Microsoft accidentally kills epic Outlook email threads

PERSONAL TECH

Redmond manages to break replying to an email on Outlook for macOS, one of the most basic functions

Microsoft has managed to break a very basic Outlook function – the ability to include the previous email in a reply.

The issue, which afflicts Outlook for Mac, was introduced in version 16.110, build 26061317, which rolled out to users last week. Before the update, the original message appeared in the reply window. After the update, nothing.

One affected user said: “It makes it impossible to have a proper email thread because the recipient can’t see the conversation history.”

Another remarked: “This is an extremely frustrating bug in this last update, and I hope a fix is on the way. This is frankly quite disappointing that something major like this completely evaded the software testing process before it was being rolled out.”

The solution, according to one of Microsoft’s forum moderators, is to roll back to a previous version and turn off auto-updating until a fix is released. Great for users in full control of their devices – not so good for anyone with a managed device. Administrators with fleets of Macs running Outlook should brace for helpdesk tickets.

In some instances, having a user copy and paste the salient bits of the email they are responding to might not be such a bad thing. We’ve all had emails that required epic amounts of scrolling to find what started the conversation, so forcing users to think about what they actually need to include is no bad thing. However, disrupting user workflows without warning – well, that is undoubtedly a bad thing.

This is, after all, one of the most basic things an email client needs to do, so shipping a product with a bug that breaks this functionality says more about Microsoft’s approach to quality than anything else.

The Register asked Microsoft for its take on the matter, but the tech behemoth has yet to respond.

Microsoft has already delivered a kicking to Apple hardware users in recent weeks. Office 2019 will cease to be useful on the platform in July, or enter a “reduced functionality mode” in Microspeak, with the only option available to users keen to remain Office customers being an upgrade.

However, as this latest bug demonstrates, running Microsoft’s latest and greatest carries its own risks. ®