New Outlook has Mixed Benefits

Classic Outlook has aged like a good wine, but Microsoft is pushing more users to the New Outlook for managing emails, contacts and calendars. Some features are gone from the New Outlook, and some are hidden.

Deciding whether to hang in with the Classic Outlook or go to the New version depends on how you use the app. However, keep in mind that Microsoft is like Lola. What Microsoft wants, Microsoft eventually gets – and at some point, they’ll stop supporting Classic Outlook to force everyone into New Outlook.

Microsoft touts a more minimalist interface for New Outlook that it says is more in line with Windows 11 and AI and handles email, calendars and contacts better. One of the specific benefits is they claim is the use of AI to help you write better emails, but you can turn off the autofill. They also claim New Outlook can let you access your emails – including Gmail, Yahoo, and even your “shopping account” – from one spot on every Windows device. And you can organize your appointments, share availability and events with a click, and ensure time for important people and events.

However, Microsoft took away a number of key functions that they may or may not restore. These include features involving multiple mailbox accounts and ways in which accounts can be shared from SharePoint. Some “take-aways” are scheduled to be restored, and some are still under investigation. The company says it’s looking for user feedback in deciding what to restore and when that might happen.

Quite honestly, we think this hurts Microsoft’s credibility, but it also shows where all major software companies are headed. They will make changes seemingly on a whim without regard to how those changes affect our ability to maximize our production. Features might come back – or they might not.

Together, we need to be flexible in how we use software such as Outlook, but on the other hand, we can force the issue somewhat. We can look specifically at how you use Outlook and determine what Classic features we may be able to recapture some things that were lost or help you find ways to make better use of New Outlook.

As much as we might yearn for the “good old days” of apps like Classic Outlook, it’s likely we’ll all be using New Outlook sooner rather than later. So, let’s get a head start on adapting to it. Call us – 973-433-66765 – or email us to see how you can bridge the Classic and the New to make Outlook work better for you.

Dumpster Diving – Email Style

We get overloaded with email and tend to let it just sit in our inboxes. When you max out your storage space, which is the equivalent of an electronic dumpster, you can create problems that are time-consuming and costly to fix.

Email overload became a vexing problem for a client who had 160,000 messages in their inbox, which Outlook limits to 50 GB. They wanted to delete some messages and keep some, but there were just too many messages to go through individually.

We decided the most practical course of action would be to delete all the messages except for those from the last three months. But that solution created other problems. There are limits on how much email you can simply delete. There’s also an issue of how Outlook handles deleted files: they just don’t go to an electronic landfill. They can go to recoverable folders, where they stay for 30 days before going to the “landfill.”

You can delete a large number of files by going to your Outlook online instead of your Outlook mail client. That’s what we had to do, but the process took hours. You can prevent the problem by just paying more attention to your inbox management. Try some of these measures:

  • Delete unwanted/unneeded email as you go. New Outlook’s default lists your messages on the left, and the preview pane on the right shows you the content. As long as you don’t open the email, it won’t harm your system. You can simply click on the trash can in the list to delete the message.
  • Set up subfolders within each account. Within each account, you can set up subfolders and drag-and-drop file messages there. That keeps them out of the dumpster.
  • Empty deleted emails on a regular basis. Whether you do it daily, weekly or biweekly, empty your deleted emails as a routine task. If you have Outlook on your mobile devices, you can delete unnecessary emails without needing your computer. I make deleting emails from my phone a regular task while traveling.

If you need to empty an electronic dumpster, we can help you set up and manage the process. If you need to institute a system to manage email across multiple accounts and users, we can help you determine rules that meet your needs and implement a program. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to talk about it.

Quarantined Messages and Email Security

You may be getting emails from Microsoft about quarantined messages and wondering what’s going on. The short explanation is that Microsoft’s email filters are getting better and that the company is trying to protect you from harmful attachments and links that can compromise your tech system’s integrity.

We typically don’t know about a message we haven’t seen until the sender contacts us because we haven’t responded to them. In today’s age of more sophisticated phishing campaigns, deep fakes, and more malicious code, we rely on our email systems, such as Outlook and Gmail, to protect us from ourselves with stronger filters. Too many people are careless about opening attachments or clicking links that lead to scams. Even the most careful person can fall victim to clicking on something they shouldn’t. So, Microsoft makes you take an extra step or two in hopes you will slow down and give more thought to the action the sender wants you to take.

It used to be enough to check your spam or junk mail folder in Outlook, and it’s still important with the New Outlook. As filters get more robust, more messages get diverted there, but, as the commercials say, wait, there’s more. You are likely getting messages from Microsoft that they have quarantined messages based on their parameters for determining if a message may be part of a phishing campaign or has a malicious link or attachment.

If you have Office 365, you won’t be able to access the quarantined message in your inbox. Instead, you’ll get a message with the following information for each quarantined message:

  • Sender: The email address of the sender of the quarantined message.
  • Subject: The Subject line of the quarantined message.
  • Date: The date/time that the message was quarantined in UTC.

You’ll also get a link. If you don’t understand what’s going on, you probably feel safer just deleting the message with the link. However, because the filters are more robust – based on an array of factors – you could miss a useful or important message.

Individuals and office administrators who use Office 365 as a web app can find their quarantined messages by clicking on this link: https://security.microsoft.com/quarantine?viewid=Email. It takes you to a Microsoft Defender page where you will see who each message was from and why it was quarantined. Messages are held there for 30 days. During that time, you can release a message, which will send it to your inbox, where you can open it and decide what you want to do. You can also delete a message directly from the quarantine page. We recommend you bookmark this link.

Of course, these security measures put an onus on senders, especially those who legitimately send bulk email, to ensure their DNS records are up to date and follow accepted anti-spam policies for outgoing mail.

We can help you by reviewing your incoming and outgoing email settings to maximize your security and email handling efficiency. Call us – 973-433-6676 – or email us to talk about it.