Visual Field Guide to Outlook Versions

Jan 17, 2017

Over a year ago I lamented on how many versions of Outlook were out there and how confusing it is figuring out which is which. Microsoft uses the Outlook name on way too many apps these days and it’s only gotten worse since that article. When helping users on the phone or by email, I’ve run into too many people who don’t know what version they are on.

In the old days, you simply told users to go to the About item under the Help or Outlook menu. But that doesn’t work anymore—Microsoft has chosen to hide the version name/number in various places, often many clicks away and very hard to find, if there at all.

But Microsoft now has a graphic identification page to help you sort out the Outlook version just by examining the top of the main window. Go to the following link, and Microsoft presents a visual field guide to all it’s Windows, Mac, and browser based versions of Outlook:

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/What-version-of-Outlook-do-I-have-b3a9568c-edb5-42b9-9825-d48d82b2257c

If you are in a support role, and your users may have one of many various Outlook versions, this field guide could save you a lot of confusion. Just send the link to your remote user, and they can sort themselves out. Below is a screenshot of the top of that guide. The actual guide continues for several pages.

Michael