Back in December last year, 2024, Microsoft announced via the Microsoft 365 admin center that Enterprise users would be switched over to the New Outlook for Windows from Classic Outlook in April of 2026.
At the time, the company also informed via a support article that Business plan users running the Current Channel would also be gradually made to switch over to the New Outlook. In the article, Microsoft stated:
Starting January 2025 and over the following months, if you are a classic Outlook user on the Current Channel with a Business plan, you will automatically be switched to the new Outlook after receiving a series of in-app notifications. You can choose to switch back to classic Outlook at any time, using the toggle in new Outlook. Both users and IT Admins can also turn off the automatic switch if not ready to try the new Outlook.
We will start to roll out to users with a Business Plan in the Beta Channel in November 2024 for validation and feedback.
More clarity was provided later as it wrote:
Starting in January 2025, users with Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Premium licenses are automatically migrated from the classic Outlook for Windows to new Outlook for Windows. Users receive in-app notifications before the migration and can opt out of the automatic migration through Outlook Options > General. Users who are switched to the new Outlook can toggle back to the classic Outlook if they choose.
Following that, recently, Microsoft made a change to the deployment guidance for New Outlook for Windows. Neowin noticed while browsing that the tech giant has begun including the New Outlook app by default on new Microsoft 365 (M365) deployments, although it is giving admins the option to include both New and Classic Outlooks, or just one of them.
Microsoft explains:
Install new Outlook with a new Microsoft 365 deployment
Starting with Version 2502, new deployments of Microsoft 365 desktop client apps on Windows devices will include the new Outlook app by default. Admins might choose to exclude classic or new Outlook, or to have both installed side-by-side.
To help users with a gradual migration to new Outlook and avoid the disruption abrupt changes might cause later on, organizations are encouraged to run classic and new Outlook side-by-side. For this reason, both Outlooks are turned on to install by default. However, if an organization chooses to install either new Outlook or classic Outlook only, admins can change the default behavior by configuring the install setting off or on.
If you are wondering, version 2502 of Microsoft 365 Apps was released on the current channel earlier this month on March 5, and the size of the update was around 60 MB. The latest build available for version 2502 is 18526.20168.
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