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Release notes for Outlook for Windows (New) in Government Cloud Channels

Outlook for Windows (new) is updated regularly to provide new features, performance improvements, bug fixes, and security updates. These release notes provide more information about those changes in Government Cloud Channels.

Note: Outlook for Windows (new) is currently scoped to GCC. However, many of the documented items below may apply to the Outlook Web application as well, which explains the presence of GCC-High and DoD labels.

July 11, 2025

Version: 20250704003.06

  • [GCC] Move emails between accounts: All personal accounts in the new Outlook for Windows can seamlessly move emails between all their personal accounts, streamlining organization and productivity. For work or school users, this feature is controlled by a policy managed by administrators. By enabling this policy, admins can grant their users the ability to move emails between accounts in a way that aligns with organizational needs and policies.

June 27, 2025

Version: 20250620014.12

  • Search fallback to locally saved items: When a mailbox search cannot be completed, Outlook will search locally saved items (when Offline is enabled in Settings).

June 20, 2025

Version: 20250613016.10

  • Category management for delegates: Delegates can now create new categories on behalf of the person who granted them permissions. They can also apply said categories to the Calendar of that same person who granted them permissions. Delegates can view the list of the delegator's Categories by visiting the Accounts > Categories page of the Settings window and selecting the delegator's account from the dropdown. Learn more

June 13, 2025

Version: 20250606009.12

  • [GCC] Setting to toggle comma as recipient delimiter: By default, Outlook Web and the New Outlook support separating recipients by using either a semicolon or a comma. This new setting allows users to choose if the comma should be used as a recipient separator or instead allowed as part of the contact name. This is helpful for organizations where contacts follow the "Last name, First name" format.

June 6, 2025

Version: 20250516009.19

  • [GCC] Add folders from a .PST file to favorites
  • [GCC, DoD] Profile cards in the new Outlook for Windows display people details stored in PST files

May 30, 2025

Version 20250523006.11

  • [GCC] Reply and forward emails in a PST file: Users can reply and forward emails in a .pst file. Future releases of new Outlook will expand the support for .pst file capabilities.

Version 20250509011.10

  • [GCC, GCC High] External tag in contact suggestions: An "External" tag will be added to contact suggestions that appear in the dropdown when entering contacts in the email compose form.

May 23, 2025

Version 20250516009.05

  • [GCC] Reply and forward emails in a PST file: With this update of support for .pst files (a.k.a. Outlook Data File) in the new Outlook for Windows, users will be able to reply and forward emails in a .pst file. Future releases of new Outlook will expand the support for .pst file capabilities.

Version 20250509011.10

  • [GCC, GCC High, DoD] Undo send while offline: The ability to cancel an email message after you've selected Send is now supported offline.

May 09, 2025

Version 20250418009.15

  • [GCC, GCC High, DoD] Add shared folders to Favorites: We're thrilled to announce that you can now add shared folders to your Favorites. This enhancement offers increased flexibility and convenience, allowing easy access to important shared content directly from your Favorites list.

May 02, 2025

Version 20250411007.11

  • [GCC] Background calendar event notifications: Users can now receive their calendar event notifications while the new Outlook is not launched/opened. To enable this feature, users must (1) enable the “Send notifications when Outlook is closed” setting in Monarch, (2) allow the new Outlook permissions to run in the background in Windows 11 Settings, and (3) enable the “Show Notification banners” setting in Windows, as well. You can also see these notifications on your lock screen if you enable the "Show notifications on the lock screen" Windows setting.

  • [GCC, GCC High, DoD] Notification batching: Batches are groups of cards in the user's Notification pane separated by subject. Items from the same email thread, document, sheet, etc. will be grouped into a single batch.

April 25, 2025

Version 20250404005.15

  • [GCC] Share an email to Teams: You can share an email, including attachments, from Outlook to any chat or channel in Teams. Learn more here.
  • [GCC] Initiate Teams chats from an email: Within any email, you can initiate an individual Teams chat session with the sender or a Teams group chat with all recipients. Learn more here.

April 18, 2025

Version 20250328005.25

  • [GCC] Group messages as a conversation for PST files: Users are now able to group messages as a conversation for emails within .pst files.

April 04, 2025

Version 20250307002.19

  • [GCC, GCC High] Save emails as .MSG: You can now save emails as .msg files by right-clicking them (in your message list) and selecting Save as > Save as MSG.

March 28, 2025

Version 20250307002.19

  • [GCC, GCC High, DoD] Folder icon colors: We’re introducing the ability to customize folder icon colors in the new Outlook. This feature lets you change the color of folder icons, making it easier to differentiate and personalize your folders visually.

March 21, 2025

Version 20250307002.15

  • [GCC] Copilot Draft: When composing an email, customers can select portions of text in an email and use Copilot to rewrite it. Users can give detailed instructions on how to rewrite and are also able to modify tone and length.
  • [GCC] Delete invitations from Inbox after responding: You can enable/disable this new meeting invite option by visiting the Calendar > Events and invitiations > Invitations from other people section of your Settings window.
  • [GCC, GCC High, DoD] Pin Favorites: Easily access your most-used folders by pinning them to the top of your Left Nav Bar. This feature streamlines navigation, ensuring your important folders are always within reach.
  • [GCC, GCC High, DoD] "None" color category for Mail and Calendar: This update provides more flexibility and customization in categorizing your emails and calendar events. By selecting the "None" option, users can now choose to have items without a designated color, allowing for cleaner organization and more control over which items stand out visually.

March 07, 2025

Version 20250206076.11

  • [GCC] Enjoy the benefits of your Microsoft 365 or Copilot Pro subscriptions in Outlook: Activate subscriptions from accounts that don't have a Microsoft mailbox - either personal Microsoft accounts set up with a non-Microsoft email address (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) or accounts provided by your work or school administrator. Learn more by visiting Connecting a Microsoft subscription to Outlook.

February 21, 2025

Version 20250124006.14

February 14, 2025

Version 20250124006.14

  • [GCC] Copilot is now included in Microsoft 365 Personal and Family: We're bringing Microsoft Copilot and Microsoft Designer to Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers in most markets worldwide. These changes bring the transformative power of AI to the personal productivity tools that millions of people use every day. Learn more.
  • [GCC] Conversation view improvements: Add categories for individual messages in Conversation view.
  • [GCC] UX improvements to Schedule send: Now it's easier to identify scheduled meetings in the Drafts folder, edit scheduled messages, and cancel scheduled messages.
  • [GCC High] Offline browser-based spelling when Microsoft Proofing is disabled: Essential spell-checking is now provided when composing a message while not connected to the internet.

February 07, 2025

Version 20250116064.19

  • [GCC] S/MIME: The new Outlook for Windows now supports S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail extensions) signing and encryption. All new and existing S/MIME configurations will work without any explicit action from your administrator(s).
  • [GCC] Copilot Chat: Microsoft 365 Chat is the new hero experience for Copilot for Microsoft 365 and goes far beyond simple questions and answers. It combs across your entire universe of data—all your emails, meetings, chats, documents, and more, plus the web—to solve your most complex problems at work."
  • [GCC] Calendar update to Time Suggestions: We're improving how suggested times are shown when scheduling a meeting. We're removing the automatically shown suggested times and instead you'll need to enable a switch - Find a time - if you want to see suggested times. If you enable the toggle, the new availability view on time suggestion tiles will make it easier to find a suitable time with more clarity on everyone's availability.
  • [GCC] Calendar grid keyboard navigation via arrow keys: When focused on the calendar grid, you'll be able to navigate the time slots on the calendar via left/right/up/down arrow keys in day, week, and work week views.
  • [GCC] Offline compose: When sending a message while offline, a notification appears indicating that the message will be saved to the Outbox.
  • [GCC] Offline browser-based spelling when Microsoft Proofing is disabled: Essential spell-checking is now provided when composing a message while not connected to the internet.

January 28, 2025

Version 20250116064.16

  • [GCC] Microsoft 365 Copilot: Bringing Microsoft 365 Copilot GCC, your AI assistant for work in the GCC environment. It combines the power of Large Language Models with your work content and context, to help you draft and rewrite, summarize, and organize, catch up on what you missed, and get answers to questions via open prompts. Copilot generates answers using the rich, people-centric data and insights available in the Microsoft Graph. Microsoft 365 Copilot GCC is available in Teams (Chat and Channel) excluding Compose, Outlook (includes mobile), Word, PowerPoint, and Excel as well as other surfaces, including microsoft365.com.
  • [GCC] Copy list of attendees: In the event tracking pane, you can copy the list of attendees from the calendar event.
  • [GCC] Sort and search meeting attendees: In the event tracking pane, you can sort attendees in alphabetized order or search for an attendee by display name.
  • [GCC] Autolink enhancements: Improved automatic detection of email addresses and phone numbers when drafting an email, generating links for them automatically.
  • [GCC] Drag and drop to download attachments and emails: Users can drag and drop attachments and emails from the new Outlook for Windows to their desktops or local folders to download them directly to that location. A feature that is already available in world-wide multitenant will now be available for customers in GCC.

Version 20250110003.23

  • [GCC, GCC High and DoD] Reset People Suggestions in Search: This feature allows users to reset, export, and/or opt out of people suggestions in search through settings in the Outlook on the web and the new Outlook for Windows. When a reset is done, all versions of Outlook will reflect the change.