Microsoft makes Outlook for Mac free for everyone

Microsoft makes Outlook for Mac free for everyone

• News

A subscription is no longer required to use Microsoft's Outlook for Mac.
Photo: Microsoft

Microsoft no longer charges for Outlook for Mac. It’s free to use, no subscription fee required.

The macOS app can be used with a variety of email account types, including iCloud and Gmail. And the software handles both email and calendar.

Microsoft Outlook is no longer part of Microsoft 365

Many companies use the range of Microsoft Office applications as their standards. Mac users who work for these businesses are surely well familiar with Outlook, whether or not it’s a better email app than Apple Mail. And now Microsoft is making it free for users to put Outlook on their personal Macs.

“Now consumers can use Outlook for free on macOS, no Microsoft 365 subscription or license necessary,” said a new post on the official Outlook Blog from Jeremy Perdue, the product manager for the email/calendar app.

Previously, the software was part of Office 365 (recently renamed Microsoft 365) and cost $69.99 per year for individuals. That subscription also comes with Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint and other productivity apps.

Made for Mac

Outlook for Mac isn’t simply a port of the Windows version. It has Mac-specific features.
Photo: Microsoft

In his blog post, Perdue goes on to tout the benefits of Office for Mac. It supports Outlook.com, Gmail, iCloud, Yahoo! or IMAP accounts. As noted, that includes both email and calendars.

In addition, the software has been optimized for Apple’s M-series processors. But that’s only the start of the Apple-specific features.

“You can view your agenda using a widget and see reminders in the Notification Center,” notes the Microsoft exec. Plus the app supports Apple’s Handoff so an in-progress email will automatically move from the Mac to Outlook on iPhone.

Outlook for Mac is available in the App Store. It’s free to download and use.