How to fight the new Windows Outlook app and keep Mail…for now

Mark Hachman / IDG

Mark Hachman / IDG

            <div class="scrim" style="background-color: #fff" aria-hidden="true"></div>
    </div></figure><p class="imageCredit">Mark Hachman / IDG</p></div>

I took the same steps then as I did now: cursed, closed Mail, restarted Mail, cursed again as Outlook opened, and then found the button to get rid of it.

The “new” Outlook is a web app. It’s slow to load, full of extraneous information, and simply doesn’t offer the very targeted, tailored experience that Mail offers. I may be living in the past, but I understand how Mail (and the related Calendar app) work, and I can simply get things done quickly and effectively.

Fortunately, Microsoft offers a rip cord within the new Outlook app itself. To the upper right is a toggle To shut down the new Outlook and go back to Mail. Click it:

Mark Hachman / IDG

            <div class="lightbox-image-container foundry-lightbox"><div class="extendedBlock-wrapper block-coreImage undefined"><figure class="wp-block-image size-large enlarged-image"><img decoding="async" data-wp-bind--src="selectors.core.image.enlargedImgSrc" data-wp-style--object-fit="selectors.core.image.lightboxObjectFit" src="" alt="New Outlook toggle to go back to Mail" class="wp-image-2277428" width="1200" height="639" loading="lazy" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"><em>Bon voyage, </em>Outlook.</figcaption></figure><p class="imageCredit">Mark Hachman / IDG</p></div>

    </div></figure><p class="imageCredit">Mark Hachman / IDG</p></div>

At this point you have an option to send feedback to Microsoft, explaining why you’ve given up on Outlook and gone back to the past. I’d recommend that you think about using this form to explain why Mail is the superior option and why you’d prefer that Microsoft give up on the new Outlook instead. Or at least maintain Mail as an option inside the Microsoft Store, as it has done with some other applications.

Why? Because as you leave Outlook behind in the rear-view mirror, this ominous note appears. Outlook will be back, and it will return by the end of the year.