Email Productivity Coach: train others

01

The coach's first job: find out which Outlook people use

In simple words

A swimming coach first checks who can float, who can kick and who is scared of water. An email coach does the same: before teaching, find out which Outlook each person has and what trips them up.

Before this course: Outlook for Teams: shared mailboxes and scheduling (course 13.4.3). You can already share calendars, set up delegates, use shared mailboxes and groups, and run Scheduling polls. Now you will teach these skills to others and lead an email routine for a whole team.

Key facts

Microsoft keeps a feature comparison between new Outlook and classic Outlook. It was last updated on 23 September 2026 and Microsoft says statuses can change, so check it before every training.
Not supported in new Outlook (classic only), from that page: COM add-ins, VBA Macro, Voting buttons, Custom forms, Rules Import/Export and Business card, among others. For COM add-ins, Microsoft recommends moving to web add-ins.
Partially available in new Outlook: PST support, Offline support, Rules, Quick Steps, Search folders, Mail merge, Delay send rule, Public folders and delegate access to shared mailboxes.
New Outlook only (not in classic), from the same page: Sweep, Snooze, Pin messages, Folder colors and Category favorites, among others.

Feature	Classic Outlook for Windows	New Outlook for Windows
COM add-ins and VBA macros	Yes	Not supported
Voting buttons	Yes	Not supported
PST files and offline use	Yes	Partly available
Rules and Quick Steps	Yes	Partly available
Sweep, Snooze, Pin messages	No	Yes

Plans matter too. A personal Outlook.com account has no admin, no shared mailboxes and no Microsoft 365 groups with files. A work or school account depends on what the organization bought (for example, a Business or Enterprise plan) and on what the admin turned on (course 13.4.3).
A learner survey is a coaching habit, not a Microsoft rule: version, account type, device, and the three email tasks that waste the most time.

Step by step

Write a five-question learner survey: which Outlook version, personal or work/school account, which device, top three time-wasters, and one feature they want to learn.
Send it to your learners (or ask the questions at the start of a session).
Open Microsoft's feature comparison page and note the features your group relies on, for example voting buttons or PST files.
Sort learners into groups: new Outlook, classic Outlook, web or Mac.
Mark any feature that one group cannot use, so you can plan a workaround.
Write a one-line "audience note" for your session, such as "12 learners: 7 new Outlook, 4 classic, 1 Mac; 3 use voting buttons".
Check: you know which version every learner uses and which demo steps need two paths.

Watch on YouTube

Microsoft Outlook: classic versus new, what's changedMarianne Tansley · YouTube · youtube.com

Videos by other creators on YouTube, for reference. They are not made by or affiliated with The Future Market.

LESSON 01The coach's first job: find out which Outlook people use

LESSON 01 / ANIMATED LESSON / AI VOICE00:00 / 01:00

Voice

Read the video script

[Host] "Before you teach Outlook, ask a simple question: which Outlook?"
[Text on screen: New · Classic · Web · Mac · Mobile] "New Outlook, classic Outlook, the web, Mac and mobile all look different."
[Screen: feature comparison table] "Some features, like voting buttons and COM add-ins, are classic only. Others, like Sweep and Snooze, are new Outlook only."
[Host] "Survey your learners first. Then every demo fits the screen in front of them."

Try it now

Run your learner survey with at least three people (friends, classmates or colleagues). Write your audience note and list two features that need a different path for new and classic Outlook.

ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude

Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.

For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.

I'm learning "Email Productivity Coach: train others" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "The coach's first job: find out which Outlook people use".

What the lesson teaches:
- Microsoft keeps a feature comparison between new Outlook and classic Outlook. It was last updated on 23 September 2026 and Microsoft says statuses can change, so check it before every training.
- Not supported in new Outlook (classic only), from that page: COM add-ins, VBA Macro, Voting buttons, Custom forms, Rules Import/Export and Business card, among others. For COM add-ins, Microsoft recommends moving to web add-ins.
- Partially available in new Outlook: PST support, Offline support, Rules, Quick Steps, Search folders, Mail merge, Delay send rule, Public folders and delegate access to shared mailboxes.
- New Outlook only (not in classic), from the same page: Sweep, Snooze, Pin messages, Folder colors and Category favorites, among others.
- Feature - Classic Outlook for Windows - New Outlook for Windows
- COM add-ins and VBA macros - Yes - Not supported
- Voting buttons - Yes - Not supported

The exercise I'm working on:
Run your learner survey with at least three people (friends, classmates or colleagues). Write your audience note and list two features that need a different path for new and classic Outlook.

I'm stuck. Please:
1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example.
2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step.
3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.

I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "The coach's first job: find out which Outlook people use" from the course "Email Productivity Coach: train others".

Here's what the lesson says:
A swimming coach first checks who can float, who can kick and who is scared of water. An email coach does the same: before teaching, find out which Outlook each person has and what trips them up.

The activity:
Run your learner survey with at least three people (friends, classmates or colleagues). Write your audience note and list two features that need a different path for new and classic Outlook.

Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words.
Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.

Open Claude

Sources

Microsoft Support, Feature comparison between new Outlook and classic Outlook: support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/feature-comparison-between-new-outl

My notes

I learned this

02