MS Is Killing Off Mail & Calendar - It's Redesigned Outlook Or Nothing

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launderess

launderess

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Quiet Please, There´s a Lady on Stage
They're at it again. Much as what happened to Outlook Express MS is killing off Mail and Calendar. You'll be switched over to a newly designed Outlook, or will have to find another email client.

Now I know MS isn't up everyone's street, but for our purposes Mail and Calendar was perfectly fine just as was Outlook Express. Have never really warmed to Outlook in any of its incarnations, and am not looking forward to latest version MS is attempting to push upon us all.

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com...d announcement states that,at the end of 2024.

https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/20/microsoft_calendar_mail_outlook/
 
Yeah.... I find Outlook is slower than molasses going uphill on a cold January morning in Québec and the tool to import data from MS Calendar (silly stuff but ALL the birthdays for members of a FB group I admin was in there) is awkward and unreliable. 

Yay progress... NOT! 
 
Outlook like many other MS offerings is just bloated with dead weight.

Besides the code itself Outlook simply has things one does not need nor want. This is why have always gone with Outlook Express and then Mail/Calendar.

That being said for a year or more now certain email messages do not display properly in Mail. One opens them and there's nothing but detailed header information. Apparently MS was long aware of this issue but since they were planning to give Mail the push anyway, did nothing.
 
 
I've been using Mozilla Thunderbird for many years.  It can access GMail.  It could access Yahoo until Yahoo changed the security protocols to force use of their mobile app or web portal.  I had two Yahoos and three GMails all in the one Thunderbird client.  The Yahoo addys are now largely useless to me, I hate web-based email.

I've never used Outlook, except a few instances of test-use to assist customers when I was doing tech support. Outlook Express for a while until I switched to Thunderbird.
 
At work we switched over to Google calendar last fall to keep track of our in-house respiratory therapist appointments. It works well enough for our needs.   
 
 
DonProhel, T'bird worked with Yahoo until it did no longer.  I've tried repeatedly to get the two to reconcile to no avail.  Auto settings discovery, manual settings entry, a new/separate T'bird user profile.  Deleted the account(s) in T'bird after each attempt, including the storage folders directly on the drive and the saved passwords.  Tried creating a separate app password for T'bird at Yahoo.  Searched online for solutions.  Nope.

Anything specific you can offer via your personal experience or a link to instructions that *work* would be greatly appreciated.
 
This is why I hate Microsoft and switched to using a Linux laptop for work and Mac for personal use. I just use the web based versions of Gmail and google calendar normally.
 
Gmail has stopped supporting their basic HTML format for their web email, and I was just going to switch to windows mail, but now looks like I'll have to use Outlook instead? The regular Gmail is very hard to navigate with a screen reader so I always preferred the basic HTML version. As of now I can still use it, even though they allege to have stopped supporting it as of February, but I know someday it won't work at all.

These tech companies getting rid of their lighter, basic versions of programs and forcing the user to use only one option really sucks, especially because the full-featured programs like Outlook, and Gmail in standard view are often full of bloatware that slows down the experience, especially for those of us who use adaptive software. Just goes to show the tech giants don't care about the user at all.

Ryne
 
reply # 5 @ wayupnorth

I too signed up to AOL while on the East coast back in 199? and still have it to this day it works for me along with my MacBook that works along side my iPhone so why would I change it? Not use MS in years would not know where to start :)
 
MS is pushing more and more web based apps.

People noticed as of Windows 10 they had issues with PDF files. Well that is because Windows 10 and 11 have PDF reader that is web app based. You cannot click or hover over a PDF file and get image preview as before because thing isn't on web.

MS got shot of preinstalling Adobe or any other PDF product as of Windows 10 as well. However once one has done that things are back to where they were prior.

Don't get me started on MS's silly "One Drive" that will move one's files and folder up on a cloud unless stopped. Ok, realize many do like putting things up on a cloud, but am not one of them. Have two really large back-up hard drives for that with 1TB of memory. I'm good.....

Other nasty trick long employed now by MS is simply discontinuing support for prior versions of MS or various apps once something new comes along. One has a limited window of time until are on your own. Of course this fits in with MS's whole planned obsolesce that forces persons or whoever to upgrade to whatever new stuff MS is flogging at the moment.

Many realized long ago they didn't need to upgrade from say Windows 7 or even earlier previous incarnations. Then MS got wise to themselves and said "oh yes you do"...

Am still using Windows 10 and have no plans to upgrade to Windows 11 even though that free bit has been on my computer from nearly day one it arrived. Only reason got Windows 10 was because old computer died (was running Windows 7). Also it was becoming difficult to find drivers for certain printers and other bits once MS began killing off Windows 7.
 
 
Download Thunderbird

All old versions of both Firefox and Thunderbird are available.  Choose carefully, some are development and beta-builds for pending updates.

Firefox All Versions (FTP library)

Thunderbird All Versions (FTP library)

Firefox and Thunderbird for Win 7, 8, and 8.1 are on Extended Support Release (ESR) (until Sept-ish 2024) ... meaning they're supported for bug and security fixes but not for new-version features.  Version 115 is said to be the last planned release for Win 7, 8, and 8.1.  115.8.0esr is the current build.  123.0.1 for Win 10/11.
 
Bumping this thread up instead of starting a new

To say it's been several months since OP and as year draws to a close it's clear MS will soon either force persons onto new Outlook or tell them "bye-bye".

Lately each time start up MS Mail that dreaded conversion to new Outlook begins. If stopped in time can shut that down, attempting to open Mail again has same result. This dance goes on a few times before am able to open Mail on it's own. One gets tired of that so just leave Mail open until am done for day.

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2458803/the-new-outlook-from-microsoft-what-you-need-to-know.html

https://www.howtogeek.com/new-outlook-for-windows-isnt-worth-using-improvements-it-needs/

There are changes afoot for those who use third party apps to access MS Outlook.

Basically unless such third party apps use higher level of security for authentication they won't be allowed access to MS Outlook.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/11/...ook-security-changes-secure-future-initiative
 
After the initial shock, MS Outlook is OK.
The Calendar has taken time to tweak to my liking. And I still hate that I cannot scroll from month to month.
I can still transport calendar information from phone to PC, which is a plus. My second complaint was the color palette.
I can see that this area was improved.
The area that controls spam mail is much better when setting rules with keywords to send junk right into the delete folder.
It takes time to get used to the new player on the block when the old system is easy and flawless.
 
I find that if I delete Outlook from my computer I can still use Calendar. However, it keeps downloading to my computer every day, so I have to delete it every day. I'm using Windows 10. Does anyone know of a fix for blocking Outlook from downloading to Windows 10?
 
If you have an office 365 subscription, just install the full outlook client. It’s much better than the free version that they’re trying to push and works more like a traditional windows app. It may be overkill for some, but it’s a lot nicer than the free version that they’re pushing.
 
To each is own...

There's nothing in Office 365 one wants or needs worth paying nearly $70 per year that don't already have for free.

Versions of Excel, Word, PowerPoint and for moment, Mail work fine for our needs and came free with Windows 10.

Knowing MS as one does it is likely sooner or later will be forced to "upgrade" to Windows 11 or whatever OS MS is flogging at the time. Then if things continue on current path even more MS apps will be up on a cloud and require subscriptions.

How much money does Bill Gates require?

For past decade or so MS is moving to making one pay for everything that once was free and it's all up on a cloud.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveyw...ice-365-email-hacker-made-millions-heres-how/
 
How much money does Bill Gates require?

He doesn't run the company anymore, hasn't for years. As far as money, Windows 10 was free, Windows 11 is free, etc. If the OS is free, they have to make money somewhere.

My only gripe is my Office 2019 version of Outlook (supported until sept. '25 - NOT free) no longer works with Outlook email address's. You would think it would get an update to support the new security requirements.
 
That's That!

Made mistake yesterday of logging out of Mail. For several weeks now anytime one tried to start up Mail the dreaded automatic conversion to "new" Outlook would begin. After stopping that nonsense a few times Mail would finally open. From then on just opened Mail when logging in for day and left it on until shut down computer.

Any-who went out yesterday evening and logged out of Mail. Upon returning later that night and attempting to log onto Mail was greeted with message Mail and Calendar are no longer supported by MS and can no longer send/receive email nor do anything else.

Files and other bits can be exported to new Outlook or elsewhere, but that's otherwise all she wrote.

https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/03/windows_mail_calendar_support/

For now am using plain ole Outlook. It's over kill for what one needs from an email program, but don't have time to mess about testing new options atm.
 
At work on my Windows XP company machine, I'm still using Outlook Express 6. It's still working -- for now.  
smiley-smile.gif
 

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