Agenda auto-draft is a new feature for OWA and the new Outlook to help meeting organizers create a draft meeting agenda using AI. The Copilot-generated draft agenda contains an introduction and some bullet points created from the meeting subject. It’s not a make or break feature for Microsoft 365 Copilot. Some will like it, if they discover how to use agenda auto-draft.
The Outlook events from email feature changes from January 31, 2026. Events will only be created if notifications support the properties for events defined by schema.org. Seeking consistency is a good idea, especially if it means that Outlook can process notifications sent by airlines, car hire companies, and other event providers in a way that doesn’t happen today. However, some disruption is likely.
In late August, Microsoft plans to release the Copilot summarize email thread feature in Outlook clients without the need for a Microsoft 365 Copilot license. This news might seem surprising, but it’s simply a matter of business. If Microsoft doesn’t make basic AI features available in Outlook, ISVs (including OpenAI) will fill the gaps with add-ons. And that might make it harder to sell Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses.
Outlook Mobile clients have started to highlight messages received from unverified senders. But what does “unverified” mean and what can be done to fix the problem? The issue lies at the sender’s end, so the administrators of the sending system must verify their email configuration to make sure that Exchange Online can validate inbound messages from their domain. The same visual markers are available in Outlook classic, OWA, and the new Outlook.
Microsoft plans to remove the ability of users to perform mobile device management (for their devices) from the OWA and new Outlook for Windows clients. It’s unclear how much use these options receive, but following the update, users will only be able to disable or wipe a device remotely using features provided by O/S vendors. Administrators can still act to block or wipe lost or stolen devices.
Microsoft suggests that tenants wanting to block access to OWA while allowing people to use the new Outlook should deploy a conditional access policy. That’s good advice if a tenant has the necessary Entra P1 licenses and is willing to accept the loss of browser access to Teams. Microsoft 365 is a complicated interconnected place, and blocking one app can have consequences for another…
The new Outlook for Windows now supports the NoSignOnReply control for inheritance of S/MIME signatures from messages to replies. It’s an update to match the feature that’s been in Outlook (classic) for a long time. The new setting is only available for Exchange Online and isn’t supported by OWA.
A sometimes overlooked 2024 update delivers easier access to protected messages delivered to shared mailboxes. Instead of direct assignment of Full Access to user mailboxes, access can be controlled through membership of a mail-enabled security group. It’s a small but very nice change, just like any update that eases the life of tenant administrators.
The New Outlook for Windows supports an export to PST function. Unfortunately, exporting mailbox items is very slow – roughly ten times slower than Outlook (classic). But a bigger question is whether Microsoft 365 tenants should allow the use of the export to PST function because of the potential effect on tenant compliance and governance. Fortunately, it’s easily blocked.
Among the blizzard of Copilot changes is one where Outlook can summarize attachments. That sounds small, but the feature is pretty useful if you receive lots of messages with “classic” (file) attachments. Being able to see a quick summary of long documents is a real time saver, and it’s an example of a small change that helps users exploit AI. Naturally, it doesn’t work with Outlook classic.
The new TwoClickMailPreviewEnabled setting in the Exchange organization configuration controls if OWA and the new Outlook for Windows use two-click confirmation to open protected email. The new feature could be useful for people who commonly open confidential and protected email in situations where someone else could see what they’re reading. In other situations, it will irritate people.
The ConditionalAccessPolicy setting in an OWA mailbox policy can be configured to work with Entra ID conditional access so that OWA blocks access to attachments on unmanaged devices. Microsoft originally introduced the feature in 2018 and as it turns out, the combination of OWA mailbox policy and CA policy also blocks attachment access for the new Outlook for Windows client.
Microsoft has given the Copilot for Outlook UI a revamp to make the UI easier to use. The new UI is certainly better and reveals the option to rewrite as a poem. Not that sending poetic emails will make much difference to anyone, but the revamp proves once again that good design makes a difference. Overall, the new UI is a sign that Copilot is maturing after its hectic start.
Microsoft says that the Report Button is now available for all Outlook clients and it’s time to remove the old Report Phishing and Report Message add-ins. A note in the documentation says that the old add-ins are unsafe, but Microsoft is probably more concerned about getting rid of COM-based add-ins. In any case, a single button to handle all aspects of reporting suspicious email seems like a good idea.
The new message recall facility has been around since 2022. Even after Microsoft revamped the feature in 2023, it’s still only possible to recall protected messages with OWA and the new Outlook. As it turns out, the reason is that a premium license is needed and Outlook classic might need some new code to check for that license. In other news, Outlook mobile now supports message recall.
Outlook Newsletters are intended for internal communications, at least for the preview. It’s possible to take the HTML for a newsletter and send it with Azure Email Communication Services (ECS), the PAYG service for bulk email. It sounds like a good way to use Outlook Newsletters to share information with customers and other external recipients. Some manual intervention makes everything works. It would be great if Microsoft tweaked Outlook to remove the rough edges.
Colored folder icons does not seem like a new feature that should appear in an email client that’s been around for a long time, but the new Outlook for Windows and OWA now both offer users the ability to choose different colors for folder icons. Apparently, this is an important step forward in the development of the new Outlook and might just be the killer feature to convince the curmudgeons who use Outlook classic to switch.
Outlook Newsletters is an app for the new Outlook and OWA that allows users to create and send good-looking newsletters to internal recipients. It’s an easy-to-use app created using components drawn from across the Microsoft 365 software toolbox that will be of interest to anyone who needs to send internal newsletters on a regular basis.
Microsoft originally were going to license the Outlook Org Explorer to E3 and E5 users. Then they had the clever plan to license the feature through Viva. The gloss has gone off that idea and now Microsoft says that all commercial Microsoft 365 users will be able to use the Org Explorer starting in early 2025. In other news, you’ve been given 15 months’ notice about Outlook toggling.
A February 2025 deadline looms for Outlook classic add-ins that use legacy Exchange tokens for authentication. Add-ins must switch to nested app authentication (NAA) to have continued access to Exchange mailboxes and other objects. The upgrade is easy enough if the ISV that developed the original add-in is still in business. Things get a lot more complicated when they’re not, or you have no idea who developed an add-in.
Offline access is a fundamental feature for email clients. The new Outlook introduced initial support in June 2024. Now it can start without a network connection, which is something that Outlook classic has been doing for 27-odd years. The update provoked a search for where the new Outlook stores the data used when working offline, and we think we know where the data is.
The Outlook (classic) client has a registry setting to control moving deleted items from a shared mailbox. The new Outlook for Windows client doesn’t have an equivalent setting, so items removed from a shared mailbox end up in the Deleted Items folder of the user’s mailbox rather than the Deleted Items folder in the shared mailbox. It’s an example of one of the things to fix before the new Outlook can take over.
The new Outlook for Windows and OWA now can suppress duplicate contacts. This means duplicate contacts are hidden, not removed. Tests reveal that duplicate suppression does work and probably does well in most cases. However, the lack of documentation around when suppression occurs and how decisions to suppress are made mean that Microsoft has some work to do here.
It’s common to be asked which is the best mobile email client for Exchange Online. My view is that Outlook Mobile is the only client to use (if possible). I know that this opinion is unpopular with devotees of clients like the Apple iOS mail client, but the simple facts are that Outlook mobile is more functional and better integrated into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. That’s the defining factor for many.
A cloud policy setting enables a delay for evaluating message content and allows Outlook DLP Policy Tips to be displayed after detection of a policy violation. The setting works by pausing message sends until Outlook has had time to check the content for DLP policy violations Pop-up messages inform users about the pause and the result of the check.
The Outlook settings API is a unfinished Graph API that can read and update some but not all mailbox settings. It’s a pity that the API is incomplete because it would be nice to have a comprehensive API that supported every mailbox setting, including some of the more recently introduced tweaks seen in OWA. The current state of the Outlook settings API is usable but not for much, but at least it can update auto-reply settings.
Microsoft has announced the formal renaming of the Win32 version of Outlook to be Outlook (classic). It’s preparing for the general availability of the new Outlook for Windows, expected very soon into the new Microsoft fiscal year starting on July 1, 2024. The change doesn’t affect the status of Outlook (classic) or the commitment to support the client until at least 2029.
Microsoft wants users to upgrade from legacy Outlook clients. The biggest impact for Microsoft 365 tenants might be the loss of OWA light, but consumer users are in for the same kind of change that enterprise users experienced when Microsoft blocked basic authentication for Exchange Online. The announcement wasn’t very clear about what’s happening, so we’re happy to clarify matters.
Copilot audit records generated for the Microsoft 365 audit log capture details of the resources (files, emails, and documents) used by Copilot in its answers. This doesn’t sound very exciting, but it is important for forensic investigators who need to understand what information is consumed to generate AI answers. In another development, the Copilot for Microsoft 365 chat app is now available in Outlook classic.
On April 9, 2024, Microsoft announced a big change in authentication for Outlook add-ins. It’s likely that people don’t realize the kind of change that’s coming. The change removes legacy Exchange authentication methods and replaces them with Nested App Authentication (NAA). Time is running short for developers to upgrade and test their code and Microsoft 365 tenants to get ready for the changeover.
The Follow response is a new option for people invited to a meeting to indicate that they can’t attend but are interested in what happens. Replying with a Follow response means that the user gains access to the meeting artifacts (like the chat and recap). It also means that the allotted time is not blocked in their calendar. The feature will be most valuable to people who have heavily-used calendars.
The Share to Teams Outlook add-in posts an email to a Teams chat or channel conversation. I was asked how to disable the add-in for some mailboxes. Here’s how to do the job using PowerShell to find a set of target mailboxes and then turn off Send to Teams for each mailbox.
Monarch client security became an issue last year when a German website reported some issues. It turns out that the reported problems are mostly hyperbole, but that hasn’t stopped them persisting, especially when email client competitors like Proton weigh in. It’s regrettable that much of the commentary is based on an incomplete understanding of how Monarch works, but Microsoft doesn’t help themselves by not explaining the facts.
On March 7, Microsoft published a timeline for the New Outlook for Windows client that says that support for the classic client will be until at least 2029. Three phases must be navigated and a lot of functionality added before the new Outlook for Windows can replace Outlook Classic, including fundamental functionality like offline mode.
Microsoft originally said that Copilot for Microsoft would only support the Monarch client. Now it turns out the Outlook Win32 Copilot support is coming. No formal announcement is available and Microsoft hasn’t shared when the support will turn up in an Office channel, but it’s good news that this deployment blocker is no more. And Teams has a new Copilot experience, so things are moving in the world of AI-powered assistants.
If conditional access policies impose MFA for all cloud apps, it gives external users a problem when they use Outlook desktop to read protected email. The issue is because Outlook can’t obtain a use license to decrypt the content because it can’t satisfy the MFA challenge. It’s an example of how two good parts of the Microsoft 365 ecosystem clash.
A new setting in OWA options allows users to choose to preserve declined meetings. Keeping details of declined meetings can help users to find information included in meeting details of data created during meetings like chats and meeting summaries, or forward the meeting to someone else if needed.
Now available for OWA and the Monarch client, Outlook voice dictation allows users to compose the body text of messages with speech-to-text transcription. A limited set of languages are available for now, but more to come. Learning how to compose email with speech is an acquired art and might required some AI help to produce acceptable results.
Not everyone likes to respond to email with an emoji, which is why the options to disallow Outlook reactions through clients or mail flow rules exist. Everything revolves around the x-ms-reactions message header, which is what Exchange Online uses to understand if people can respond to email with emojis.
A Nov 9 article published by a German website expressed concern about the way that the new Outlook synchronizes user email data to Azure. There’s nothing to worry about. Outlook synchronizes email data to be able to process the data to support features that the user’s email server might not. It’s what the Outlook mobile client has done for years.