If you need a powerful client to manage your email, contacts, and calendar on your Mac, you could do a lot worse than Outlook. Its biggest downside used to be licensing requirements — you had to have some kind of Office license or Microsoft 365 subscription. On Monday, Microsoft lifted that requirement, making Outlook free for all Mac users. Just grab it from the App Store and go.
Outlook supports many email sources other than Microsoft (which often comes at a cost). Along with Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com, as well as Hotmail and MSN, Outlook for Mac also works with Gmail, Yahoo Mail, iCloud, IMAP, and POP accounts.
Outlook for Mac isn’t just a port of the Windows version, though many interface elements are shared across platforms, including the Focus Inbox and swipe gestures. Microsoft has improved Outlook specifically for macOS, with native support for Apple Silicon and Mac-specific features like Handoff to iPhone, Calendar widgets, and Reminders in Notification Center. Microsoft also says it’s “creating a peek at upcoming calendar events in the menu bar,” which will soon be available on the app.
The new free Outlook software is available for download in the Mac App Store.
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