Category: New OutlookWith over a decade of experience supporting 1000’s clients with custom and complex Outlook setups, Lisa Hendrickson brings you a clear, practical overview of the upcoming shift from Outlook Classic to New Outlook — tailored for organizations navigating this major change.
What you’ll learn in this interactive session:
Outlook Classic and New Outlook update on the switch
How all email types work in New Outlook
How different email account types such as POP/PST, IMAP, Exchange/Google Workspace will be affected by the switch.
How PST currently works in New Outlook, changes are coming
Changes with local (This Computer Only) calendar, contacts, notes, tasks
Changes with PST custom contacts, CRM
Synchronizing calendar and contacts from PST changes to come
Home customers vs Business Consumer 365 accounts
Question/Answer during each section
This is an older post I put out last fall, and so far not much has changed in regards to forms in New Outlook. If you had custom forms in classic Outlook, as of right now they are not able to convert to the New Outlook.
Custom forms were not something I got into developing for clients, but I know many that have them and spent a lot of money creating the perfect forms (for email, contacts, many other things). If you have access to your forms in another version of Outlook or still have access to classic Outlook, I would consider making a list of everything that form did, and try to figure out another option such as using 365 Forms. And if your client has a custom form for contacts, I’d check into that way later. I’m not seeing MS add in any custom fields yet (it’s one of the best parts of Outlook contacts in my opinion), hopefully they will.
My testing with adding a 365 Form into New Outlook didn’t go so great (maybe there is an app I don’t know about). You can use a link of course from your Form you create in 365 (easier to maybe make a template in 365 and have the link there with info). Some research is saying you can do other miracles but I haven’t seen it yet, Forms might be updated before 2029, otherwise it’s “find a new replacement”. Honestly, I don’t see any old forms anymore and my 365 clients haven’t gotten excited about 365 Forms.
New Outlook so far will use “365 connected apps” so you might want to find a company that has an app similar to what you need (you can search this in New Outlook (see image below). If you are a larger company needing your own 365 app, then you want to search for a Power Apps/Automate consultant. I have found a Forms consultant and am happy to refer you but their fees are on the higher level consulting quotes (probably $5k to $10k)
If you need my help with migration or helping find a referral, please use the contact form below
I do believe this timekeeping program (track actions, phone calls, notes, etc) has not been added to New Outlook. I’ve been searching for a bit and I cannot find where to use it, no research online proves it’s been added. If you want to make a case for it’s return, use this link to submit feedback. Use the blue button on the upper right https://feedbackportal.microsoft.com/feedback/forum/89a8afa3-2e1c-ec11-b6e7-0022481f8472
There is one 365 Timekeeper app for Law firms listed if you want to check it out. Zepto AI for Outlook (I have not downloaded, tested, or even knew about it until I tried to search the 365 apps for this post, use at your own descretion please). There are most likely many other programs, you can check out the “Add Apps” in the more app nav pane of New Outlook (left side of your window)
If you are interested in keeping up with what I discover on our journey to New Outlook, check out my “New Outlook Resource Guide”
If you need my help, please use the form below to get in contact, thanks! Lisa
As a long time user of Outlook Classic, the one issue I have always had is problems with searching. I also have many PST files and many email accounts so this doesn’t help. I keep Outlook optimized as this is the core product I support with my business, and yet I still have issues. Clients call me with search issues and I can help get it working but I always tell them that with the PST and email accounts they have, search may give you issues.
Back in 2023 when I started working on my testing and research for New Outlook, I was surprised to find that the one thing in Outlook Classic that I didn’t like, was amazing in New Outlook. That would be the search function.
New Outlook is cloud based (managed by the servers), so that means there is no local indexing on the PC. Indexing is how Windows can help you find things when you search or with Outlook Classic.
So yes, search is amazing and super fast, nothing I have ever seen before. There are some things to know though about New Outlook search if you are fan of searching:
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Today I had a client who called in for a few questions regarding signatures not working in his Outlook Classic. What he does is take an email from one mailbox and hits reply, then changes the “from” to be from another account, then changes the signature in that email. Works great but he didn’t have signatures setup for that other accounts. Super easy to do, showed him and now he knows. Then he said, “How will this work in New Outlook”? Well, that was on my list of things to test, so off to test!
Here is an outline of how signatures work now. Always keep in mind that all New Outlook features will and most likely change in the next few years as they develop it.
OWA – Online Web Access https://outlook.office.com/mail/ and uses a cloud signature
Outlook Classic – Common version most of us are using now, local settings available and cloud server settings. Outlook Classic has a “per email account” signature setup now. Back in the old days, you could have many for all accounts. These are local only as far as my testing shows (does not synch with OWA or New Outlook)
New Outlook – Updated look and what the future of Outlook will be, more cloud based, no local settings. Uses a cloud signature.
Interesting notes:
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From my research, New Outlook connects 3rd party apps (CRM) via the 365 connector or you have to add it in the “More apps” if they are listed. Then you can use them in New Outlook. Companies such as SalesForce, Hubspot, etc should have the updated add-ins. You can launch New Outlook and search the add-ins and see if yours is listed.
If not…what should you do next? First thing I would do is ask your CRM support team if they have the 365 connector/apps/add-ins setup to use their product in New Outlook. If they are not aware of New Outlook, I would not worry yet but in time, they will know about it from others saying it’s not working in New Outlook.
I know some very old CRM systems, especially those that had to be installed on the PC/Mac most likely will not move over to New Outlook. You can still email their support team and inquire about what they plan on doing. I know some of my clients have stated they simply have to find a new CRM. That is going to be some research you will need to put time into.
I would start with figuring out your main requirements of your CRM needs. Then ask some others in your industry what product they are using, do some searches on the internet. I don’t use a CRM so I don’t have a recommendation unfortunately. I do have my own CRM through my ticket system and newsletters that I use to manage my client information.
A few things you might consider doing:
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