Microsoft has been publicly testing a completely new Outlook email app for Windows for almost a year now, but it was limited to people already in the Office Insider program. Microsoft is now ready for more people to try it.

The official Microsoft 365 Roadmap has been updated to explain that the new Outlook for Windows will be available to everyone who switches the "New Outlook" toggle at the top-right corner of the application, starting in April 2023. Right now, the toggle is only visible to Office Insiders, allowing people to switch between the current legacy Outlook app and the version that will eventually replace it. It's a sign that Microsoft wants feedback from a wider audience, in preparation for a full rollout.

The new Outlook Windows app is based on the web app (Outlook.com) and was missing many crucial features at first -- offline support, IMAP, and POP, to name a few. The app also feels like a hybrid of the Outlook web app and desktop Outlook, with a more modern design and a few new features.

There's still no word on when Microsoft will start to fully replace the old Outlook with the new app, or if the new Outlook will eventually arrive on Mac. Microsoft overhauled the Mac app in 2019, and going from a well-made native application to a web-based UI could be a downgrade.

The new Outlook will still be limited to people who already have Outlook in a Microsoft 365 subscription, at least for the immediate future.

Source: Microsoft 365 Roadmap