People seriously lash out at the New Outlook, asking Microsoft for the old one back

The new Outlook debuted some while ago, and despite Microsoft showering it with many features, including Copilot, and many other features, many users prefer the classic version of Outlook.

While Microsoft said that the classic Outlook will most likely be retired entirely by 2025, the Redmond-based tech giant keeps updating this version with new features: for example, Copilot made its way to the classic Outlook, just as it made its way to Windows 10.

However, many Outlook users don’t enjoy the new Outlook, and many of them think the version is not good. For example, on Reddit, there are Outlook users who feel that the new Outlook is slowing down their productivity, describing it as a ‘hellscape of an app’.

I wanted to test New Outlook so that when it becomes inevitable I can better support users. I had to throw in the towel today. It was seriously hampering my productivity. So much missing, so many really useful features simply absent. Microsoft is now the most valuable company in the world and they release this half baked steaming POS. I’d be better off using Outlook Express, Thunderbird, Groupwise or Lotus Notes. Seriously. It’s like everyone who’d ever developed Outlook over the years were rounded up in Redmond and shot and a bunch of Gen Alpha developers decided to build something from scratch. Going to be pushing a reg key to users to prevent them even from experiencing this hellscape of an app until MS finally has their come to their FSM moment.

Reddit user

The Reddit post turned into a rich thread with hundreds of users agreeing on the topic: the new Outlook is not of any good.

Another, even more recent post

Just yesterday I got to test the New Outlook. And it’s horrible! Please don’t think that I’m one of those guys who deny to update. Trust me, I love updates. But this time Microsoft failed me! The new outlook is just a webview version of the one we access from their website. It doesn’t have many functionality. Profiles, gone. Add-ons, gone. Recall feature, gone. I’m truly amazed how Microsoft can take a well-established product and turn it into a must forget product!

Reddit user

This thread also spurred over 800 comments, most of them negative, but there are also some users who think that the new Outlook is not so bad at all:

At first I felt the same, but slowly not anymore. The new Outlook eliminates many problems, such as OST/PST issues, auto discover conflicts in hybrid environment, add-ons causing Outlook crashing, profile not loading, etc. With the new Outlook, all you have to worry about for now is your Internet connection, and Microsoft services not going down. Oh, and DNS. Just in case.

Reddit user

So why is Microsoft pushing it? Back in September, the teams behind Outlook said the new version is more suitable for the new Microsoft 365 environment, and with its UI, the emailing app will be able to integrate seamlessly with the whole 365 platform.

The team also mentioned that, as you can see in the video below, the new version will get many new features, but these will always be released based on the users’ feedback.

We are constantly using people’s feedback to inform our backlog of work.

Outlook team

So as you can see, there are some reasons on why Microsoft wants the new Outlook to become the standard Outlook. However, despite announcing the retirement of the classic Outlook, there is the prevalence of Microsoft releasing new updates for it, quite frequently.

Instead of retiring it, why doesn’t Microsoft keep it this way, because there are a lot of users who would still be on it, and just update it with security features?

The Redmond-based tech giant should be seriously considering it because multiple users mention migrating to an entirely new emailing platform, such as Thunderbird, Groupwise, or Lotus Notes, instead of using the new Outlook.

Microsoft, you already have the users’ feedback. Use it wisely!

What do you think about the new Outlook? Let’s discuss it in the comments section below.