Future of SmarterMail integration when Outlook Classic is retired?

Question asked by Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS - 9/23/2026 at 3:48 AM

Unanswered

Hi all,

I have a question about the future of Outlook integration with SmarterMail.

Microsoft is gradually moving users from Outlook Classic to the new Outlook, and according to Microsoft's current guidance, support for Outlook Classic is expected to continue until around 2029.

Many of our users currently connect Outlook to SmarterMail using MAPI/EWS and rely on email, calendars, contacts, tasks, and shared resources every day.

Has the SmarterMail team already considered what the long-term approach will be once Outlook Classic reaches end of life?

Will the new Outlook continue to work with SmarterMail in a similar way, or are there any plans or recommendations for administrators who depend on Outlook integration?

I'm simply trying to better understand the roadmap and what we should expect over the next few years.

Thanks!

Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins and CISO at SERSIS

Currently manages 7 SmarterMail installations (1 in the cloud for SERSIS which provides services to a few hundred third-party email domains + 6 on-premise for customers who prefer to have their mail server in-house)

9 Replies

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terry fairbrother Replied

9/23/2026 at 5:59 AM

SM are looking to push towards EM Client as the defacto replacement. However, I struggle with emclient on android using imap. It's slow when on wifi and utterly fails to work over mobile data. I have reasons for using it, despite the issues, but hate using it.

Ultimately (for work), it will depend on what CRM software requirements are needed for the end users. If Outlook classic is a requirement then they will remain on an unsupported version, heck, most of the users are on at least Office 2016 as that's the minimum SM needs to run mapi. But I have a feeling the CRMs are going to require M365 based email access which means the SM may no longer be required.

Andrew Barker Replied

9/23/2026 at 7:38 AM

Employee Post

To some degree, Outlook support will depend on the direction that Microsoft chooses to take. Currently, the new Outlook client on Windows doesn't support EWS or MAPI, which really only leaves IMAP or POP. From what I can tell, those protocols still route through Microsoft's cloud servers.

For a while, the Mac version of Outlook was the same. However, we recently became aware that the new Outlook for Mac has added support for EWS without the connection routing through their servers. Unfortunately, something about our EWS implementation doesn't play nice with the new Outlook support. They appear to have rewritten their EWS handling, making it stricter about some things than the legacy client was. We currently have this on our list to address, and hopefully we can provide an update soon.

That said, some testing we did with an Exchange account shows that new Outlook for Mac has some limitations compared to what was available with the legacy version. The first is a lack of support for tasks and notes; Outlook doesn't even have sections for them. The second is a lack of support for contact folders. While it will sync contacts from all contact folders, new Outlook doesn't display the separate folders. Instead, it displays them under two virtual folders: Contacts and Contact Lists. Creating new contacts or contact lists just assigns them to the default contact folder for the account.

Andrew Barker
Lead Software Developer
SmarterTools Inc.
www.smartertools.com

Brian Replied

9/23/2026 at 7:38 AM

There will be a move away from anything MS related. Any CRM that only works with MS will be abandoned.

Mike Mulhern Replied

9/23/2026 at 1:07 PM

Making webmail a little more robust is another path.

Brian Replied

9/23/2026 at 2:07 PM

Webmail needs a major overhaul if to compete with outlook web access.

John Quest Replied

9/23/2026 at 3:33 PM

Webmail needs a major overhaul if to compete with outlook web access.

Comparing the over inflated full of fluff OWA to standard email server webmail is comparing the capabilities of Microsoft Exchange to a standard email server.

There is a whole lot more features and capabilities and such in Microsoft Exchange that are not standard email services.

Microsoft added all of that fluff and overhead and inflated foofoo to OWA so that people will keep paying for Exchange and not go elsewhere.

IMHO

Brian Replied

9/24/2026 at 1:44 AM

But its nice and its the defacto email standard of the world and it only becomes that if its good and people like it.

Gabriele Maoret - SERSIS Replied

9/24/2026 at 3:40 AM

Brian wrote: "There will be a move away from anything MS related. Any CRM that only works with MS will be abandoned."

If only it would end like that!!!

Gabriele Maoret - Head of SysAdmins and CISO at SERSIS

John Quest Replied

9/24/2026 at 7:33 AM

But its nice and its the defacto email standard of the world and it only becomes that if its good and people like it.

Yes, it is called marketing 101, get people hooked then lead them down the path you want them to go.

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