Microsoft 365 drops support for Internet Explorer 11 in August

Microsoft has reminded customers that Microsoft 365 apps and services will drop support for the legacy Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) web browser next month, on August 17, 2021.

After the end of support is reached, those still trying to connect to Microsoft 365 may face degraded user experience or connection failures.

"These apps and services will phase out over weeks and months to ensure a smooth end of support, with each app and service phasing out on independent schedules," the Microsoft 365 team said earlier this week.

According to Microsoft, users experiencing issues when attempting to access Microsoft 365 apps or services after August 17 will not be offered support.

No new features will be released, and the daily usage experience will most likely get steadily worse until the M365 apps and services slowly phase out.

Additionally, using the new Microsoft Edge's Internet Explorer mode will not help extend IE11 access to Microsoft 365 products beyond the end of support.

This is how the M365 application experience will look like for IE11 users starting with August 17:

• Outlook Web App: Users logging in with AAD accounts will still receive the full OWA experience but will not receive new features beginning August 17, 2021, while users logging in with Microsoft Accounts (MSA) will be redirected to the Outlook Web App Light experience.
• Open with Explorer/View in File Explorer (SharePoint): We understand that some customers may continue to use Open with Explorer and View in File Explorer (only accessible in IE11) to access document libraries. To avoid disruption, these customers will be able to use these features for now when they go to a document library in IE11. These features remain in maintenance mode and aren't receiving further development. We encourage all customers to move to a modern browser and OneDrive sync for a better user experience and easier access to files. For more information on how to prepare your SharePoint environment for end of support on IE11, please read this Docs article.
• All other apps and services will phase out over weeks and months to ensure a smooth end of support with each app and service phasing out on independent schedules.

IE11 to reach EOS on some Windows 10 versions next year

This reminder comes after Microsoft first announced plans to ditch support for the Microsoft Edge Legacy and Internet Explorer 11 web browsers in Windows 10 and Microsoft 365.

Following that initial announcement, Microsoft Teams had already dropped support for Internet Explorer 11 on November 30, 2020.

Two months ago, Redmond also revealed that it would also retire the legacy browser on some Windows 10 versions on June 15, 2022, replacing it with the new Chromium-based Microsoft Edge.

After being retired on systems running Windows 10 client SKUs (version 20H2 and later) and Windows 10 IoT (version 20H2 and later), the Internet Explorer desktop app will be disabled, automatically redirecting users to Microsoft Edge when launched.

Enterprise organizations depending on legacy Internet Explorer-based websites and apps for critical processes can still use them with Microsoft Edge's IE mode (more info available in this Getting Started guide.)

In related news, WordPress, the most popular blogging platform, also announced in March 2021 that it is planning to drop support for Internet Explorer 11 as the browser's usage has already dipped below 1%.