New Outlook for Windows Regression: No Local IMAP/SMTP Support

New Outlook for Windows Regression: No Local IMAP/SMTP Support(imgur.com)

5 points by samuel-freeman 2 years ago | 3 comments

Hi, I installed the New Outlook for Windows, and I learnt that there is no IMAP/SMTP connection option if the IMAP/SMTP servers are not exposed to the internet (for example, when they are available only in VPN or internally or on a local network). Outlook says that it needs to upload everything to the Microsoft Cloud in order work. That is quite a serious functionality loss compared to the old Outlook, and a bit of a privacy nightmare.

See: https://imgur.com/a/2ZrO3F1

That makes it impossible to use Outlook in my business.

I remember the New Outlook for Mac had a similar start, but then the IMAP/SMTP connection to servers which are not on the internet was added.

I know there are people here from Microsoft. Do you know if this feature will be re-added to the New Outlook for Windows before the general release? Microsoft doesn't want to give me a straight answer.

P.s. I am also interested in your opinion about this move.

andris9 2 years ago | |

This is the free consumer Outlook. The "real" Outlook from the Office suite still supports IMAP and does not use the cloud.

samuel-freeman 2 years ago | | |

Are you sure? I have a paid office subscription, and I use that Outlook. I switched to the New Outlook for Windows from the app (it was offered to me), and I took the screenshot from there.

I know the New Outlook for Mac is free now, and I heard about plans to make the New Outlook for Windows free as well (to replace Mail), but I didn't know about a different business version.

As far as I see, the New Outlook for Windows/Mac will be a web app in Electron or with similar technology, and the application that interacts with the IMAP/SMTP is actually on a server.

The add-ins for the New Outlook for Windows/Mac also do not support accessing anything local:

"Data sync service Enable bidirectional synchronization of mail items with partner systems. Partially supported. Essential features are yet to be addressed to create a similar experience to VSTO or COM add-ins."

The migration guide of older plugins (C#) they recommend moving common features to a shared module and then running that shared module in a Azure Cloud, since the only thing these web based plugins can do is http requests.

Edit: Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/outlook...