New Outlook: what you need to know
Microsoft has been rolling out a redesigned New Outlook app for Windows, and in some cases switching users across automatically without much warning. While it looks similar to classic Outlook, it works quite differently behind the scenes, and we don’t currently recommend it for most clients, particularly if you use a POP or IMAP email account.
Why we don’t recommend New Outlook
- Limited offline mail history: for POP and IMAP accounts, New Outlook only keeps a set number of days of mail available offline. By default this is just 30 days, and it can only be increased to a maximum of 180 days, far less than classic Outlook can store.
- Your mail is routed through Microsoft’s servers: for POP and IMAP accounts, New Outlook syncs your mail and account details via Microsoft’s cloud, even if your mailbox isn’t hosted with Microsoft. This means that Microsoft can see your password as well as the contents of all of your emails, so is a significant privacy and security concern. Most other email applications (including classic Outlook) connect directly to the email server over an encrypted connection, so no third party sees your sensitive data. Unfortunately there is no way to switch this off in New Outlook.
- It’s still missing some features, settings, and add-ins that classic Outlook supports.
Our recommendation
If you’re able to, we’d recommend switching back to classic Outlook, or trying an alternative mail client such as Mozilla Thunderbird, which is free and handles POP and IMAP accounts directly, without this limitation.
If you need to stay on New Outlook for now
If you do need to keep using New Outlook with a POP or IMAP account, you can at least increase how much mail is kept available offline:
- Open New Outlook and click Settings (the gear icon).
- Select General, then Offline.
- Under Days of email to save, choose the maximum available, currently 180 days.
Switching back to classic Outlook
If New Outlook was turned on automatically, you can usually switch back straight away:
- Look for the toggle switch in the top-right corner of the New Outlook window, and switch it back to Classic Outlook.
- Alternatively, search for “Outlook (classic)” in the Windows Start menu.
- If classic Outlook isn’t installed on your PC, or the toggle isn’t showing on your version of Windows, you can install it from Microsoft’s official page.
Please note that classic Outlook isn’t free on its own. You’ll need a Microsoft 365 licence that includes Outlook, or a standalone Outlook licence.
Further reading
This isn’t just our opinion, several users have raised the same POP/IMAP limitations on Microsoft’s own support forums, with Microsoft staff also pointing people towards classic Outlook as a workaround.
Any questions?
If you’re unsure which option is best for you, or would like help switching back to classic Outlook or moving to Thunderbird, just get in touch and we’ll talk you through it.