At this time, ITS does not recommend using the "new" Outlook because so many features are missing and if you access shared accounts or calendars, there may be issues.
Outlook for Windows now has a toggle button that you can use to try out the “new” version of Outlook for Windows. While there are some new features that are nice to have, there are some differences and missing features.
NEW FEATURES
The ability to pin important emails to the top of your inbox – you can pin important emails you don't want to forget about
Limited support for 3rd party email and calendars such as Gmail.
Autoreplies can now include having your calendar blocked off and cancelling meetings you have scheduled during your time away. See Setting Up Auto Replies and Out of Office Messages
Shared account calendar – you can remove a shared calendar from your calendar list if you only use the shared account for email
Search results show which folder the message appears in
Undo send option for up to a 10 second delay before sending a message. Allows you time to stop it from going out and re-thinking what to send. Settings (gear icon) | Mail | Compose and Reply | Undo Send – slide bar for amount of delay
More Settings options – you can now setup and configure the following in Outlook “New”
- Settings | Storage - gives a breakdown of mailbox folders and amount of space used
- Can set Office 365 email forwarding
- Can share and publish calendars (used to have to be done in OWA)
- Bookings with me is configurable in Outlook “New”
- Work hours and locations feature
Issues or Missing Features
Shared Accounts – if you access or manage a shared departmental account, you will see changes.
- When you switch to the “new” version, some (or all) of your shared accounts may not transfer over and you will have to re-add them individually. In Mail, right click on your email address in the folder pane. Select Add shared folder or mailbox, type the account name or email address and click Add
- Shared accounts are now viewed under the “Shared with me” folder. Each account is listed there.
- You are not able to add a shared account Inbox to your Favorites
- Unread items don’t always update in a timely manner.
- Depending on your view, the sort view of the shared account may seem “off” Yesterday messages may be listed above today’s even if you have it sorted by Newest on Top
Signatures – if you use roaming signatures, those do not appear in the “new” Outlook. You may have to add them all manually. Check Settings (gear icon) | Accounts | Signatures – to see if your signatures transferred.
Messages that have been opened don’t change to "Read". You may need to change your settings for how that feature works – Settings (gear icon) | Mail | Message handling – Mark as read section
ToDo bar is not available – Use My Day instead. Click the My Day icon
in upper right corner of Outlook window.
Rules are missing options – the number of actions for rules is less than what Outlook for Windows offers. You are now limited to these actions to take on a message:
PST files are not supported
No Import/Export option
If you use color coding with the View feature, that is not available
The new interface has the look and feel of Outlook on the web (OWA)
No Address Book icon to lookup users - have to go to People
No Notes view with the various options
No Folder View
Can't see Outbox
User opens multiple calendars, they don't fit on one screen, you have to scroll to see all of them
Categories set on a shared account don't come across in New Outlook when viewing mailbox - only shows personal
Using the Notes feature, when view a note, depending on the text in the note, the line wrapping gets messed up and carries back to Old Outlook
In Calendar, no way to view calendar in different ways -- by list, preview, active, calendar etc. You can't manage the views either
View menu missing -- can't change views or settings for the current view to apply color coding, settings, etc.
For more information, see Getting started with the new Outlook for Windows, Microsoft to support classic Outlook for Windows until at least 2029, and Starting to support third-party accounts in New Outlook for Windows Preview.