For over a year now, there have been rumors of Microsoft uniting all of its Outlook apps under one banner, called "One Outlook."Now, after months of silence from the tech giant, we finally have more information on this revamp for the mail client. Unfortunately, it may still be some time before you get to use it.
Microsoft's Big Plan With "One Outlook"
The news broke on ZDNet after Mary-Jo Foley heard information from "[her] sources" about One Outlook's development. As it turns out, despite Microsoft's radio silence on the topic, the company seems confident that it can begin the rollout of the app sometime in 2022.
If "One Outlook" sounds familiar to you, it's because this isn't the first time we've heard about this project. We first caught sight of it after a leak revealed the existence of One Outlook back in January 2021.
There was also an unintentional preview leak in the May 2021 update notes which showed us that One Outlook aims to bring the UI design of the web app to every device.
One Outlook also aims to combine the default Mail and Calendar apps in Windows. Foley reports that Microsoft doesn't want to rush the process, instead choosing to release One Outlook alongside Mail and Calendar. However, as time goes on, the software giant will gradually phase out Mail and Calendar and redirect people to use Outlook instead.
Now, after Microsoft "has been testing Monarch/One Outlook for several months internally with increasingly large rings of employees," the company seems confident that Outlook's new makeover is ready for public scrutiny.
Microsoft aims to get One Outlook out to the Beta channels by March/April 2022, alongside a plan to get it onto everyone's computers by October 2022. The company also plans to officially announce the app in Spring.
Microsoft doesn't want to mix things up too much, however. It fully intends to preserve the app's original name, meaning the new app will still be called "Outlook." However, its web app design will ensure that you get the same experience no matter where you get your mail from.
A Murky Outlook for Microsoft's New App?
Microsoft's intentions seem to be good. It wants to make it easier for users to get what they need as fast as possible. This involves both standardizing the Outlook UI across all apps and cutting down on app bloat by combining two Windows apps into one.
However, whether this change will be well-received or not is another story.
The company has been experimenting with adding and removing apps from the core Windows 11 experience, such as having Microsoft Teams installed by default. And by tweaking these apps, the company runs the risk of annoying people by adding apps they don't want, or removing ones they liked.
To make things worse, at launch, the One Outlook app will have been in development for almost two years. As such, there's a high chance that One Outlook will be a lot of work and time spent on something that Windows 11 users never asked for.
And if users don't want to manage their mail or set up their calendars in One Outlook, there's a good chance they'll jump ship to third-party alternatives instead.
Will the New Outlook Be "The One?"
After a long period of silence, we finally have more information as to what One Outlook is shaping up to be. We'll just have to see if the changes will be enough to convince people to make the jump to the new app.