Microsoft renders Mail & Calendar apps inoperable as it forces users over to the new Outlook on Windows

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Microsoft declared last year that they would be phasing out the Windows Mail & Calendar applications by the end of 2024, replacing them with Outlook instead. As of January 1st, these apps are no longer operational and can’t send or receive any more emails. They’re also not available for download from the Microsoft Store, and trying to sideload the app will result in an error when setting up your account.

According to Microsoft documentation, technical support for using Windows Mail, Calendar, and People will no longer be available as of December 31, 2024. This means you won’t be able to send or receive emails or schedule events with these applications after this date. To ensure a smooth transition, Microsoft plans to automatically install the latest version of Outlook on Windows 10 PCs during their February security updates, for users who don’t already have it installed.

For quite some time now, the latest version of Outlook has been pre-installed as the primary email and calendar service on Windows 11. Consequently, most users may not notice any change in this regard. However, for those who chose to stick with the older Mail & Calendar apps, they might find today’s announcement disappointing because Microsoft is intentionally rendering these older apps unusable.

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I tried installing the latest version of the Mail & Calendar app on my Windows 11 computer manually, but the app kept failing to sign in. Users who had the app set up earlier today are now being prompted to switch to the new Outlook, and there seems to be no option to avoid this transition.

Microsoft encourages users of Mail & Calendar to transition to the new Outlook application. However, I mentioned earlier that this app isn’t ideal yet as a primary, pre-installed email client for systems like Windows due to its slow performance and lack of essential features such as dependable offline functionality and robust push notifications.

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2025-01-15 12:08