Microsoft forces sneaky ads in Outlook inbox and users aren't pleased

Microsoft has done it again! It all began by adding app recommendations in Windows 10 alongside preinstalled third-party apps, and this is just another sneaky step in the wrong direction.

Now they have decided to add ads to the new version of Outlook, but it gets worse, so keep on reading.

Microsoft disguises ads as emails in Outlook, sparking user outrage

As you probably know, the Mail app is being retired in Windows, and it has been replaced with a free version of Outlook that comes with ads. Many aren’t pleased with this, and they decided to voice their displeasure on Reddit.

I’ve been using the built in mail client on windows 10 since it came out and it’s so nice and basic. Pretty infuriating that they’re forcing the upgrade to this.

While the Mail app was ad-free, like most built-in apps, that’s not the case with Outlook. Instead, Outlook comes with an ad that is cleverly hidden on top of your Inbox, so you can mistake it for an email and click it.

While you can delete the ad if you want, there’s no point in doing that since it will return as soon as you restart Outlook.

It’s important to mention that this affects only Free users, and Outlook will give you the option to purchase the basic Office 365 subscription and go ad-free.

So what can you do here? If you don’t want to purchase an Office subscription, you can ignore the sneaky ad, or you can switch to a different email client.

This is exactly why I’ve ditched M$ mail apps altogether and gone with Thunderbird.

While the new Outlook looks great, this is such annoying ad placement, and this is why we, and probably many other users don’t even bother with Outlook.

Many also voiced their concerns that it doesn’t make sense to include ads in an application that comes preinstalled with Windows:

You pay for Windows, it’s a paid product, the mail has always been included in that. Now they are adding ads directly into your inbox, honestly i’m just gonna axe my outlook email. Not worth it and I get inundated with spam despite all of my other emails being fine.

Hopefully, Microsoft will address this and at least position its ads somewhere where they won’t interfere with your everyday activities. If you’re tired of ads, why not take a look at our guide on how to remove Windows 11 ads?

What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments.