Windows Mail and Calendar (Discontinued)

Windows Mail and Calendar 16006.11001.20116.0 were the email and calendar apps that came with Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft discontinued them on December 31, 2024 and replaced them with the new Outlook for Windows. The old apps no longer receive updates, and sending and receiving mail through them stopped working after the end of support. If you are looking to download Windows Mail and Calendar, the practical step today is to move to Outlook.

Overview

For years, Mail and Calendar were the default way to read email on a fresh Windows PC. They were simple, free and worked with Outlook.com, Gmail, Yahoo and other accounts, with a calendar that showed appointments from the same accounts. Microsoft decided to consolidate its mail apps and made the new Outlook for Windows the built-in client on Windows 11, describing it on its support page about the future of Mail, Calendar and People as bringing the latest features with a modern and simplified design. People was folded into the same move. Users of the old apps were prompted to switch over the course of the transition, and after December 31, 2024 the old apps stopped syncing. Your mail and calendar entries themselves were never stored only in the app: they live in your email accounts on the provider's servers, so switching to another program brings them back.

What to do now

1. Open the new Outlook for Windows, which is preinstalled on current Windows 11 PCs or available from the Microsoft Store.
2. Add the same email accounts you used in Mail.
3. Check that calendars and contacts appear as expected.
4. If you had local folders or mail saved only on the PC, export or copy them before removing the old app.
5. Uninstall Mail and Calendar once everything is in place.

Microsoft lists changes to the new app in the new Outlook release notes.

Common questions after the switch

Are my old emails gone? No; as long as they were in an online account, they appear again after you add the account to another app. What about signatures and rules? Those were stored in the old app, so recreate them in the new client. Can I keep using the old app offline? It may still open and show cached messages for a while, but it will not sync, so rely on it only to copy information out.

If you prefer a different app

You do not have to use Outlook. Any desktop mail client that supports your accounts, or simply the web interface of your email provider, gives access to the same messages.

Key facts

Pros and cons

• Pro: was simple and free, built into Windows.
• Pro: your mail stays in your accounts, so nothing is lost by switching.
• Con: discontinued, no longer syncs.
• Con: some users find the new Outlook different to get used to.

Alternatives

Microsoft Outlook is the official successor in our listings. Thunderbird and Mailbird are other desktop email clients for Windows.