Possible MAPI obsoletion with Windows 7 and Outlook 2016 EOL (October 14th 2025)

[Avasam]

I'm opening this issue as a reminder and for documentation/archival purposes.
This concerns https://github.com/mhammond/pywin32/tree/main/com/win32comext/mapi
#2218 removed considerations for Windows CE, but it' still referenced in

pywin32/com/win32comext/mapi/src/mapi_headers/EdkMdb.h

Line 2175 in a83b36c

#define SZ_HPC_V2 "Software\\Microsoft\\Windows CE Services"

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I went looking for possibly updated headers, but the link to MAPI headers download in https://github.com/mhammond/pywin32/tree/main/com/win32comext/mapi/src/mapi_headers is dead.
The same link has been removed from Microsoft's documentation Jun 27, 2022 in https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/office-developer-client-docs/pull/596/files#diff-a5a255563c0b615259f57792bb3e277c8e9827bfa24c7766f3c425cd0e12c146
The following are now all dead links:

• https://support.microsoft.com/kb/228457
• https://www.microsoft.com/download/details.aspx?id=12905
• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=12905
• https://mapistublibrary.codeplex.com/documentation

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https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/client-developer/outlook/mapi/outlook-mapi-reference and its subpages mention that MAPI only applies to Outlook 2013 and Outlook 2016.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/new-features/discontinued-features?view=exchserver-2019#discontinued-features-from-exchange-2013-to-exchange-2019 mentions that

The MAPI/CDO library has been replaced by Exchange Web Services (EWS), Exchange ActiveSync (EAS), and Representational State Transfer (REST)* APIs. If an application uses the MAPI/CDO library, it needs to move to EWS, EAS, or the REST APIs to communicate with Exchange 2019.

According to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/outlook-2016, Outlook 2016's support Mainstream End Date was Oct 13, 2020, and the support Extended End Date is Oct 14, 2025.

From https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/client-developer/outlook/mapi/installing-the-mapi-subsystem:

The supported versions of Windows are as follows:

• Windows 7.
• Windows Vista.
• Windows Server 2008.
• Windows Server 2003.
• Windows XP.

According to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-7, Windows 7's support Mainstream End Date was Jan 13, 2015, the support Extended End Date is Jan 14, 2020, the support Extended Security Update Year 3 ended Jan 10, 2023 and it doesn't look like there was a 4th year.

The last Python version to support Windows 7 was Python 3.8 (https://www.python.org/downloads/windows/) and 3.8's end of life is around October 2024 (https://peps.python.org/pep-0569/)

PR to drop Python 3.8 support in pywin32: #2413

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It doesn't even seem possible to download Outlook 2016 anymore, everything seems to redirect to newer Office 365:

• https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/download-and-install-or-reinstall-office-2019-office-2016-or-office-2013-7c695b06-6d1a-4917-809c-98ce43f86479#OfficeVersion=Office_2019_or_2016_for_PC
• https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/choose-between-the-64-bit-or-32-bit-version-of-office-2dee7807-8f95-4d0c-b5fe-6c6f49b8d261?wt.mc_id=scl_installoffice_home&ui=en-us&rs=en-us&ad=us#32or64Bit=Office_2016

---

Sidenote: I found that mingw-w64 is hosting MAPI headers, but I have no idea where/how they got it from: https://github.com/mingw-w64/mingw-w64/blob/master/mingw-w64-headers/include/mapi.h & https://sourceforge.net/p/mingw-w64/code/HEAD/tree/trunk/mingw-w64-headers/include/mapi.h

Sidenote 2: Thanks to the Wayback Machine, I found a 2020 archive of https://mapistublibrary.codeplex.com/documentation which redirects to https://archive.codeplex.com/?p=mapistublibrary which is archived with a message that leads to https://github.com/stephenegriffin/MAPIStubLibrary, which finally redirects to https://github.com/microsoft/MAPIStubLibrary
I opened a PR to fix Microsoft's own doc concerning MAPI source: MicrosoftDocs/office-developer-client-docs#777

[Avasam]

Got an answer: Microsoft 365 will keep including Outlook, and « All versions of Outlook classic are built on and implement MAPI » (microsoft/MAPIStubLibrary#58 (comment)) despite the official Microsoft docs not mentioning that anywhere. Both Microsoft 365 and Outlook 2024 and set to be supported until at least October 9th, 2029:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/outlook-2024?branch=live
• https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/outlook/new-outlook-for-windows-a-guide-to-product-availability/4078895

[Avasam]

On a similar note, concerning ActiveX this time, according to this article: https://www.windowslatest.com/2024/09/15/microsoft-will-turn-off-activex-controls-in-office-2024-for-windows-11-and-windows-10/

Microsoft will turn off ActiveX controls by default in Office 2024.
[...]
There are also plans to disable ActiveX controls in Microsoft 365 apps, which will commence in April 2025.
[...]
“Starting in new Office 2024, the default configuration setting for ActiveX objects will change from Prompt me before enabling all controls with minimal restrictions to Disable all controls without notification,” Microsoft noted in an advisory message seen by Windows Latest.

Other source: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/microsoft-office-activex-disable-default/ and https://mc.merill.net/message/MC884011:

Starting in new Office 2024, the default configuration setting for ActiveX objects will change from Prompt me before enabling all controls with minimal restrictions to Disable all controls without notification. This change applies to the Win32 desktop versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Visio.

When this will happen:

For new Office 2024, this change will happen immediately when it’s released in October 2024.

For Microsoft 365 apps, this change will rollout in stages beginning in April 2025.

Also: MicrosoftEdge/WebView2Feedback#1371 (comment)

the WebBrowser control will continue to work after the IE Desktop Browser end of life in 2022, until about 2029.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/faq/internet-explorer-microsoft-edge#what-if-my-enterprise-line-of-business--lob--application-has-a-dependency-on-a-version-of-internet-explorer-that-reached-end-of-support-

Microsoft is committed to supporting Internet Explorer mode in Microsoft Edge through at least 2029, on supported operating systems.

So maybe we can say bye-bye to ActiveX in 2029 as well 🤞