Outlook’s Mac version will also get a major facelift in October, just in time for Apple’s macOS Big Sur release.
Announced as part of Microsoft’s Ignite developer conference, the new Outlook features new icons that more closely tie-in to the rest of the company’s apps, along with lots of rounded corners and semi-translucent panels to let whatever’s behind the app shine through slightly. In other words, it’s all clean, friendly and flat, much like the redesigned Big Sur apps Apple first showed off over the summer. At first blush, these might be unusual changes to an app that historically has been as straightlaced as it gets, but Microsoft was apparently keen to make Outlook feel “natural” when it runs on OSes other than Windows.
Microsoft’s Ribbon interface has been removed, and everything looks a lot cleaner. It’s a hybrid of Apple’s macOS design and Microsoft’s own Fluent design. Reading and writing emails have been improved with single-line views, a new mail compose UI, and even a feature to ignore emails. Panels are also collapsible so it makes Outlook for Mac a lot more customizable for the main view of emails.
Microsoft has also improved the way contacts work in Outlook for Mac. The People section now separates out contacts and co-workers from events and email messages, and it’s easier to see frequent contacts or simply mark existing ones as favorites.
Every part of Outlook for Mac sees some changes, including the calendar and search features. Calendars can now be grouped by ones you own, those that are shared with you, and group calendars found on Microsoft 365. There’s a Microsoft Teams meeting toggle and the ability to click and drag over the calendar to create entries. Search should also be a lot more relevant now, as Outlook for Mac is powered by the same Microsoft search found elsewhere in Office 365.
While the new Outlook continues to play nice with Office 365, Outlook.com, and Google accounts, it won’t support Apple’s iCloud email accounts at launch. Microsoft says the new Outlook for Mac design will be available to all users in mid-October.
