MC915492 - New Microsoft Outlook for Windows: Add Microsoft accounts with non-Microsoft email addresses

Service

Microsoft 365 apps

Published

Oct 21, 2024

Tag

New feature
User impact
Admin impact

Summary

Outlook for Windows will soon support adding personal Microsoft accounts with non-Microsoft email addresses, allowing users to access subscriptions like Microsoft 365. Rollout begins mid-November 2024 for Targeted Release and mid-December 2024 for General Availability, completing by mid-January 2025. This feature is on by default.

More information

Coming soon: Support for users to add a new personal Microsoft account type in new Microsoft Outlook for Windows. Adding a personal Microsoft account to Outlook is useful if that personal Microsoft account is linked to Microsoft subscriptions such as Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Copilot Pro. For instance, a user might purchase a subscription for Microsoft 365 Personal with a Microsoft account such as [email protected]. Before this rollout, new Outlook for Windows would not support adding this personal Microsoft account to Outlook and the user could not access any subscriptions linked to those accounts. After this rollout, users will be able to enjoy the benefits of their personal Microsoft 365 or Copilot Pro subscription in Outlook.

When this will happen:

Targeted Release for new Outlook for Windows users with a primary work or school account: We will begin rolling out mid-November 2024 and expect to complete in mid-December 2024.

General Availability (Worldwide) for new Outlook for Windows users with a primary work or school account: We will begin rolling out mid-December 2024 and expect to complete in mid-January 2025.

A primary email account is the first account listed at Accounts > Your accounts settings page.

How this will affect your organization:

Before this rollout: Outlook supports connecting to personal email accounts like Outlook.com, Gmail, Yahoo and more, so users can access email from those accounts in Outlook .

After this rollout, users will be able to add a new personal Microsoft account that does not use a Microsoft email address (such as outlook.com, hotmail.com, or live.com) at Settings > Accounts > Your accounts > Additional Microsoft accounts for the purpose of accessing any subscriptions linked to that personal Microsoft account.

The Accounts > Your accounts settings page with the new Additional Microsoft accounts section at the bottom:

user settings

This change is on by default.

This rollout does not change the benefits or features users receive as part of your organization’s Microsoft 365 subscription.

[What you need to do to prepare:

This rollout will happen automatically by the specified date with no admin action required before the rollout. You may want to notify your users about this change and update any relevant documentation.