The following articles were included in our Exchange Messaging Outlook (EMO) newsletter published on September 3, 2026.
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Today's Highlights »
- Outlook Holidays for 2027
- Update: Classic Outlook theme for new Outlook
- New Outlook Finally Gets a Universal Inbox
Outlook Holidays for 2027
If you are looking for 2027 holidays in Outlook, you may have noticed that many are missing. Classic Outlook does not include any 2027 holidays in its Holidays file, and new Outlook and Outlook on the web only include holidays that fall on the same date every year. Moveable holidays, such as Easter, are not included.
The lack of events in 2027 and beyond was expected in classic Outlook. Microsoft suggested years ago that it would no longer update the HOL file used by classic Outlook.
Microsoft has not provided an update on the holiday calendars in new Outlook or Outlook on the web. If you need holiday calendars, there are web-based calendar services available. I use https://www.webcal.guru/ to subscribe to some calendars in my Outlook.com account. The site also supports downloading ICS files that can be imported into classic Outlook, new Outlook, or Outlook on the web.
For the past few years, I have provided HOL files for classic Outlook. Links to the HOL files are available at Add Holidays to Outlook's Calendar. I also have a US holidays file to download at https://www.slipstick.com/files/US-Holidays-2026-2031.HOL. To add it to classic Outlook, download the HOL file and double-click it. The Add Holidays to Calendar dialog will open. To review the file first, right-click the HOL file and choose Open with > Notepad.
I use the holiday lists at timeanddate.com to create the list in Excel. After verifying that the subject field does not contain commas, slashes, or other prohibited characters and that the dates are formatted correctly, I save the file as a text file, or copy and paste it into Notepad, then clean it up and verify the formatting and section titles.
My 2027–2031 HOL file includes US federal holidays, US holidays such as Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day, additional US observances, the start and end of daylight saving time, seasons, and major sporting events such as the Super Bowl through 2031. Each group is listed as a separate “location,” so you can add only the events you want. I plan to add a calendar with religious holidays later, but it will only be as accurate as timeanddate.com.
If you import the holidays and later decide they clutter your calendar, or if you want them on a different calendar, switch to a List view and group by category, then by location. This makes it easy to delete some or all of the holiday events.
If you need a list of German Holidays for 2027-2031, one is available here. Save it as a HOL file. Admins can use a script to import it into users calendars using Graph.
Update: Classic Outlook theme for new Outlook
As I mentioned in the last issue, Microsoft is adding an optional setting to the new Outlook for Windows that makes the interface look more like classic Outlook. This is part of Microsoft’s effort to encourage users to move from classic Outlook to new Outlook.
The option is now available in my new Outlook under File > Settings > General > Appearance. I had to turn it on manually, though it may be enabled automatically for some users.
The most noticeable changes are smaller folder names in the folder list and ribbon icons that match classic Outlook. The different icons do not bother me, and one of the few things I like about the new Outlook is the larger folder-list font.
I still believe that appearance alone is unlikely to convince power users to switch until the new Outlook includes more of the features they depend on.
New Outlook Finally Gets a Universal Inbox
New Outlook has finally caught up with Outlook for Mac and the Outlook mobile app by adding an Inbox that shows mail from every account in the profile. Drafts, Outbox, Archive, Sent Items, Snoozed, Deleted Items, and Junk Mail now also include messages from all accounts.
These folders appear in a separate group in the folder list, directly below Favorites.
I have mixed feelings about All Accounts folders. I like seeing all my mail in one place, as I do on my phone, but on my Mac I often miss important messages because there is so much mail from other accounts. I addressed this by separating my work and personal accounts into different profiles, although I now rarely switch profiles to check personal mail.
If you do not want to use All Accounts folders, you can turn them off in File > Settings > Mail > Folder Pane.
Will this feature come to classic Outlook? No.
Next on my wish list: Outlook for Mac profiles.
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While not an Outlook app, SizeTrend is disk utility from the Outlook MVP behind OutlookSpy and Redemption. I used it to find duplicate files and was impressed.
SizeTrend - Free Disk Space Finder (Microsoft Store) or from the developer's website SizeTrend - Windows Disk Space Analyzer