Microsoft is discontinuing Windows 11's Mail and Calendar apps by the end of the year

Microsoft plans to stop supporting the Windows Mail, Calendar and People apps later this year. The software giant has been transitioning existing users of these apps to the new Outlook for Windows app over the past few months and has now set December 31 as the end date for support for the Mail, Calendar and People apps.

Once the apps reach the end of support later this year, Microsoft is warning that users who have not upgraded to the new Outlook app “will no longer be able to send and receive email using Windows Mail and Calendar.”

Microsoft has been introducing the new Outlook app for Windows for years and officially reached general availability in August. The new web-based Outlook is also expected to eventually replace the full desktop version of Outlook, and Microsoft plans to give enterprise customers 12 months' notice before it begins weaning users away from the desktop version of Outlook.

Existing installations of classic Outlook via perpetual and subscription licenses will continue to be supported until at least 2029. Therefore, it will take some time for Microsoft to fully transition all Outlook users to this new app. It will begin later this year with the Mail and Calendar apps in Windows, followed by an opt-out period for Outlook on Windows. More information about Microsoft's timeline for the new Outlook for Windows can be found here.