My outlook is stuck on the new version. How to go back to classic version?

It seems you have found a work around, but if you want a much easier solution, simply search on youtube "timbo tube outlook guide" and you'll find my very simple 3 minute tutorial. It takes about as much time to do it while watching :)

July 11, 2024

This is what I had to do to get Classic Outlook back. Ridiculous it took this much effort, but it worked for me.

Problem:

• I bought a new Surface (ARM) and it installed the latest Office, not my original Office 365 .
• Outlook was the new one, no way to switch back to Classic Outlook.
  • Toggle back was missing or crashed out.
• New Outlook lacks Classic features, no Outlook VBA , etc.

side note: Discovered that Excel.exe etc was there but Outlook.exe is now gone.

Solution: 

From Settings, click "Add or Remove Programs", then uninstall all Office apps :

• OneNote
• Project, Visio
• All Office Apps
• The little Office launch pad thing

Restart

Download the offline installer

(these steps can vary , basically you want to get to the place in your Microsoft account where you install Office)

1. Login to MS account on the web
2. Services & Subscriptions
3. Click "Install premium Microsoft 365 apps like Word, ... , on your device."
4. Click dropdown: Choose a version
5. Click "Offline installer"
6. Click "Install"
   • this will download a big file : O365HomePremRetail.img   (4.71gb)

Install Office from the offline img file

1. Nav to where you downloaded the file.
2. Right click it
3. Mount, to mount the file as a drive.
4. In the mounted drive, nav to \Office
5. Right click version you want : Setup32.exe or Setup64.exe
6. Run as Admin
7. Let it churn until done
8. Unmount the drive = right click, Eject

Disable Updates

1. Launch an office app
2. Alt F D = Account Options , Disable updates so it won’t give you the crappy Outlook

Registering

There were some product key messages but I don't recall what I did at this point (it was late) but i just stayed logged into my MS account online and launched Word and Outlook etc and eventually it figured out that I had a legit license, perhaps after configuring my Outlook with email address? The first time I did the above steps I actually installed the offlline version before removing the existing version and did not see the product key messages, so that might be better. But I wanted to ensure no residue whatsoever.

Simply go on youtube, search "Timbo Tube Outlook Guide", follow my 3 minute video and all will be fixed :)

keep looking you will find it. took me quite a time. watch out as mine started with word 'calender' not outlook.

i cannot find the classic outlook from the windows start menu. I try to follow the next steps but still nothing changes.