New Outlook for Windows Regression: No Local IMAP/SMTP Support | Hacker News Reader

New Outlook for Windows Regression: No Local IMAP/SMTP Support

imgur.com

Hi, I installed the New Outlook for Windows, and I learnt that there is no IMAP/SMTP connection option if the IMAP/SMTP servers are not exposed to the internet (for example, when they are available only in VPN or internally or on a local network). Outlook says that it needs to upload everything to the Microsoft Cloud in order work. That is quite a serious functionality loss compared to the old Outlook, and a bit of a privacy nightmare.

See: https://imgur.com/a/2ZrO3F1

That makes it impossible to use Outlook in my business.

I remember the New Outlook for Mac had a similar start, but then the IMAP/SMTP connection to servers which are not on the internet was added.

I know there are people here from Microsoft. Do you know if this feature will be re-added to the New Outlook for Windows before the general release? Microsoft doesn't want to give me a straight answer.

P.s. I am also interested in your opinion about this move.

This is the free consumer Outlook. The "real" Outlook from the Office suite still supports IMAP and does not use the cloud.

Are you sure? I have a paid office subscription, and I use that Outlook. I switched to the New Outlook for Windows from the app (it was offered to me), and I took the screenshot from there.

I know the New Outlook for Mac is free now, and I heard about plans to make the New Outlook for Windows free as well (to replace Mail), but I didn't know about a different business version.

As far as I see, the New Outlook for Windows/Mac will be a web app in Electron or with similar technology, and the application that interacts with the IMAP/SMTP is actually on a server.

The add-ins for the New Outlook for Windows/Mac also do not support accessing anything local:

"Data sync service Enable bidirectional synchronization of mail items with partner systems. Partially supported. Essential features are yet to be addressed to create a similar experience to VSTO or COM add-ins."

The migration guide of older plugins (C#) they recommend moving common features to a shared module and then running that shared module in a Azure Cloud, since the only thing these web based plugins can do is http requests.

Edit: Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/outlook...

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