Microsoft is still hoping that Outlook Classic holdouts will eventually start using new Outlook on Windows 11, and it is testing at least ten new features. This includes advanced Mail Merge, a new mini calendar, a single view for all your accounts, a reliable notifications experience, and a bunch of other changes, but I don’t think they’re enough to undo the damage.
I use New Outlook and Outlook Classic to manage more than ten Microsoft 365 workplaces, and while Outlook Classic works very well, New Outlook is a hot mess. It doesn’t even support most attributes in the Mail Merge experience, and the most annoying issue is that it doesn’t handle notifications correctly.
In our tests, Windows Latest observed that the new Outlook takes more than 10 seconds to load an email from a notification, whereas Outlook Classic or any other email client opens in less than 10 seconds. However, a slow-opening notification is still better than no notifications at all.
Over the past few weeks, as I added more accounts to New Outlook, I noticed that it stopped sending me alerts for my other accounts.
Turns out it’s a known issue, and Microsoft is aware of it. I’m told that Microsoft is testing a major update for New Outlook on Windows 11 to address underlying performance issues, including slow or delayed notifications, but it’s unclear when that change will begin rolling out.
Regardless, for now, there are at least 10 features that have been confirmed with a release date.
1. Greater control over folders in new Outlook (October 2026)
Microsoft says Outlook’s October 2026 update will give you more control over folders. This means you can now choose whether the unread or total item count appears in your folder pane. For example, if you want, you can now show the count for unread items in the folder pane (left side). Or you can choose to show the total items/emails in that folder.
Right now, Outlook only shows you the unread count, but you might want to see the total count sometimes. It’s really up to the use case or your preference. For example, some might remember the item count from yesterday, and if there’s anything new, they’ll notice immediately because the count would have gone up.
Or you might want to see how many emails are in a folder. For those use cases, you can now right-click in the folder pane and select one of the options.
2. New Outlook to finally support advanced Mail Merge (September 2026)
New Outlook has a Mail Merge feature, but it’s quite basic, and it’s mostly about sending the same email to many people. It defeats the whole point of “Mail Merge,” which is to replace fields like name, company, location, invoice number, etc.
Right now, Mail Merge is mostly about sending the same email to many people. The improvement means Outlook can replace fields like name, company, location, invoice number, plan name, etc. With basic support, which is available right now, you can replace fields with values per email address.
Microsoft is testing an advanced version of Mail Merge, which lets each recipient receive a separate email where only their email address appears in the “To” field. You’ll be able to personalize it with other details as well, including their names.
3. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files now integrate better with the new Outlook (September 2026)
Microsoft is testing a new feature for Windows 11’s Outlook where you will be able to send local Office files as a copy via email, even when you’re actively working in an open file.
4. Folder pane now gives you greater control (September 2026)
Microsoft is testing a new experience for your favorite folders where you can switch between different folders without opening the full folder pane.
For example, if you’ve collapsed the favorite pane entirely, each of the favorite folders will appear in a vertical list, so you can click the one you use the most and always see the total count or unread emails. And more importantly, Outlook will remember your preference, so if you right-click and choose one of the options, your selection will not change if you reopen the app next time.
Microsoft says the experience is similar to what you had in Outlook Classic.
5. All-accounts view coming to New Outlook in August 2026
Similar to Gmail’s All inboxes feature, you will soon have a new All accounts view where you can see emails from all your connected accounts in a single inbox view.
