What's new in new Outlook for Windows

New modern themes

We've added four new modern themes, which bring more personalization and expressiveness to your inbox. Select Settings   > General > Appearance > Modern themes to access themes.
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Dismiss individual or all notifications in the Notifications pane

Dismiss a single notification by hovering over it and selecting Dismiss , or dismiss all notifications in the pane using Dismiss all  at the top.
 

Enable/disable notifications for specific accounts on your device

You can now specify which accounts receive notifications and sounds on your device when you have more than one account set up. To access your notification settings, select Settings > General > Notifications. Select Expand   to see additional settings.
 

Copy conversations while offline

Copy message and copy conversation actions can now be performed when not connected to the internet, joining other available offline capabilities described here: Work offline in Outlook.

Scope search suggestions to specific entities

You can now scope your search suggestions down to specific entities such as Files, People, Mail, etc. to sort through your suggestions more easily. You will be able to navigate from the suggestion directly to the entity tab in your search results.

Send updates only to added or removed attendees

When updating meeting attendees, organizers will be prompted with an option to send updates only to added or removed attendees or to send updates to all attendees.

Learn more in Schedule a meeting or event in Outlook.

Meeting recap and meeting artifacts

Shortly after a meeting ends, meeting participants will automatically get a set of all the meeting artifacts in the calendar. These include the:

• Entry point to the meeting recap page

• Transcript

• Recording

• Any shared files

For users with access to intelligent meeting recap, they will also see the following highlights directly within Outlook:

• Number of speakers

• Number of name mentions

• Suggested tasks

Learn more in Meeting Recap with Outlook​​​​​​​.

Improved readability and a combined availability view in the Scheduling assistant

The scheduling assistant view has been upgraded to provide you with better readability. We've improved the grid lines, availability view, and much more. We've also added a combined availability bar.

Navigate the Calendar grid via keyboard arrow keys

When focused on the calendar grid, you will be able to navigate the time slots on the calendar via left/right/up/down arrow keys in day, week, and work week views.

New policy to ensure primary account matches Windows sign-on identity

This new policy makes the Windows sign-in identity the primary account. This eases the setup process for new managed devices and guarantees that company policies will always be respected.

Share Word, Excel, and PowerPoint local files 

When you are in Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint apps and you want to share a file that is saved locally on your device (not stored in a cloud location), the new Outlook for Windows will show up as a share target and you will be able to easily share the file via email.

Open attachments in desktop apps

Open attachments of all types in their respective desktop app by double clicking them.

Sort and filter improvements

Sort and Filter will now be separate buttons in the Message List. This will make it easier to change the Sorted by and Filtered by values separately.

For more details on Sorting, see Sort email messages in Outlook.

Meeting Details in the Reading Pane

When a conversation in Mail is part of a meeting, the Reading Pane will have a new and improved Meeting Details card for a more efficient and modern RSVP flow.

"Go to folder" shortcut

When focused on the folder pane, you can now press CTRL + Y to quickly navigate to a folder. Simply press the first letter of the folder name to move focus directly to that folder.

For more details, see Keyboard shortcuts for Outlook.

Use the Alt key to bring up key tips

Use the Alt key to bring up key tips when using keyboard navigation. This behavior was previously Win + Alt.

Offline support for your mail, calendar, and settings

The first set of offline capabilities in the new Outlook for Windows is now available, helping you stay productive even when you're not connected to the internet. Your mail, calendar events, contacts, and settings will be stored on your device, so you can view them even when you're offline. Additionally, you can perform key actions on your mail, such as flagging, moving, deleting, and composing messages.

Learn more in Work offline in Outlook.

Copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) emails between folders using shortcuts

Using the Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V shortcuts, you can quickly transfer emails to the desired folder. This allows you to streamline your workflow and enhance your productivity.

For more details, see Keyboard shortcuts for Outlook.

Follow your meetings

Follow is a new meeting response (RSVP) option that goes beyond the traditional Accept, Tentative, and Decline choices. It is geared towards individuals with high meeting loads and conflicting meetings each day. Follow is the ideal RSVP option for meetings you can't attend but still want to stay engaged and receive information about. Other attendees will be able to see if you are following a meeting.

Learn more in Follow a meeting in Outlook.

Search folders for People and Categories

Search folders are virtual folders that provide a view of all email items that match specific search criteria. We've introduced two new Search Folders:

• Categorized email search folders let you easily filter emails by assigned categories, enhancing inbox organization.

• Mail from specific people search folders let you automatically collect and organize emails from designated senders or contacts.

Learn about search in Use Search Folders to find messages or other Outlook items.