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
    2023-05-15T18:21:18+00:00

    When I run outlook.exe the new version runs. It looks like the browser version with the shortcuts to calender, tasks etc, running vertically down the left-hand side with a big blue tick for Tasks. From Outlook itself, it is MSO (Version 2304 Build 16.0.16327.20200) 32-bit.

    I have searched for olk.exe using Everything but there was nothing found. I also ran "olk" and two results were found:

    These seem to be the only references to "olk" on my computer.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-05-15T18:35:18+00:00

    That's not new Outlook. It's regular Outlook with the new (and unpopular) toolbar strip down the left side instead of on the bottom left where it always used to be. The version number you showed definitely proves that. This explains why your system seems to have no trace of new Outlook.

    If you go to Outlook.com, you'll see new Outlook (essentially, since new Outlook is basically a carbon copy of Outlook.com), which superficially might look similar to classic Outlook, but once you delve into Settings, for example, you'll see is very different.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-05-15T18:58:04+00:00

    Ah, that is interesting, and makes sense. I am glad that I published the full version number so you were able to confirm, so we didn't continue down the rabbit hole. It does look v similar to the browser version of Outlook and because I clicked on the Outlook toggle to download the new version, whereupon the toolbar strip changed, and I immediately lost functionality, then naturally I assumed my problem lay with me having installed the new version that I had accepted by toggling "Yes".

    In this case, is there a way to restore the previous toolbar strip that was more functional or should I just sigh and move on?!

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-05-15T19:25:15+00:00

    Yes, I can see how that might have happened. You must have unchecked the toggle at some later point though, which in reality did remove it, but then it might have seemed like nothing changed if not looking closely.

    You should see the toolbar toggle in Outlook's Options, Advanced. Then look for a "Show apps in Outlook" check box on that screen (near the top in the Outlook Panes section). Uncheck that and restart Outlook. Microsoft says that option is only temporary, but given how unpopular the placement is, I expect that it will stick around until Microsoft finally kills old Outlook entirely (which won't be anytime soon).

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