Earlier today, we reported about an upcoming change Microsoft is bringing to the enablement/disablement of New Outlook for Windows and Outlook for the web policies.
While the New Outlook for Windows app is obviously newer, a lot of users, including many Neowin readers, have expressed disappointment and annoyance about it as they feel Classic Outlook outclasses the New Outlook in terms of feature set, even as the latter is starting to get some much needed key features like better offline mode, personal non-MSA support, and more.
A Reddit user has discovered a way to disable, or rather bypass, the installation of the New Outlook for Windows app on PCs. It is relatively simple, too, and simply involves tricking the Microsoft Store and Windows into believing you are eventually going to install the application even though you don"t intend to and just want to keep it hanging.
The Redditor Commercial_Use6316 explains how it works:
I wonder if this works for everyone, but I have successfully stopped the new Outlook from appearing whenever I restart my computer, for the past few days. I"ve tried to uninstall it a thousand times but yeah, now here"s the solution.
- uninstall that thing from your Settings>Apps>Installed apps
- go to the Microsoft store and look for the new outlook
- Install new outlook, yes, click the install button, and pause the installation immediately.
- close the Microsoft store
that"s it. hope this can help more people to get rid of it.
Hence, essentially, the trick involves keeping the Microsoft Store download manager in an infinite install loop simply by pausing the app"s installation. However, like any bypass trick, this may not work forever, and Microsoft may soon patch this loop.