How to permanently prevent Outlook for Mac from switching to the new GUI?

Hi RPJB,

Good day.

Hope you are doing well. Thank you for posting in Microsoft Community.

According to your description, I checked few things from my side, but currently there is not any particular settings options available. Furthermore, yes, I have gone through your scenario, and I would like to share some information with you, to make some convenient feature option for Outlook for Mac, would you mind to share this experience directly with our product developer team via feedback portal so that they can develop some relevant feature option in product service in future? Your feedback is very important for them, because they are regularly reviewing users' suggestion on feedback portal to update product service.

Here is URL link to share your experience for product service: Microsoft feedback portal

I would really appreciate your precious time and kind cooperation.

Sincerely

Darpan

Hello Darpan,

Thank you for the quick answer. I will of course be happy to share information.

For people that may read this: progress and changes are part of technology development. Not against that at all. What I do have a problem with is the choice of a developer/supplier to make changes to a user's set-up without asking, or without the option to prevent that change.

Over the last years, the New Outlook for Mac has been pushed to users. An automatic push like this last one (I cannot prevent it: I have to just let it happen and hope it will not break something, doesn't corrupt a database, or causes data loss), is very invasive and very user-unfriendly. In the past, the New Outlook proved to not offer the same features, mess up a user's set-up and even caused loss of data and, in my opinion even worse, make a user lose a lot of time on setting everything back up as it was before.

It is known that not all functionality is available. It is also a fact that the latest "improvements" are not for everyone. Outlook for Mac, for many business users, is an essential productivity tool they rely on every day. Their mail database (online, but more importantly offline) is a historic collection of primary and essential business data. A disruption can have a drastic impact. An imposed change, without asking the user, IMHO, is a really bad practice.

Whether I like it or not, Outlook simply tells me it will start up with the New Outlook experience when I restart the app.

I DON'T WANT THIS TO HAPPEN.

Does it back up the state it is in completely? Does it keep a backup of the database, should anything go wrong? Will it put everything in the exact same place as before? Will all preferences return to their original state? Can I be sure I can revert without any glitches?

I would warmly welcome a preview version of a New Outlook for Mac, that would be installed next to the original, unchanged Outlook app. A separate database, a separate app, a separate experience. One where I can compare and decide whether I like to switch to the new experience. One that allows me to first see the impact of that change and verify all features I need are offered and whether new features are worth the change.

So, had to do an unwanted forced restart and was presented with the 'new' New Outlook. My opinion remains the same.

I'd like to be able to set a preference to prevent this from happening a next time. I have opted out a couple of times and I wish to be able to make not using the New Outlook my default.

Local folders don't seem to work.

The interface is not an improvement.

Some IMAP servers don't seem work.

Google repeatedly asks for relinking.

Default e-mail account preference is lost.

Overall, it's a less productive environment.

I do not like the New Outlook for Mac.

I do not wish to use the New Outlook for Mac.

I don't understand why there's no option to have a New Outlook installed as a separate app, instead of forcing me to repeatedly try and revert. My suggestion is to offer a trial once the New Outlook for Mac is ready and stable and offers at least the same as what's available today, with added features to make it worthwhile to switch.

You know you are just putting of the inevitable. Microsoft will eventually force it so why not get used to it now?

Seems like a waste of time and energy to me.

C'est la vie

Uhm. Maybe because some functionality is not working?

Of course, I know you are right: eventually, it's an end-of-life situation and we are simply forced to use the New Outlook for Mac.

Like I said at the beginning: I am not against updates, upgrades, changes, and improvements. I simply dislike being forced to getting switched to something that doesn't fully work (yet).

I am generally very happy with Microsoft Office. I understand Microsoft needs to streamline apps and services. Over time there will always be situations like this. I am not against that. But not being able to opt out of a switch like this, being fully aware that some features are not working, is very annoying.

Outlook power users that use it across platforms/OS's and are depending on it for daily business and operation should not be confronted with this, until a switch offers at least the same capabilities as today's version.