Windows 11 is losing Mail and Calendar apps - so you'll have to use Outlook whether you like it or not

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(Image credit: Shutterstock.com / Butsaya)

Microsoft has set a date to remove the Mail and Calendar applications at the end of the year from Windows 11, as well as dropping the apps from the Microsoft store. The company will also stop putting out updates or support once the year is out. So, if you haven’t moved over to Outlook, you’ve got until December 31, 2024 to do so. 

You may notice in the coming weeks a little pop-up will appear when you open the Mail or Calendar app trying to nudge you over to the Outlook app and give it a go if you haven’t already. Of course, Windows 11 devices released in 2024 will come with the updated Outlook app as the default mail app, so if you’re working on a new machine you’re likely already using Outlook. 

You’ll still have the option to ignore the prompt and carry on with Mail and Calendar, but only until the end of the year. If you’re still keen to stick with them, you will have to make sure they’re already installed and up to date on any device you plan to be using them on (like your home computer, work set up, personal laptop and so on). 

Sticking with it

Do bear in mind that you won’t be receiving any security updates or bug fixes once the cut-off point passes, and there’s no guarantee after the fact that Microsoft won’t bin them off entirely soon after. 

Users are still on the fence when it comes to embracing Microsoft Outlook, with some eager to get to know the updated interface and others adamant about not moving away from the familiar Mail and Calendar apps. Either way, you don’t seem to have much choice, and having yet another message from Microsoft pop up to encourage them to move to their newer software may not go down with users who are already sick of Microsoft's nagging.

Via Windows Latest

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Muskaan Saxena
Computing Staff Writer

Muskaan is TechRadar’s UK-based Computing writer. She has always been a passionate writer and has had her creative work published in several literary journals and magazines. Her debut into the writing world was a poem published in The Times of Zambia, on the subject of sunflowers and the insignificance of human existence in comparison. Growing up in Zambia, Muskaan was fascinated with technology, especially computers, and she's joined TechRadar to write about the latest GPUs, laptops and recently anything AI related. If you've got questions, moral concerns or just an interest in anything ChatGPT or general AI, you're in the right place. Muskaan also somehow managed to install a game on her work MacBook's Touch Bar, without the IT department finding out (yet).

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