Article published on the 15th of January, 2025.
Contents
1. Introduction
2. FAQ
2.1. Practical - installation and updates
2.2. Functionality
2.3. Looking ahead
1. Introduction
In the following document we distinguish between WorkPoint Express 365, which is the new product that will be available on a preview version January 2025, and WorkPoint Express (legacy), which is the product that you already have. Further, we distinguish between the versions of Outlook as Outlook(classic) and new Outlook that was made publicly available in 2024.
2. FAQ
2.1. Practical - installation and updates
Q: How do you install WorkPoint Express 365?
A: For the preview version we will make a download available in the support portal, that can be deployed to Microsoft 365 Admin centre - you can then select which users in your organization will receive the add-in in their Outlook Profiles. To deploy the Add-In, a user with the necessary tenant permissions must accept and approve the application’s registration request. This approval grants the application access to Mail and WorkPoint on the user’s behalf. Future releases, including the planned “General Availability” release, will also be available as a download from our support portal or installable via the Microsoft Office Store directly into the Microsoft 365 Admin centre.
You can read more in this article.
Q: Can I run both WorkPoint Express(legacy) and WorkPoint Express 365 at the same time?
A: Yes, and we recommend doing this during the transition period in your organization. You can run both Outlook(classic) and new Outlook client’s side by side so you can evaluate the experiences. Also, if there are features missing in the new client you can always default back to Outlook(classic), which runs WorkPoint Express(legacy) version.
Q: Is it possible to install WorkPoint Express 365 to all users or should each user do something actively.
A: The Tenant Admin can select users individually or by Entra Group membership that will have receive the WorkPoint Express 365 Add-in in their Outlook clients. Users will not be required to install anything, though they will need to simply “Open” the Express Task-Pane in their New Outlook client to and accept automatic authentication to start using WorkPoint Express 365. After that, the Task-Pane will remain visible in their Outlook profile, whether using the web or desktop versions.
Q: Do I need to uninstall Outlook(classic) when upgrading to the New Outlook client?
A: No, you don’t need to uninstall the old version of Outlook even if you deploy the new version. You can run both versions side by side.
Q: What is the Upgrade Path to the new WorkPoint Express 365?
A: The two WorkPoint Express applications are separate and can be run side by side. You do not need to upgrade from one app to the other, rather install the new WorkPoint Express 365 app and run them in parallel, whilst you are transitioning users to the new experience. Once your users are ready you can uninstall the old version of WorkPoint Express.
Q: Will installing the WorkPoint Express 365 require any further configuration?
A: The intention is that WorkPoint Express 365 will require no specific configuration and will automatically respond to your existing WorkPoint Solution configuration. Existing or new “My Tools” actions linked to V4 WorkPoint Automate Processes can then be simply enabled for the WorkPoint Express 365 application using the WorkPoint Admin Portal. With the release of the new WorkPoint Express 365 and its supporting Email Actions, partners can configure additional My Tools actions and WorkPoint Automate Processes specifically designed to handle E-Mail Journalization workflows.
Q: Is it possible to configure WorkPoint Express 365 as an individual user and connect to multiple solutions, as it is possible today?
A: At present, there are no user specific configuration options for WorkPoint Express 365. The intention is that WorkPoint Express 365, wherever possible, “follows the user” by remembering last accessed solution and location etc. Regarding connection to multiple WorkPoint Solutions, as WorkPoint Express 365 is enabled in a user’s Outlook profile, they can access any WorkPoint Solution on the same Tenant as their Outlook profile. In the initial stages, WorkPoint Express 365 can only be enabled in the User’s “Primary Mailbox” which is directly associated with a Microsoft 365 Tenant. Future releases may add support for secondary and shared mailbox accounts. You can read more about the options available in this article.
Q: Will there be different versions available of WorkPoint Express 365?
A: The short answer is no, there will only be one version of WorkPoint Express 365, which will always run the latest code. This aligns with the WorkPoint SaaS model and ensures our clients will run in evergreen mode, avoiding the need to manually upgrade their solutions. Similar to WorkPoint 365 core, we will have a release candidate model for WorkPoint Express 365. This model will align with the core platform’s release rings concept, allowing our partners and customers to balance their needs for new features against their requirements for stability and change.
Q: What version of WorkPoint is required for the new WorkPoint Express 365 App?
A: The new WorkPoint Express 365 app is only compatible with the Version 4 of WorkPoint 365. This is to ensure the best feature capabilities and alignment with the future of WorkPoint. The new WorkPoint Express 365 App will leverage the power of Version 4, WorkPoint Automate for process automation and execution of actions in the product.
Q: When will Outlook(classic) be retired?
A: Microsoft have recently announced that they will continue to support the Outlook(classic) application and its COM Add-In framework for existing subscriptions until “at least” 2029 and throughout the “Cutover” stage when New Installations or Users will move to the new Outlook experience by default. Microsoft have not yet announced any end of life for Microsoft 365 Outlook client until some key capabilities are met such as off-line access, support of PST, shared mailboxes and the add-in framework reaches feature parity with the legacy COM Add-in approach, to name a few.
Q: Will the COM/VSTO Add-in stop working in Outlook(classic)?
A: Microsoft have not announced any plans to stop supporting COM/VSTO plugin-ins in the Outlook (classic) client. It is expected that Microsoft may remove support at some point in the future, but we do not see this being in the next year or two. We are committed to ensuring that the new WorkPoint Express 365 is the WorkPoint Add-in of choice for your productivity applications before this happens.
Q: What licence is required to run WorkPoint Express 365?
A: WorkPoint Express 365 is included in your WorkPoint 365 Core user licence. As long as the user has a Full User Licence assigned to them, they will be able to use it.
2.2. Functionality
Q: What functionality does the first version of WorkPoint Express 365 contain? And what functionality will follow later and when?
A: In the first release, we will be focusing on delivering the experiences for efficient and intuitive navigation through your WorkPoint solutions, complemented by a new suite of WorkPoint Automate actions designed to make it easy for our partners to implement and extend efficient email management workflows. See the presentation from the webinar for details on roadmap. Our WorkPoint Express 365 function matrix provides details on what you can expect from each of the upcoming releases on our roadmap.
Q: What new functionality does WorkPoint Express 365 feature that WorkPoint Express(legacy) did not?
A: WorkPoint Express 365 represents a major redesign of our Add-in aimed at bringing WorkPoint solutions and WorkPoint Automate flows directly into users’ productivity applications for a seamless experience. Our initial release of WorkPoint Express 365 will focus on efficient and intuitive navigation. Through tight integration with the WorkPoint Automate engine, partners can leverage the existing suite of WorkPoint Automate Steps and Actions to perform flows that create or manipulate data in your WorkPoint solution. An exciting new feature of WorkPoint Automate has been introduced to support unattended processes. Users can now launch processes from Outlook Mails or WorkPoint selections that will run in the background, creating, importing, or modifying data while they continue to work.
Q: When do you expect to have all the features of WorkPoint Express(legacy) available in the WorkPoint Express 365 product?
A: The full scope of feature WorkPoint Express will not be available with the first release of WorkPoint Express 365. WorkPoint Express 365 will not be a copy of working with WorkPoint Express(legacy) we have focused on streamlining the application whilst still addressing the main use cases. This also includes moving away from unused/rarely used features.
Q: Some functionality from WorkPoint Express(legacy) is not ported to the first version of WorkPoint Express 365. Is it possible to use the WorkPoint Express 365 in the Office application, but still run the WorkPoint Express(legacy) standalone client to access the functionality still available there?
A: Yes, the two versions of WorkPoint Express are completely different products and can run at the same time on the same device. It is therefore possible to use the new version of WorkPoint Express 365 in the Office applications and familiarize yourselves with the new UI but use the WorkPoint Express(legacy) standalone client for functionality not yet implemented in the new version.
Q: New Outlook and OWA does not support drag-and-drop as of now. When it becomes available will WorkPoint Express 365 follow suit?
A: In the absence of Drag and Drop support, our first release of WorkPoint Express 365, we will deliver the option to configure “Quick Actions”, which allows users to quickly process selected Outlook messages using the flexibility of the WorkPoint Automate so email data can be journalized, imported or processed as part of a flexible WorkPoint Automate flow. If Drag and Drop becomes available in the Add-In framework, we will, of course, evaluate how best to implement this with WorkPoint Express 365 and WorkPoint Automate.
Q: Will the archive flag work in WorkPoint Express 365?
A: WorkPoint Express 365 currently uses the user’s permissions to access both Outlook mail and WorkPoint data. As part of our roadmap, we are looking at extending our WorkPoint Automate actions to allow our partners to decide how journalized emails should be flagged, annotated or otherwise processed as part of their clients’ Email journalization workflows. This option is intended to be part of our R2 release scheduled for later in 2025.
2.3. Looking ahead
Q: What if there is a feature that our client requires that is not available in the first release or on the roadmap?
A: Please raise a support ticket and we will ensure that it is evaluated by the product team and evaluated for inclusion on the product’s roadmap or if there is another alternative for delivering the requirement.
Q: Is WorkPoint planning to have a standalone client for WorkPoint Express 365?
A: The framework supports it, but discussion is still on-going.
Q: What happens if there are features missing that our customer needs to use the new client?
A: In that case we recommend that the customer stays on the WorkPoint Express(legacy) until all the required features are available. It is our experience that not all users use WorkPoint Express(legacy) in the same way, and it may be possible to move some users to the new version, who do not need certain features.
Q: When will the WorkPoint Express(legacy) be deprecated?
A: We do not have fixed date for end-of-life or end-of-support for WorkPoint Express(legacy). But we do envisage that this will happen at some point in the future along with Microsoft also deprecating functionality such as event receivers etc. We are focused on ensuring that we have a great product that our customers love, before retiring the original product.
Q: Will you continue to add new functionality to the WorkPoint Express(legacy)?
A: We do not intend to add new functionality to WorkPoint Express(legacy). We will of course support the product and provide fixes for a period, but all our feature development will be focused toward the new WorkPoint Express 365 App.
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