Outlook with GWSMO: What you can & can't do

Using Outlook with Google Workspace Sync for Microsoft Outlook (GWSMO) is much the same as using Outlook with any other hosted mail service. Some features remain the same. However, some features aren't available or might not work as you'd expect.

Using Outlook with GWSMO, you can…

• Send, reply to, and forward messages–You can use most of Outlook's features for composing and managing your email.
• Manage invitations–Accept or decline calendar invitations directly from the invitation's email.
• Organize messages–Manage your messages using nested folders, message flags, reminders, categories, and many other of Outlook's mail management features.
• Easily locate email addresses–Find and autocomplete email addresses in your contacts.
• Delegate your inbox to an assistant–Your delegate can send, reply to, and delete messages on your behalf.

Using Outlook with GWSMO you can’t...

• Recover deleted items—If you empty your Outlook Deleted Items folder, you can't use "Recover Deleted Items" in Outlook's Tools menu to get the items back.
• Share mailbox folders with other users—Folders in Outlook map to labels in Gmail. Since Gmail labels don't have permission properties, they can't be shared.
• Use public folders—Public folders aren't available with GWSMO and you won't see them in the Outlook navigation pane.
• Send executable, .eml, or .msg attachments from Outlook—You can't attach files that run when a user clicks the file, such as .exe, .eml, .msg, .bat, and .vbs files. Limitations also exist when you send .eml or .msg attachments to Outlook users. For details, go to Can't view EML or MSG files.
• Request delivery receipts—If you request a delivery receipt for a message sent from Outlook, you won't receive a response when the message is delivered. Instead, you can request an Outlook read receipt.
• Encrypt email using S/MIME—S/MIME isn’t supported with GWSMO. If you want to send S/MIME signed messages from Outlook, as a workaround, you can set up an IMAP connection in Outlook to use with Gmail.
• Use "Treat as alias"—If you're using a Gmail alias and have Treat as alias turned on, the alias appears in the To or Cc fields when you reply in Outlook. For more information, go to Should I uncheck "Treat as an alias" in Gmail?

Outlook features that might not work as expected

• Read receipts—To get a response when your message is read, your recipient must be using Outlook and must turn on read receipts for their profile.
• Out of Office (OOO) notifications—You can set up automatic vacation responses to let people know when you're away. You must do this in Gmail, not using Outlook's OOO feature (which doesn't work with GWSMO). Learn how to set up an OOO or vacation reply in Gmail.
• Contact delegation—You can set up contact delegation in Google Workspace to give other users in your organization permission to access and manage your personal contacts. This feature isn't available in Outlook. Learn how to Give another user access to your contacts.
• Recalling a sent message—In Outlook, you can choose "Recall This Message" from a sent message's Actions menu to try to recall a message you just sent. Gmail can't recall messages and instead, the recipient receives both the original message, along with a follow-up message saying you wanted to recall the message.
• Setting importance levels for recipients—If you mark a message as "Important" or "Low Priority" in Outlook, the importance level isn't synchronized with your Google Workspace account and won't show up for other users.
• Office add-ins for Outlook—Outlook add-ins can't be installed from the Office 365 Store to an Outlook profile created with GWSMO. The add-ins can be installed only on a profile with an Exchange account.

  If you want to use Google Meet with Outlook, you can install the Meet add-in on your Mac or Windows computer. Other add-ins (installed from third-party sources) might work, but compatibility issues can exist between them and GWSMO. We don’t recommend you install third-party add-ins.

• Using Check Names—If you are sending a message to an email alias, the Check Names feature in Outlook won't confirm that the email address is correct.