Switch from 'new' Outlook (2023) to 'classic' outlook

Anonymous
2023-04-18T20:26:13+00:00

I need to go back to the Classic version because the 'new' Outlook lacks some features that I need for work.

This webpage https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/getting-started-with-the-new-outlook-for-windows-656bb8d9-5a60-49b2-a98b-ba7822bc7627 states "You can switch back whenever you want, just switch the toggle off in the new Outlook and it will automatically open the classic version."

There is no toggle. Is there any other way I can undo this update and go back to the previous version?

EDIT: Moved FROM Microsoft 365 Insider / Outlook / Windows TO Outlook / Outlook for Windows / For business.

Outlook | Windows | Classic Outlook for Windows | For home

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Anonymous
2023-04-19T15:15:49+00:00

Once flipped on, the toggle is irrelevant since the "old" version still exists. Just run it. You should still be able to find its shortcut in Start (and wherever else you might have had it before), but if not you will see outlook.exe in one of these places (may vary slightly depending on edition), so if necessary make a new shortcut:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16

or here:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\root\Office16

The nice thing about the New Outlook is that it's not an either/or proposition (like New Teams is). You have both old and new. You can even run them concurrently.

But if running that actually runs New Outlook for you (some have reported that's the case), then either:

  1. Uninstall Outlook

or

  1. run Regedit.exe and go here (or the same with 15.0, if you don't have 16.0):

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Preferences

And in that you will see UseNewOutlook

Set it to 0, which means that running old Outlook actually runs it.

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-05-01T20:59:01+00:00

    I switched to the New Look and then switched back within minutes. I can no longer EDIT a meeting that I did not create. The edit option is gone, I checked settings and was not successful in figuring it out, so I switched back to the classic look. That's too bad because some of the new features would have been good to try.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-04-27T12:45:20+00:00

    I have a toggle at the top right corner of my screen when I updated to the new version. See attached image.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-04-21T19:47:23+00:00

    I guess deleting the taskbar icon in your case somehow also deleted the Registry entry, but it didn't for me, which is why I went looking in the Registry. Not having that Registry entry (or deleting it if you do) is the same as it being set to 0. It's when on 1 the above problem comes in, and it needs to be handled in one way or another if someone ever wants to run old Outlook again. Most people, I imagine, don't lose the toggle in the first place, so this should be a niche problem.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-04-21T19:30:00+00:00

    Hi reseiler,

    Thank you for all your suggestions! I am able to use the old Outlook now because of your previous post.

    Just for fun I looked in the Registry editor and I do not have the UseNewOutlook option:

    Though I understand that this is not a fully formed product, it is disappointing that was made available for all users with zero documentation.

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