Microsoft says its Outlook for Mac email and calendar client is now available for free, and it will no longer require an Office license or a Microsoft 365 subscription to be used.
Outlook for Mac comes with support for Microsoft 365, Outlook.com (including Hotmail and MSN), Gmail, Yahoo Mail, iCloud, IMAP, and POP accounts, according to its Mac App Store page.
It's also been redesigned to match the macOS user interface, and it will take advantage of all the power that comes with Apple's Arm-based chips.
"The new Outlook is optimized for Apple Silicon, with snappy performance and faster sync speeds than previous versions," said Outlook PM Jeremy Perdue.
"With our new Handoff feature, you can pick up tasks where you left off between iOS and Mac devices, so you can get up and go without missing a beat."
Outlook for Mac also lets you keep track of your reminders via the macOS Notification Center and comes with a dedicated widget to help you view your daily agenda.
However, some features, like Handoff, require you to log into your iOS and macOS devices using the same Apple ID.
Microsoft introduced the new redesigned Outlook for Mac in November 2019 when it was made available for testing to Insiders in the Fast ring, with updated Mail, Search, and Calendar experiences and improved performance.
In July 2020, the new Outlook for Mac reached the Insider Slow ring, allowing testers to use a "New Outlook" toggle in the window's top right corner to enable the new experience.
Almost two years later, in mid-February 2022, the new Outlook for Mac became the default experience for new and existing users.
"There is more to do and many more features we are excited to bring to the Outlook Mac experience," Perdue said today.
"We are rebuilding Outlook for Mac from the ground up to be faster, more reliable, and to be an Outlook for everyone."
Comments
Brenza - 1 year ago
Not be be an hater but I wouldn't use Outlook for Mac even if Microsoft were to pay me for it. Truly a disaster.
Wasserkeks - 1 year ago
I wouldn't, either. Apple Mail works fine with almost 100k emails over 10 different accounts, and I don't have to worry about Microsoft's horrible software quality or its other shenanigans.
I guess there's a reason they are making it free.
verthias - 1 year ago
Outlook for MacOS is better than Outlook for Windows and it's like a completely different product.
Wasserkeks - 1 year ago
"Outlook for MacOS is better than Outlook for Windows"
Unfortunately that doesn't mean much when considering how awful Outlook on Windows is. In fact, it would have been difficult for MS to make Outlook for Mac worse than its Windows counterpart.
Brenza - 1 year ago
I strongly disagree.
Mac version, for example, does not allow to use a Microsoft 365 mailbox without caching everything to disk. If you have a lot of mail you'll fill your hard drive very quickly.
It also does not allow to export a single folder / mailbox, you have to export everything, then you'll have to import everything.
Exports are possible only in olm format, which is not compatible with any other program other than outlook for Mac, you cannot even convert olm to PST without paying for a third party software
To me it's not ok to publish such crappy software under a 2 trillion company name
MisterVVV - 1 year ago
I would say the same " Everything that is in MacOS" is awful.
.....and if something goes wrong....hehehehehehe
Apple products are nice, expensive and............
best regards,
me
anythingmac - 1 year ago
Great post! I've been working with Macs since Apple OS 5 and I disagree. I think that PC's offer too many features and buttons to click that confuse the less technical user that just wants to email/surf and print and not worry about things that keep updating and stop working. The only problems arise when you decide to try to get Mac OS and a PC app to work together. I would get LOTS of users needing help with MS Outlook for Mac BEFORE this free version. In my experience when an App or service is free it's got less support, so I hope this version is an improvement.