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Microsoft makes Outlook for Mac free. How to get it?

Microsoft declared that all Mac users can now download Outlook for free. Previously, using the email client application required a Microsoft 365 subscription.

Mac users can easily add Outlook.com, Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo!, or IMAP accounts in Outlook to enjoy the best mail and calendar app on macOS whether they are at home, at work, or in school.

MIcrosoft
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The Outlook for Mac application completes Outlook for iOS, offering users a dependable, powerful, and consistent experience that extends Outlook’s best-in-class functionality into the beloved Apple environment.

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Users can handle numerous accounts, including those from Google, iCloud, Microsoft, Yahoo, IMAP, and more, in a single app with Microsoft Outlook for Mac. Using a personal email account to sign into Outlook gives users access to “enterprise-grade security, with secure sign-on to authenticate and protect your identity,” according to a blog post.

The app has a straightforward user interface, and it lets one view their calendar with an alert or a widget in the Notification Center to keep track of their schedule while using other apps.

Users can resume tasks where they left off between iOS and Mac devices using Apple’s Handoff feature. Microsoft Outlook will introduce Profiles in a later upgrade, linking users’ email accounts to Apple’s Focus experience.

With that, users won’t receive unnecessary alerts at the wrong moment, allowing them to concentrate on that crucial work email without getting sidetracked by personal emails.

The all-accounts view allows users who have multiple accounts to handle all of their inboxes simultaneously without switching between screens. This, according to Microsoft, is a fantastic method to view all incoming messages so you can decide how to respond.

Users can obtain the updated, revamped, free version of Outlook for Mac by downloading it from the Mac App Store. To use the free app, your Mac must run macOS 11 Big Sur or a later version. Expect snappier performance and quicker sync rates with this upgraded version of Outlook because it is optimized for Apple Silicon.

Microsoft made the decision to offer Outlook for Mac free at the same time that it was redesigning the Outlook for Windows application. For almost a year, Microsoft has been testing a new web-based version of Outlook with the intention of fusing the Windows Mail app and Outlook for Windows into a unified email client.

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In essence, the new “One Outlook” app is Outlook.com as a Progressive Web App (PWA). This new client will handle a number of email providers and be free (like Windows Mail), much the same as Outlook for Mac. The company was clear that no updates to Outlook for Mac to a progressive web app are in the works.

A partner product group manager for Outlook named Michael Palermiti claims that the new Outlook for Mac is a native macOS program. Microsoft intends to keep creating and updating world-class native applications for iOS and macOS. Outlook for Mac won’t have any Progressive Web Apps.

Slack Working with Microsoft to Integrate Office 365 Enterprise Tools to it

Slack has been working really hard to gain more client base for its workplace messenger, and currently is serving more than 10 million daily active users. For that same matter, despite the rivalry between the two companies, Slack has joined its hands with Microsoft, to bring more enterprise productivity tools to it.

The company is working with Microsoft OneDrive and Outlook to get integrations to it, which it has been doing with other services too. Previously, it integrated the Azure Active Directory to it, and also, bought Astro to its messaging platform.

Slack
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Now with Microsoft 365, Slack will have integrations like Outlook Calendar Slack app, a new option in Outlook that enables the users to directly send messages to Slack, a new option in Slack for attaching files from Microsoft’s OneDrive storage, and the ability to preview Office files including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, directly in Slack.

“We want to break down walls that might otherwise exist between apps that should work together.” said Andy Pflaum, Slack’s director of product management for interoperability.

The calendar app integration in Slack will help the Outlook users to see and schedule events, directly on Slack without leaving it. Also, the users will get the events notifications and invite to new events, directly on Slack, and the users can respond to those notifications and invites from there only. The calendar will also update the user status depending upon the availability. This integration will also provide reminders to its users to join the WebEx, Skype for Business, or Zoom video calls.

For the Outlook users, the mail integration will allow them to send emails to the Slack Channel, attach files and send direct message alongside adding a note. The platform already has the options to attach files from Google Drive and Dropbox, and now, the users will have the option to get the attachments from Microsoft’s One Drive. The option will reflect under the import files menu in Slack.

Though the two companies are in the same race of competition, and even Microsoft had mentioned Slack’s name in the list of its rivals, in its annual 10-K report, the two companies know how to gain profits even from competitions.