No deb, no rpm, no desktop build, and never has been
Outlook for Linux: the Outlook App on Ubuntu, Mint and Fedora, and Every Other Mailbox in One Tab
Microsoft has never published an Outlook package for any distribution, and the Exchange protocol Linux desktop clients rely on is switched off in October 2026. Inboxes reads Outlook.com next to Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud and your own domain on one board, over the one Microsoft protocol that is not going away.
Any distro · Nothing to package · IMAP mailboxes only
In short
Microsoft has never shipped a native Outlook desktop application for Linux and has announced no plans to. The supported route on Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora and every other distribution is Outlook on the web at outlook.com or outlook.office.com, installed as an app from the Chrome or Edge menu so it gets its own window and a launcher entry. Community Snap and Electron wrappers exist, but they package that same web app and Microsoft neither publishes nor supports them. The native desktop route on Linux is GNOME Evolution with the evolution-ews backend, and that route now has a deadline: Microsoft disables Exchange Web Services by default in Exchange Online on October 1, 2026 and shuts it down completely on April 1, 2027, with Microsoft Graph as the replacement. What is not being retired is IMAP. Microsoft is removing basic authentication, not the IMAP protocol, and IMAP with OAuth 2.0 remains supported for Exchange Online and Outlook.com. On Linux in 2026 that leaves two durable answers: Outlook on the web for a single Microsoft mailbox, and an IMAP client for a personal Outlook.com address read beside Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud and your own domain.
Last updated August 2026
What exists, what does not, and what closes this year
Outlook on Linux, stated plainly
Most pages answering this question open with a workaround. Start instead with what Microsoft actually publishes, because that decides which of the workarounds is worth your evening.
There has never been an Outlook build for Linux. Not a deb, not an rpm, not a Flatpak, not an official Snap, in any year of the product. Microsoft has not announced a plan to make one. This is worth saying flatly because the search results for this question are full of pages titled like installation guides that turn out, four scrolls down, to be describing a browser bookmark.
The route Microsoft supports is Outlook on the web, installed as an app. Open Chrome or Edge on your distribution, sign in at outlook.com or outlook.office.com, then use the browser menu to install the site as an app. You get a standalone window, an entry in your application menu, notifications and offline reading once you enable it in settings. This is the identical interface new Outlook shows on Windows and Mac, and features now tend to land on the web first, so a Linux user is not running a stale version. For one Microsoft mailbox this is a complete answer.
The Snap and Electron wrappers are community packages. Searching for an Outlook Linux app turns up Snap Store listings that put Outlook on the web inside an Electron shell. They function. They are also not Microsoft software, they trail the web version, they add a Chromium runtime to your disk, and they still show exactly one mailbox. If a dedicated window is what you wanted, the browser install gives you the same window with less to maintain.
The real native option on Linux is Evolution, and it speaks EWS. GNOME Evolution is the default mail client on GNOME, including Fedora Workstation and RHEL, and its evolution-ews backend connects a Microsoft 365 mailbox with calendar and contacts. It has supported OAuth 2.0 since version 3.27.91, so modern authentication is not the problem. The protocol underneath it is.
October 1, 2026: Microsoft blocks Exchange Web Services by default. Any Exchange Online tenant still holding the EWSEnabled setting at null has it flipped to false as the change rolls out, which blocks EWS for every application in the tenant. Administrators can define an AppID allow list so named applications keep working. On April 1, 2027 the protocol is shut down completely. Microsoft has been explicit that this applies to Microsoft 365 and Exchange Online only, and that nothing changes for Exchange Server on premises. Microsoft Graph, paired with the Exchange Online Admin API, is the replacement.
That deadline lands on Linux harder than anywhere else. On Windows and Mac, retiring EWS is a background API change, because desktop Outlook talks to Exchange over its own protocols. On Linux, EWS was the connector that made a native client able to hold a work mailbox with its calendar. The GNOME project has not shipped a Graph backend for Evolution, and eM Client users have been asking for Graph support on the vendor forum rather than being handed it. Do not read that as a prediction that Evolution breaks on a specific morning. Read it as a reason to check with your administrator now rather than in September.
IMAP is not part of the retirement, and that is the useful sentence. Microsoft is removing basic authentication, which is a credential format, not the IMAP protocol. IMAP, POP and SMTP continue to work against Exchange Online and Outlook.com when the client authenticates with OAuth 2.0, and Microsoft documents how. Basic authentication for SMTP submission reached full rejection on April 30, 2026. So the mail protocol with the clearest future on Linux is the plainest one, which is the opposite of what most coverage of this topic implies.
Almost every commercial mail client skips Linux entirely. eM Client, Mailbird, Spark, Canary Mail, Mimestream, Superhuman and Airmail publish no Linux build of any kind, and neither does Microsoft. The desktop shortlist on this platform is genuinely short: Thunderbird, Evolution, KMail on KDE Plasma, Geary for a single mailbox, and Claws Mail if you want something minimal. That thinness is the real reason this question keeps getting asked.
Every route that works today
Six ways to read Outlook mail on Linux
The column that decides this for most people is not features. It is whether the route holds more than one mailbox, and whether it survives the October 2026 EWS cutoff.
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| Route | How it runs on Linux | Managed Microsoft 365 work mail | Several mailboxes in one list | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inboxes | A browser tab, nothing packaged or installed | No, we authenticate with an app password | Yes, any IMAP mailbox on one board | $29 a month flat for five mailboxes |
| Outlook on the web, installed as an app | Chrome or Edge menu, any distribution | Yes, this is the route Microsoft supports | No, one mailbox per browser profile | Included with the account |
| Community Snap or Electron wrapper | Third party package, not Microsoft software | Signs in exactly as the web app does | No, it wraps the same single mailbox view | No license fee |
| GNOME Evolution with evolution-ews | Native, default on GNOME and Fedora Workstation | Yes today, on Microsoft EWS retirement clock | Yes, several accounts in one folder tree | No license fee, open source |
| Thunderbird 153 | Native builds, deb, snap and flatpak | Over IMAP with modern authentication only | Yes, with real Unified Folders | No license fee, open source |
| Desktop Outlook in a Windows virtual machine | A second operating system to patch and boot | Yes, it is the real Windows client | Yes, Outlook handles several accounts | Windows license plus a Microsoft 365 plan |
Read that table by your own situation rather than top to bottom. One managed work mailbox and nothing else: install Outlook on the web and stop there. A work mailbox where you also want calendar and contacts on the desktop: Evolution today, with a conversation booked with your administrator about EWS before October. Several personal and small business addresses, none of them a managed Microsoft 365 account: that is where a browser client fits, and the wider platform picture is on our Linux email client comparison. If you are weighing Outlook against everything else rather than against Linux specifically, the breakdown is on the Outlook alternative page.
Where the platform and the problem line up
Six reasons the browser is the right place to solve this on Linux
Linux is the platform where packaging is the tax. Every native answer to this question starts with a decision about deb against snap against flatpak, and ends with that decision breaking on the next release upgrade.
Nothing to package
No repository to add, no PPA to trust, no snap confinement to argue with when it cannot see your downloads folder. A browser tab behaves the same on Ubuntu 24.04, Mint 22, Fedora and Arch.
It survives a distro upgrade
Mail setups on Linux tend to die at release upgrades, when a client moves from deb to snap and the profile does not follow. Nothing about a browser client changes when you jump releases.
Desktop environment does not matter
Evolution assumes GNOME and KMail assumes KDE Plasma, and both feel foreign on the other side. A browser client looks identical on GNOME, Plasma, Cinnamon, XFCE and a tiling window manager.
It sits on the protocol that is staying
EWS is being switched off in Exchange Online through 2026 and 2027. IMAP is not. Building a Linux mail setup on IMAP in 2026 is the choice least likely to need redoing next spring.
The commercial clients are not coming
eM Client, Mailbird, Spark, Canary Mail, Mimestream, Superhuman and Airmail all skip Linux. Waiting for one of them to ship a build has been a losing bet for a decade, and Outlook is the longest running example.
The same board on every machine
Plenty of Linux users have a work laptop running something else, or a Chromebook in the bag. The board opens the same way in any browser, with the same accounts, tags and read state.
Four steps, and no terminal
Getting Outlook mail onto one board
This connects personal Outlook.com and Hotmail addresses alongside your other mailboxes. A tenant managed Microsoft 365 account is the one case it does not cover, and that is explained below.
Step 01
Create an app password
In your Microsoft account security settings, generate an app password for the mailbox. It is a one time string that lets a mail client in without handing over your real credential.
Step 02
Connect the mailbox
Paste the address and the app password. The server settings are filled in for the common providers, so there is no ports and SSL screen to work through unless you are on your own domain.
Step 03
Add the rest of them
Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud, Fastmail, Zoho and mail on your own domain all speak IMAP, so they join the same board. Five mailboxes fit on the entry plan.
Step 04
Read one list
Every message arrives with a category and a spam verdict already applied, so the morning pass is a scan rather than a sort. Replies go out from the address the message came to.
Who lands on this page
The Linux users this actually helps
Not everyone searching for Outlook on Linux wants a mail client. Some want the desktop program and should stop reading here, because it does not exist and nothing on this page changes that.
Developers and sysadmins on Ubuntu
A personal Outlook.com address from years back, a Gmail account, a domain address for side work and an alerting mailbox. Four browser tabs today, one board instead.
Consultants billing several clients
Each engagement arrives at a different address, and missing one costs a day. One list with the sender already categorized is the difference between checking four places and checking one.
People who left Windows and kept the address
The Outlook.com or Hotmail address outlives the operating system, because it is on every account and every invoice. It does not need Outlook the program to keep working.
Small business owners on Linux desktops
Sales, billing and a personal address, none of them on a managed tenant. This is the exact shape Microsoft stopped serving when it removed the features that merged accounts.
Anyone tired of Evolution profile repair
Evolution is a capable client, and it also generates a long tail of cache and profile problems after upgrades. Nothing to rebuild is a feature if you have spent an afternoon on that.
Teams checking the EWS deadline
If your Linux desktops reach Exchange Online through Evolution, October 2026 is a date to put in a calendar. Personal and domain mailboxes on IMAP are not affected either way.
Where we lose
Four limits to check before you switch anything
The first one rules us out for a large share of the people searching for Outlook on Linux, so it goes first rather than last.
A managed Microsoft 365 work or school mailbox will not connect to us. Inboxes authenticates with a username and an app password. Microsoft completed its removal of basic authentication for Exchange Online through 2025 and 2026, reaching full rejection of basic authentication SMTP submissions on April 30, 2026, so a tenant managed mailbox refuses that credential regardless of which client is asking. On Linux the working answers for a managed Microsoft account are Outlook on the web installed as an app, Evolution over EWS while that lasts, or Thunderbird with modern authentication. Personal Outlook.com and Hotmail mailboxes still work in clients that hold a Microsoft login, though never in Inboxes, which uses an app password, and Microsoft states it will to remove basic authentication from Outlook.com as well and rely only on OAuth, so treat any Microsoft address as worth testing before you commit to it.
There is no offline mode. This runs in a browser tab and wants a connection. Thunderbird and Evolution both keep a full local archive, and Outlook on the web caches recent mail once installed as an app and switched on in settings. If you regularly work for hours with no signal, keep one of those for your main account. If your machine is effectively always online, the trade costs nothing.
No calendar, no contacts, no tasks. Outlook is a suite and we are not. This is the sharpest gap against Evolution, which is chosen on GNOME precisely because it carries the calendar and address book alongside the mail. If one window holding your week as well as your inbox is the requirement, Evolution or Outlook on the web is the honest recommendation, not us.
There is no permanent tier that costs nothing. Plans start at $29 a month flat for five mailboxes, with larger tiers above that. Thunderbird and Evolution both carry no license fee and both already merge accounts, Thunderbird through Unified Folders and Evolution through one folder tree. If gathering mailboxes into a single view is the entire problem, either of them solves it for nothing and you should use them. The case for paying starts when the pile itself is what you are trying to shrink, or when you want the same board from a machine that is not your Linux desktop.
FAQ
Questions people ask about Outlook on Linux
Does Outlook work on Linux?
Outlook mail works on Linux. The Outlook program does not. Microsoft has never shipped a native Outlook desktop build for any distribution and has announced no plans to. What runs on Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora and Arch is Outlook on the web, installed from the Chrome or Edge menu so it opens in its own window with a launcher entry.
Is there an Outlook app for Linux?
There is an installable web app, which is what Microsoft means by app on this platform. Install it from the browser menu and you get a separate window, an icon in your application menu and notifications. What does not exist is a deb, an rpm or an official Snap published by Microsoft. Community wrappers are not Microsoft software.
Can you use Outlook on Linux?
Yes, through the browser. Sign in at outlook.com for a personal address or outlook.office.com for a work or school account, then install the page as an app. Every Outlook on the web feature works: search, rules, categories, calendar and offline reading once you switch it on in settings. Only the desktop program is missing.
How do I install Outlook on Ubuntu?
Open Chrome or Edge on Ubuntu, sign in at outlook.com, then open the browser menu and choose the install option. GNOME adds it to Activities and you can pin it to the dash. There is nothing to apt install, because Microsoft publishes no Outlook package for Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04 or any later release.
Is Outlook available for Linux?
Not as a downloadable program, and it never has been. Any site offering an Outlook for Linux download, an Outlook deb or an Outlook rpm is not distributing Microsoft software. The supported answer Microsoft gives Linux users is Outlook on the web, which is the same interface new Outlook uses on Windows and Mac.
Can you run Outlook on Linux?
You can run it in a browser, or run the real Windows program inside a virtual machine. Wine and Bottles builds of desktop Outlook are unreliable and unsupported by both Microsoft and the Wine project. If you genuinely need the Windows client, a virtual machine is the honest route and it costs you a Windows license.
How do I get Outlook on Linux Mint?
The same way as any distribution: install Outlook on the web as an app from Chrome or Edge. Mint ships Thunderbird by default on Cinnamon, so if you want a native desktop client with several mailboxes in one folder tree, Thunderbird is already installed and speaks IMAP to Outlook.com without any extra package.
Is there an Outlook snap or flatpak for Linux?
There are community Snap packages that wrap Outlook on the web in an Electron shell. They work, but Microsoft does not publish or support them, they lag the web version, and they package the same single mailbox view. Installing one gives you a window, not a feature. The browser install does the same thing with less to break.
What is the best Outlook alternative for Linux?
It depends what you are replacing. For a full suite with calendar and contacts on GNOME, Evolution. For a cross distribution desktop client with several accounts in one folder tree, Thunderbird. For reading an Outlook.com address next to Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud and your own domain in one list, a browser based IMAP client.
Can I use Microsoft Exchange on Linux?
Today, yes, through GNOME Evolution with the evolution-ews backend, which has supported OAuth 2.0 since version 3.27.91. That route has a deadline. Microsoft disables Exchange Web Services by default in Exchange Online on October 1, 2026 and shuts it down completely on April 1, 2027. On premises Exchange Server is not affected.
Will Evolution stop working with Exchange Online?
The EWS protocol it depends on is being switched off in Exchange Online, so plan for it rather than assume it. Microsoft replaces EWS with Microsoft Graph, and the GNOME project has not shipped a Graph backend for Evolution. Ask your administrator whether your tenant will use the AppID allow list before October 2026.
Is IMAP being retired for Outlook and Microsoft 365?
No. Microsoft is retiring basic authentication, not the IMAP protocol. IMAP, POP and SMTP remain supported in Exchange Online and Outlook.com when the client authenticates with OAuth 2.0. That distinction matters on Linux, because IMAP is the one Microsoft protocol that a Linux mail client can still count on after the EWS retirement.
How do I read Outlook email on Fedora?
Fedora Workstation ships GNOME, so Evolution is already installed and connects a work mailbox over EWS today. For a personal Outlook.com address, install Outlook on the web from Chrome, use Thunderbird over IMAP, or connect it to a browser client alongside your other addresses. All three work without adding a repository.
Why does Microsoft not make Outlook for Linux?
Microsoft has never given a public reason, and treats Outlook on the web as the answer for every platform without a native build, including ChromeOS. In practice the web version now receives the features first, so a Linux user is not running an older Outlook. The gap is the desktop window, not the mail service.
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