Outlook gets a makeover

One Outlook. © Microsoft.

Outlook applications on the Web, Windows and macOS are currently very dissimilar, their interfaces and functionalities differing from one platform to another. Microsoft has been working for several years to fix this problem, which not only annoys users who switch between platforms, but which also requires more work on the part of the development teams. Now Microsoft is one step closer, with the introduction of a new beta Outlook client for Windows users, which closely mirrors the interface and functionality of the web client. This beta version does not yet support several important features such as IMAP and @outlook.com accounts, offline use and multiple account management.

The new Outlook app would replace not only the current Outlook app, but also Windows’ built-in Mail and Calendar apps. These apps got only minor, cosmetic updates with Windows 11, and no big functional improvements have taken place in recent years. The new Outlook app will work on Windows 10 and 11.

This new unified Outlook client, also known as “One Outlook” or “Project Monarch,” will be a particularly welcome change for Mac users. The Mac version of Outlook has always been different and less comprehensive than the Windows client. We hope to get more information about the One Outlook project during Microsoft's Build developer conference, to be held May 24 to 26.

⇨ Ars Technica, Andrew Cunningham, “Microsoft previews a new, totally redesigned Outlook for Windows app.”

2022-05-18