Microsoft Outlook for PC and Mac

Software Reviews and Criticism

• By jdidn736

  Good, but notification badges don't work

  Outlook is an absolute powerhouse of an email client. I use it to manage multiple email accounts, and it's wealth of features and integration with other Microsoft 365 software keep me using it. I would absolutely recommend this app to anyone who asked. There is one issue, however, that makes me rank it four stars instead of five. For some reason, notification badges (the little red circle that pops up on the apps icon when there are unread emails) doesn't work in the PC App Store version. When I used Outlook downloaded directly from Microsoft's website, and on my iPad and iOS Outlook apps, notification badges work perfectly well. But on the PC app store version, even though I have my settings configured to give Outlook max notification priviledges and badge notifications are turned on, badges don't update until I open the app - then all of the sudden I'll see the red circle letting me know that I have 6 unread emails. I've verified that this is not an issue with my settings, by double, triple, and quadruple checking that badge notifications are turned on. It really is unfortunate to read important emails later than I otherwise would because I don't see that there are unread emails in my inbox until opening an app window. So, Microsoft, if you would just fix this issue that only exists in the PC app store version of Outlook, I'd love to increase your rating to 5 stars.

  
  
• By PleaseFixTheLogin

  Great support

  Have used Outlook forever on various platforms. Every email platform has its plusses and minuses, for me Outlook has always worked better than other options. Never wrote a review before today though. Was having an issue with a Google account that seemed to be an Outlook issue. Outlook frequently solicits feedback and claims to offer support, but I have learned not to expect any support from Microsoft. I tried a chat anyway. Amazingly, I got a knowledgeable person right away. Asked intelligent questions, dug into the problem. In the end we determined it was a bug (which is what I had expected), he submitted an internal bug report. I would have been impressed just getting that far. I was really surprised when 2 hours later the bug was fixed! Maybe a coincidence, but an issue that had been happening consistently for weeks stopped happening. Can't 100% say it was the result of the bug report, but I'm impressed even if it was unrelated due to the quality of the support.

  
  
• By Isabomb1234

  Great App, Confusing to Maneuver!

  Let me just say that this app is great. Super smooth, very fancy, I should say. BUT, there is one very big problem that brings it down to 3 stars. It's very hard to learn your way around. For example, where the heck are the setting??? I've been searching for settings for a LONG time! There's no settings button! Another thing, why I can't I change the display? It's in dark mode, and I can't find the button to change it to light mode! And, yes, I do know about the moon/sun icon that changes the brightness of ONLY the text part, but not the whole screen, which is just dumb! Seriously, where is the setting!! There's absolutely no settings button anywhere, and I don't understand why you wouldn't put in a simple, dumb SETTINGS BUTTON!! It's not that hard! Maybe it has to do with the fact that I have a Pc, and not a dell or something. I swear, if you only have a settings button for Dell, then you're just horrible. You know, after writing this, I think you deserve TWO STARS, not three! I'm changing it right now!! Maybe you guys would like to get back to me and tell me how this app actually works!! I'D BE HAPPY TO HEAR YOU OUT!!!!

  
  
• By pluther33

  Outlook and Windows Birthday Sync Issues - always 1 day off

  I’m having an issue sync issues with Outlook on my Windows and my other Microsoft devices (iPhone and iPad). Email and Calendars all are fine. The issue is birthdays and anniversaries do not sync and in fact area always 1 day off. Regardless of if I start the contact birthdate in Outlook or on an IOS device once Outlook syncs the dates change by 1 day on the devices. This was not occurring on my Outlook on a PC and only started with Outlook on the Windows. I’d checked all the time zones on the 3 devices and all is fine. I’ve spent hours tying to fix. I hope there is a solution as I’d like to use Outlook but if this continues I will be forced to goto Microsoft contacts and calendars. I went through Outlook support and after a lot of back and forth and testing I got the following final feedback (with no resolution): "So, the above test which you performed proves that the interaction of an OS X client causes this behavior and since this can be seen over OWA as well, I tried researching over this and found out that its a server side bug which is the cause of this issue and when interacting with OS X clients and Outlook for Windows is nowhere playing any role here and instead show you the details or information available in OWA."

  
  
• By The Jessie

  The worst calendar and email experience I've ever had

  Outlook was designed by people who have never watched a user struggle to use ths unintuitive and frustrating piece of software. There is no way to allow invitees to edit a calendar invite, which makes shared team calendars impossible. If you decline an event, getting it back is a nightmare and completely unreliable. searching for an email means searching every folder individually & even though I've done it a bunch, I still have to search for the search bar because it's in a weird spot & moves around depending which part of outlook you're in. Can't have email always sorted by unread, so to get an empty inbox you've got to archive everything, which is an active action rather than a passive one. Alas, I'm stuck with this because it's what work uses after changing over from Google products. I miss Google's offerings with a firey passion because it's collaborative first software that is designed with the user in mind. I admit to being tempted to leave my company over this constant frustration and whenever I'm interviewing in the future, I'm going to factor if they use Outlook into my decision.

  
  

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