New Outlook for Mac Preview Capabilities Include IMAP and S/MIME Support -- Redmondmag.com

New Outlook for Mac Preview Capabilities Include IMAP and S/MIME Support

By Kurt Mackie
03/24/2021

Microsoft on Wednesday announced the availability of new capabilities that were added to the "new Outlook for Mac preview" e-mail client app.

The new Outlook for Mac preview was first introduced by Microsoft back in 2019. Microsoft released it as a preview more generally in mid-October 2020, per this September Microsoft Tech Community post. In 2021 (maybe two years later), the new Outlook for Mac is still at the preview stage. However, some of its lagging features, which were previously described back in September, can now be tried.

One of the new features available in the new Outlook for Mac preview is support for iCloud, Yahoo and IMAP accounts.

On the security side of things, organizations can use Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) to encrypt messages between correspondents using the new Outlook for Mac preview client. It's also possible to use the Microsoft Information Protection service to label and classify data that might appear in e-mails according to policies set by IT departments.

For end users, it's possible now to share calendars and mailboxes with other users. Calendar sharing can be done directly from the inbox, and it's possible to share calendar invites with Microsoft Teams users, too.

A "Favorites" feature will let end users add their important contacts, if wanted, for quicker access. Contact cards in the new Outlook for Mac preview now have "panels" offering quick access to associated e-mails and files. These cards have been redesigned to be "adaptive," so they scale across other Microsoft 365 services.

Users can tap saved searches for reuse. The announcement explained that "saved searches are virtual folders that dynamically display a set of search results."

The new Outlook for Mac preview can be tried by activating a toggle button within the application itself, as described in this Microsoft support document. These new features require using various builds of the Beta Channel version 16.46, according to that document.

A bunch of other Outlook for Mac features scheduled for March release are described at the Microsoft 365 Roadmap page. It's not clear from Microsoft's various announcements when the new Outlook for Mac client will reach "general availability," or commercial release.

About the Author

Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.

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