Is Microsoft trying to kill the Outlook app?

Mark Markley 0 Reputation points
2026-10-07T18:25:56.74+00:00

I had to get a new computer a couple of months back. When installing the latest Office, it gave me New Outlook. I am not a fan of the look with the colored PFP placeholder next to the user names and bolding of name and subject line. But I figured I'd give it a try. The FIRST thing I did was try to rebuild my signatures. Well, turns out you can't use "special characters" in a sig. This includes punctuation, so "Best regards," is not allowed. So I switched back to Old Outlook. Wait. Just tried again, and evidently commas are allowed now. Bravo, Redmond!

Ah. Turns out that the pipe letting my google meetings (we use Google suite for many things) no longer sync to my calendar. So I switch back to New Outlook.

Now it seems that rules don't really work anymore.

So is this a concerted effort to force people to the web (EDGE obviously) for all communications? Outlook has basically always sucked (used it since the company I was with in 1998 moved away from Lotus Notes) but it sucked in a predictable manner and a way that I could manage. Now both implementations are utter crap and I really question what the corporate strategy is here.

Outlook | Windows | New Outlook for Windows | For home
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  1. Ian-T 13,450 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2026-10-08T00:24:45.96+00:00

    Hi @Mark Markley

    I completely understand your frustration. Having to switch between new Outlook and classic Outlook because each version breaks a different part of your workflow is not a reasonable experience, especially when you rely on Google Calendar integration and rules every day.

    Microsoft is gradually moving toward new Outlook, but classic Outlook has not been discontinued and is expected to remain available until at least 2029. Microsoft also acknowledges that feature parity is incomplete and currently recommends running both versions side by side when required features are not yet available in new Outlook.

    For the rules issue, could you clarify whether the rules are being applied to a Gmail account or a Microsoft/Exchange account, and what the rule is supposed to do? That distinction may help determine whether this is a current limitation or a specific malfunction.

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