Hi I see that the previous thread on this topic has been locked. I hope that what I have written below is not considered abuse etc. Tried to get back to the old outlook. I used the outlook.exe to start "old" outlook. BUT the issue is that I can NO LONGER add accounts even when the account is an outlook account. GMAIL accounts also cannot be added even when I use the server settings from GMAIL. I have tried to manually add and nothing works for these accounts. Functionality that was great has now been dumbed down to a level that reduces it's functionality. Have tried all the security settings and old outlook does not like any of them. Have tried to add a weblink calendar to Outlook "old" under internet can't be done. Error message is cannot verify or add the calendar in outlook. Please verify the link is a valid calendar link. Was great functionality to add a different work related calendar. The Old outlook enabled me to save .msg and pst folders to my local directories. I do this so that I can group subjects together. So if I need to review the outlook folder, I can just load the pst file to outlook. This is no longer possible

Windows Update --> Microsoft Update will update perpetual MSI versions of Office such as Office 2016. For M365 Perpetual and Subscription, updates are automatic but can be initiated from Classic Outlook by clicking File, Office Account, Update Options, Update Now. I see from time to time that the Update button shows an update is available but if you check Update History you already have the latest build for the Office Channel, Update history for Microsoft 365 Apps (listed by date) - Office release notes | Microsoft Learn . For New Outlook updates happen automatically but you can force an update if it's not updating for any reason. Right click the Windows Start button and click Run and put this command in the Run box and click OK: olk.exe --force-update

Sadly the updates to Microsoft 365 do NOT seem to be happening automatically and just to add to the fun if I update Microsoft 365 through Outlook Excel does not seem to know and starts downloading the whole thing again if I hit the update button...but Excel reports that I am on Version 2406 build 17726.20160 Click to Run which is the same as Outlook. I have not looked at Word or Powerpoint yet. I checked on 4 machines I have at home ( 1 runs Windows 10 Pro , the other 3 run Windows 10 Regular). None of the Office installs are getting updated. So it seems that this is not just a one off issue. The normal "check for updates" all report as being totally up to date...but Office 365 says different... (oh sorry it is now Microsoft 365 I guess somebody in marketing needed something to do....). Why am I running Windows 10 and not 11 you may ask? Simple: $$$$ and time cost. Two of the 4 machines can not run Windows 11. For example the machine I am typing on is HP ZBook with 24 GB memory, 4 Cores AMD FirePro. 2TB SD, 15 inch screen. It works fine not but it can not run 11. Not cheap to replace it and I don't want to support two different OS releases. So until I am totally forced to go to 11 due to lack of security updates I am sticking with W10. W11 offers ME zero benefits. "New Outlook" frankly is a joke and a sick one at that. As others have said in "Old Outlook" ( installed desktop) "New Outlook" is being promoted as an upgrade to "Old Outlook" ( else why is the a button in "Old Outlook" to "upgrade" ???) . Note : I have been using "Office" before there was an "Office" back in Windows 3.1 days back in 1992.

Based on what you shared you are up to date for M365 Office Current Channel on Version 2406 Build 17726.20160. To verify you can check the Update History page, Update history for Microsoft 365 Apps (listed by date) - Office release notes | Microsoft Learn . I sometimes see Office advertising that there is a newer build but does not update. Since you are on the latest build, I would ignore the update notification. The next scheduled production build will be Version 2407 on ~July 29. It's possible there will be another build of 2406 but it's not currently scheduled.

So now it is telling me after I manually updated this morning (2024/07/19) that I am on version 2407 (Build 17830.20084) ....which appears that I am for some reason I am in the "Insider Program" (to see the Insider release info go to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-current-channel-preview). Interestingly enough I don't see anyway of going back to the "regular" channel but I guess that is not a big issue either way. No need to reply. Thanks Stephen

Karl, thanks for clarifying that "new outlook" is not a replacement of desktop Outlook, it is a much more limited program. But how do I get back the desktop version of outlook to my windows 11, together with my Microsoft 365 plan? Wherever I look I just get info on how to (re)install Microsoft 365, and in that package only installs the "new Outlook" or "classic Oulook" not the full desktop version. My story; installed office 365 /microsoft 365 a few years back on a windows 10 (or 11) home pc. Full desktop versions of excel outlook etc. But I noted that when typing text the screen update was very slow, I could type a whole word before any change on the screen. Got help from Microsoft by phone (!) that explained that what looked like desktop apps was actually just containers for web versions, hence the slow texting. I got help to reinstall the microsoft 365, and all is ok with excel etc. but Outlook is very limited. Apart from lacking all advanced features (not sure if i need at home) I can only add accounts if I allow all emails and contacts to be synced with microsoft. It should be options to work directly with the mail server, but that is not the case. Also got confirmed by microsoft that you have to sync all with microsoft. So is there a way back to the normal desktop version of outlook that I am used to? Or shall I rather go for something free like Thundbird email?

New Outlook vs Old Outlook

Anonymous

I see that the previous thread on this topic has been locked. I hope that what I have written below is not considered abuse etc.

Tried to get back to the old outlook. I used the outlook.exe to start "old" outlook. BUT the issue is that I can NO LONGER add accounts even when the account is an outlook account. GMAIL accounts also cannot be added even when I use the server settings from GMAIL. I have tried to manually add and nothing works for these accounts. Functionality that was great has now been dumbed down to a level that reduces it's functionality. Have tried all the security settings and old outlook does not like any of them.
Have tried to add a weblink calendar to Outlook "old" under internet can't be done. Error message is cannot verify or add the calendar in outlook. Please verify the link is a valid calendar link. Was great functionality to add a different work related calendar.
The Old outlook enabled me to save .msg and pst folders to my local directories. I do this so that I can group subjects together. So if I need to review the outlook folder, I can just load the pst file to outlook. This is no longer possible

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Anonymous

2024-07-18T18:34:33+00:00

Windows Update --> Microsoft Update will update perpetual MSI versions of Office such as Office 2016.

For M365 Perpetual and Subscription, updates are automatic but can be initiated from Classic Outlook by clicking File, Office Account, Update Options, Update Now. I see from time to time that the Update button shows an update is available but if you check Update History you already have the latest build for the Office Channel, Update history for Microsoft 365 Apps (listed by date) - Office release notes | Microsoft Learn.

For New Outlook updates happen automatically but you can force an update if it's not updating for any reason. Right click the Windows Start button and click Run and put this command in the Run box and click OK: olk.exe --force-update
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Anonymous

2024-07-19T11:48:54+00:00

Sadly the updates to Microsoft 365 do NOT seem to be happening automatically and just to add to the fun if I update Microsoft 365 through Outlook Excel does not seem to know and starts downloading the whole thing again if I hit the update button...but Excel reports that I am on Version 2406 build 17726.20160 Click to Run which is the same as Outlook. I have not looked at Word or Powerpoint yet.

I checked on 4 machines I have at home ( 1 runs Windows 10 Pro , the other 3 run Windows 10 Regular). None of the Office installs are getting updated. So it seems that this is not just a one off issue.

The normal "check for updates" all report as being totally up to date...but Office 365 says different...

(oh sorry it is now Microsoft 365 I guess somebody in marketing needed something to do....).

Why am I running Windows 10 and not 11 you may ask?
Simple: $$$$ and time cost.

Two of the 4 machines can not run Windows 11. For example the machine I am typing on is HP ZBook with 24 GB memory, 4 Cores AMD FirePro. 2TB SD, 15 inch screen. It works fine not but it can not run 11. Not cheap to replace it and I don't want to support two different OS releases. So until I am totally forced to go to 11 due to lack of security updates I am sticking with W10. W11 offers ME zero benefits.

"New Outlook" frankly is a joke and a sick one at that. As others have said in "Old Outlook" ( installed desktop) "New Outlook" is being promoted as an upgrade to "Old Outlook" ( else why is the a button in "Old Outlook" to "upgrade" ???) . Note : I have been using "Office" before there was an "Office" back in Windows 3.1 days back in 1992.
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Anonymous

2024-07-19T14:30:07+00:00

Based on what you shared you are up to date for M365 Office Current Channel on Version 2406 Build 17726.20160. To verify you can check the Update History page, Update history for Microsoft 365 Apps (listed by date) - Office release notes | Microsoft Learn.

I sometimes see Office advertising that there is a newer build but does not update. Since you are on the latest build, I would ignore the update notification. The next scheduled production build will be Version 2407 on ~July 29. It's possible there will be another build of 2406 but it's not currently scheduled.
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Anonymous

2024-07-19T15:24:27+00:00

So now it is telling me after I manually updated this morning (2024/07/19) that I am on version 2407 (Build 17830.20084) ....which appears that I am for some reason I am in the "Insider Program" (to see the Insider release info go to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-current-channel-preview).

Interestingly enough I don't see anyway of going back to the "regular" channel but I guess that is not a big issue either way.

No need to reply.
Thanks
Stephen
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Anonymous

2024-08-17T09:38:42+00:00

Karl, thanks for clarifying that "new outlook" is not a replacement of desktop Outlook, it is a much more limited program.

But how do I get back the desktop version of outlook to my windows 11, together with my Microsoft 365 plan?

Wherever I look I just get info on how to (re)install Microsoft 365, and in that package only installs the "new Outlook" or "classic Oulook" not the full desktop version.

My story; installed office 365 /microsoft 365 a few years back on a windows 10 (or 11) home pc. Full desktop versions of excel outlook etc. But I noted that when typing text the screen update was very slow, I could type a whole word before any change on the screen. Got help from Microsoft by phone (!) that explained that what looked like desktop apps was actually just containers for web versions, hence the slow texting. I got help to reinstall the microsoft 365, and all is ok with excel etc. but Outlook is very limited. Apart from lacking all advanced features (not sure if i need at home) I can only add accounts if I allow all emails and contacts to be synced with microsoft. It should be options to work directly with the mail server, but that is not the case. Also got confirmed by microsoft that you have to sync all with microsoft.

So is there a way back to the normal desktop version of outlook that I am used to? Or shall I rather go for something free like Thundbird email?
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1 person found this answer helpful.

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