Microsoft blocks Mail and Calendar to force you to use Outlook

The Mail and Calendar applications installed natively on Windows 11 are experiencing their final hours. Microsoft has officially started the mandatory switch to Outlook, its all-in-one email client.

Microsoft is officially pushing the Mail and Calendar apps into their fall. The Redmond company has just started to impose the use of the new Outlook to replace these two native applications among users under Windows 11. And if it was until now possible to block the installation of Outlook using a small script, the hack is a priori no longer functional.

Goodbye Mail and Calendar, hello Outlook

According to what some users report, this automatic (and forced) switch to the new Outlook would have started on January 1, 2025. However, internal sources at Microsoft would have indicated to Windows Latest that this process of disabling Mail and Calendar was part of a gradual rollout. This therefore means that both applications can still be perfectly functional for many people.

For users for whom Microsoft has already blocked the use of Mail and Calendar, a warning message is automatically displayed when starting one or the other application. This indicates that they are no longer supported by Microsoft and that they are now replaced by the new version of Outlook. Microsoft also explains that emails and calendar events can no longer be sent or received there. The company also invites those who have data stored locally, such as emails, calendars or contacts, to export them to keep a copy.

If you have been using the Mail and Calendar applications until now, you will have no choice but to migrate to Outlook. No going back is possible, not only because Microsoft blocks access to these two applications, but also because the firm has removed them from its Microsoft Store. If, however, the choice of Outlook, whose Desktop interface is very close to the Web version, does not suit you, you can always consider adopting an alternative solution. Thunderbird, a complete, free and open-source email client developed by Mozilla will easily replace Mail and Calendar, and has nothing to envy of the new Outlook imposed by Microsoft.