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Microsoft has reportedly been working on an updated mail client for desktop platforms, based on the company’s Outlook service. Now we have our first look at the app in action.
windows center Images shared Friday of the Outlook email client in development running on Windows. Although Microsoft’s Outlook email service has offered apps for Android and iPhone/iPad for years, there has never been a desktop app except for the Outlook app included with Microsoft Office and the Microsoft 365 subscription. That version of Outlook is more complicated and not available for free like mobile apps.
The screenshots look nearly identical to the Outlook Web App, likely confirming earlier reports that the app is built on web technologies. There’s a tab bar on the left side with buttons for mail, calendar, contacts and some Microsoft services, and a column-based layout similar to Apple Mail and Gmail on Android tablets and iPads. However, there are some differences compared to the web app: there is a ribbon at the top that can be configured to look more like the classic Outlook app, and the search bar is integrated into the window title bar. .
Notably, this isn’t supposed to replace the classic Outlook client for Mac and Windows, at least not anytime soon. Although Outlook.com can sync with multiple email (or third-party) accounts, just like Gmail on the web and mobile devices, there are countless features for power users that can’t be accessed in Outlook web (where is based).
We first heard about a potential Outlook.com desktop app in January 2021, when Windows Central reported that Microsoft was building a universal Outlook app for Mac and Windows. The app is also expected to replace the Mail & Calendar apps in Windows 10 and 11, which is something of a mixed bag. It’s not a good thing that Microsoft is replacing even more native Windows apps with a web-based app, considering it probably needs to stay running in the background at all times to receive new messages, possibly leading to higher memory usage than Outlook. or Windows. mail applications. There’s also no sign of Microsoft’s ‘Fluid’ design language that is present in many Windows 11 apps, but the design could change before the final release.
Preview is now available for work and school accounts (download link), but it doesn’t work if you have a regular Microsoft account.
Source: Windows Central
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