Email reminder and follow up in New Outlook missing

Almost a year later and these functions have not been restored. I cannot fathom removing all of the practical/functional aids that make existing in Outlook overload more bearable.

Thank you for advocating for us, Roady!

For now - my job necessitates that I stick with Classic!

Same here! :-)

There are some "high-profile" features coming in the first half of next year. Some in a "Version 1" state, some a bit more polished. For instance, Read-Only pst-file support for emails is currently planned for March 2025. Read, write, and/or import support and support for other items types (Calendar, Contacts, etc...) will be worked on after that and released as a "Version 2" and maybe even a "Version 3" state before New Outlook becomes Opt-Out and thus basically the recommended version for the majority.

For some, this is a major blocker while in other environments, pst-files have been banned for over a decade already. That's what makes it so hard to determine what gets developed first.

And yes, New Outlook will most definitely get an opt-out feature so you can continue to use Classic Outlook until its final day. However, hopefully by then proper replacements have been added for all your working scenarios and you won't need it.

That's why being able to provide feedback at this stage of the development is so important but rest assured; The Outlook and Exchange MVPs are fighting hard for all the features that really should be kept or, even better, can finally be approved upon since various "Classic" restrictions no longer apply.

Hey Roady,

Thanks for the analogy....helpful!

Change is hard, but when it comes with losing the comforts of your "daily driver" that have always worked just fine and absolutely necessary (like having AC in AZ!), that's when changes become scary; what else will be taken away? Speedometer? Door handles? I do like hearing/knowing that I can use Classic until at least 2029, giving me (and MS) several more years to figure out all the new/necessary features in New Outlook. :)

If MS does indeed have an "opt-out" feature when New Outlook if finally launched, that would be PHENOMENAL!

For now - my job necessitates that I stick with Classic!

Another poorly planned change by MS programmers. When Ford makes a new car they do not throw out everything and go back to a horse and cart. For a program to be useful the designer should look a what is being used already and improve on that not create a new format that leaves things out and do a patch up later to return those missing things. What has MS learnt over the years? Obviously not to see what its customers want.

But that's the whole thing; It showed that continuing with the current concept (Classic Outlook) wasn't going anywhere anymore in relation to modern software development and being able to deliver new features or improve on existing ones. You can fix and upgrade your car all you want, but at a certain time, you just need a new one (to stay with the imperfect car analogy).

I'm quite sure Ford started with a blank page and a new chassis when they went from a car with a combustion engine to fully electric. It's more like that; Starting over with a new framework. They then indeed re-add what was being used already and improve on that where needed/possible and added new features as well. But just like with a car, even when the look or function of the parts are the same, they might need to be redesigned to fit on the new chassis or work with the new engine. That is the stage New Outlook is currently in; Quite a few parts are still on the drawing table or still on a backlog.

As mentioned before in this thread, New Outlook is currently an opt-in when you are a Classic Outlook user. It is only there to show what's next for Outlook. This isn't a finished product yet (nowhere near even!), and it isn't advertised as such either. Some people and organizations might be able to use it as their daily driver already (or are attempting to) but this isn't true for the large majority. You can try it if you're curious, but you certainly don't have to.

See it as an "Advanced Preview" and nothing more. It's the not fully functional car that is shown at a car convention a few years before its actual release. When that happens, the opt-in for New Outlook becomes an opt-out but even then, Classic Outlook will remain "road legal" until at least 2029.

To end with another imperfect analogy; Rome wasn't built in a day...