365 since our business help mail is on that account. Missing alias is also sad since it works flawlessly on Apple Mail and others. Other than these, I liked the new design. Oh, also there is no Microsoft Notes and Todo support inside the app so they redirect you to web.... Why publishing half baked version to public before finishing.

Edit: Calendar choice is fixed with this version, you can choose calendar while creating the event in the new Outlook for Mac, you still can't change the calendar after you created the event and to be able to have a newer design,you'll mostly use sidebar calendar rather than main one.
 
Last edited:
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I see you have only 3 icons in the bottom left of sidebar. My outlook on Mac has 5 (attached screenshot).

How can I remove to-do list and ms notes icons? I can save some space.
1608146958735.png
 
The new outlook I think looks far better than the old - so well done to them - but as many others have said, it’s missing features (compared to the old version).

And unfortunately, the new UI is only half finished ie the compose message windows are still using the old UI.

For those of you who use Windows, this shouldn’t come as a surprise - the Windows UI experience is full of half finished UI changes & contains UI ranging from ‘hot off the press’ changes to those that have seemingly been abandoned & still use the Windows XP & 7 UIs.

Drill through the battery power options on a laptop if you don’t believe me 😱

And maybe I’m missing something but none of the other office apps have been updated with the blended MS Material UI and Big Sur hybrid look, as MS claims.
 
nothingtoseehere said:
I have not tried the new Outlook yet because I need the known missing features every day.
Click to expand...
Same here. I rely heavily on Outlook in a mixed macOS/Windows enterprise environment. I've tried the New Outlook a few weeks ago when it first showed up back in October just to see what all the fuss was about, but switched back immediately because I had to get some work done. A majority of what I use Outlook for Mac for isn't available in the New Outlook yet.

Quite frankly part of me is worried that Microsoft is experimenting with moving Outlook for Mac away from its current business/enterprise position towards a much more consumer-oriented or, at best, mom-and-pop-shop focus, because that's where Macs are much more popular. Case in point: instead of adding support for IMAP or on-premise Exchange servers they prioritized iCloud support and Continuity Camera. Features that are absolute must-haves in businesses with more than one employee, such as shared calendars/mailboxes/contacts, public folders, S/MIME encryption and signing, or the integration of Teams group calendars/contacts/mailboxes into Outlook are not yet available with no clear roadmap in sight.
 
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