Microsoft Starts Testing New, Modern Look for Outlook Calendar on the Web

Microsoft is rolling out a brand-new look for Outlook Calendar on the web as part of a beta test. The company started testing a new look for Outlook.com last year, and it’s now bringing the new look to Calendar.

The modern look for Outlook Calendar can be seen in the screenshot above, and it’s definitely a huge step forward from the current Outlook Calendar design which is pretty bland. The new design looks more colourful, and it’s also likely going to be faster in performance. Microsoft built the new Outlook.com using Facebook’s React framework, significantly improving the performance of the app. While I don’t have the new Outlook Calendar beta as of yet, it’s also likely built on React.

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Microsoft still needs to bring the modern look to Contacts and Tasks on Outlook.com. Right now, they are still using the old design but they will probably get updated sometime soon. Nonetheless, the new Outlook Calendar look is being rolled out to users as a beta today, although you won’t get to see the “Try the beta” toggle right away.

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Conversation 16 comments

  • Bats

    05 January, 2018 - 10:49 am

    <p>Why am I not surprised? This is absolutely NOT surprising, given that Google is about to release their refresh of Google Calendar.&nbsp;</p><p>Not only is this NOT surprising, but this is something we should all already be used to by now.</p><p>Basically, whatever Google does, Microsoft follows later with an announcement that they are about to do the same thing too.</p><p>Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to make Microsoft look bad or anything. As a matter of fact, this kind of practice is really good for Microsoft users. It's just that….does Google (and Apple) have to do all the work? Can't Microsoft contribute to the evolution of technology rather than just, copying it?&nbsp;</p>

    • Bart

      Premium Member
      05 January, 2018 - 11:03 am

      <blockquote><a href="#235369"><em>In reply to Bats:</em></a></blockquote><p>It is a re-design. Happens every so often by every company with every product on the planet.</p>

  • UK User

    Premium Member
    05 January, 2018 - 11:27 am

    <p>I just hope they have an option to remove that annoying hourly overlay that obscures my multiple day entries if I look at the week or day options of the calendar. I don't know how many times I asked for that option on the feedback forum. Yes I know people put times down for meetings etc but I don't and all I ask is that I can see the multiple daily entries, with no times entries but other than it being a 24hr entry, without having to scroll up and look through a letterbox type section. And I don't know if its a limitation due to the 'cloud' but you cannot look back for many years, as I do for research, but 25 years or more is just a none starter. </p>

  • Usman

    Premium Member
    05 January, 2018 - 11:29 am

    <p>The new Office 365 UI is built with <a href="https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/fabric&quot; target="_blank">Office Fabric</a>, which is built in React.</p>

  • davidl

    05 January, 2018 - 12:02 pm

    <p>Looks like they removed search (was in upper left). How can you take a calendar seriously if you can't search it?</p>

  • JimP

    05 January, 2018 - 12:30 pm

    <p>I would rather Microsoft focus on functionality rather than superficial looks. In Outlook.com mail, I can't do something as simple and basic as specifying the e-mail recipient/sender, date range or whether or not the e-mail has an attachment.</p>

    • NazmusLabs

      05 January, 2018 - 2:07 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#235394"><em>In reply to JimP:</em></a></blockquote><p>You are mistaken. It's not just looks. The new layout is designed to be more fictional, with access to important actions made more efficient. That was the case with the recebt outlook upgrade. A change in design for the sake of change is foolish. But asserting that just cramming features to an existing layout without optimizing the user experience for the new features are equally foolish. Design and functionality should go hand in hand in an ideal situation. This is why I am displeased to see complaints saying not to focus on looks but only functionality and vice versa. Yes, there are some who do say forget features, fix the inconsistent looks, case on point, many complaints against Windows. And Allah (SWT) knows best.</p>

  • Scottie Tooley

    05 January, 2018 - 3:32 pm

    <p>I see the Birthday's calendar called out, but the actual birthday's still don't show which birthday it is. For Kat Larsson's on the 25th, why can't it say "Kat Larsson's 34th Birthday"? iOS Calendar does this, it's a simple thing to develop, right?</p>

    • scumdogmillionaire

      05 January, 2018 - 7:03 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#235462"><em>In reply to Scottie_Tooley:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>ive also asked them multiple times to let me add a birthday without creating a contact. I have nieces, pets, etc… that I want to track birthdays but don’t need a contact for a 1 year old or a cat.</p>

  • bbold

    05 January, 2018 - 8:07 pm

    <p>Instead of a visual makeover, more Cortana skills and integration into all Office products online and off would be appreciated.</p>

  • rmac

    06 January, 2018 - 7:44 am

    <p>'Outlook calendar on the web'… when are we going to see a core UI stack that embraces XAML and HTML for Windows everywhere? Time to get porting to WebAssembly?</p>

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