New Outlook for Windows will get ICS support in a few months

New Outlook for Windows is slowly getting more and more feature-rich as Microsoft continues to work hard to replace UWP Outlook app with it. Microsoft recently bought support for Gmail accounts in the new Outlook for Windows app in an attempt to make it the go-to email app for Windows 11 users. The software giant also has bigger plans for the future regarding the new Outlook app.

According to the Microsoft 365 Roadmap page, Microsoft is working on ICS support for the new Outlook for Windows. As described by Microsoft, ICS support will mean that “users will be able to view local ICS files and import them to their calendar.” For the unversed, an ICS file is a calendar file containing information such as the event’s name, location, start time, and end time.

ICS support is noted new Outlook. The classic Outlook for Windows already has support for it. In other words, you can share an ICS file through email to let someone know about calendar and event information. And they will be able to import the file to their Outlook calendar.

Microsoft aims to bring ICS support to the new Outlook for Windows in October this year. If things go as planned, we should be able to see it in action.

“ICS is a file format that holds event and calendar information and enables users to share that information through email. With full ICS support in the new Outlook for Windows, users can view local ICS files and import them to their calendars. This mimics the experience currently available in classic Outlook for Windows,” wrote Microsoft on the 365 Roadmap page.

For those who do not know, the new Outlook for Windows is a web app currently available in preview. You can download the app from the Microsoft Store. However, since it is available in preview, you will not get all the features of the classic Outlook and the UWP Outlook app. The good news is Microsoft will keep adding new functionalities to the new Outlook to make it on par — if not better — than the UWP Outlook.