(Note: In spite of what you may have read, Windows 8.1's Mail supports Gmail accounts. In my brief tests, the new Calendar app appears to work correctly with Google Calendar, but I had long delays in syncing changes made to Google Calendar entries outside of Windows 10. Note Google Calendar support.Ĭlick on the Day column and you can choose from two-day up to six-day views.
As with Windows 10 Mail, you can click on the hamburger icon and shrink the first column down to a bunch of icons.įigure 3.
But it doesn't have any of the fundamental options (such as grouping, message display font) currently found in Windows 8.1's Metro Mail.Ĭompared to the old Windows 8.1 Metro Calendar app, the new Windows 10 Calendar app (Figure 3) looks like a usable Calendar, right out of the box. It also lets you set actions for swipe right (set flag by default) and swap right (delete by default). The Options pane, accessed through the gear icon at the bottom on the left, holds the kind of eye candy that will appeal to some - a custom background picture, for example, that only shows up when you don't have any mail open.
(The Smiley face is for leaving feedback.) It's easy to switch between Mail and Calendar by clicking or tapping on the corresponding icon on the left. Build 10051 Mail app with minimal navigation pane The giant column on the left can be shrunk by simply clicking on the hamburger icon. The new Mail app in Windows 10 build 10051. As you can see from Figure 1, you must select the account you wish to use, on the bottom left, before you can start working with that account's mail.įigure 1. Unfortunately, there's no commingled inbox. The new Mail explicitly supports Exchange, Office 365, IMAP, and Google accounts, as well as POP - a huge achievement, compared to Windows 8.1's Metro Mail app. In this leaked beta version, People doesn't launch it's a toothless stub. The People app, which used to be chained to Windows 8.1 Mail and Calendar at the ankles and elbows, is now a freestanding app. In Windows 10, Mail and Calendar are actually one app, with a single build number, in this case 17.3925.42001.0. Final naming has yet to be announced, but it would be in character for the shipping versions to carry the Outlook brand. The stars of this build: Mail and Calendar, which are different from (and superior to) the Mail and Calendar apps in Windows 8/8.1.
If you want to install 10051 with a local account only, during the installation choose "This device belongs to me," then "Connect my account later." You'll be prompted for a local username and password. That said, the new features are intriguing. Build 10051 is clearly only for people who are hell-bent on tearing into the new features. Rumor has it that Microsoft will wait for build 10054 (or 10055?) to clear its internal testing cycle before releasing this latest manna to the masses - quite possibly later this week. The build seemed reasonably stable in my tests, but there are clearly some very rough edges.