On August 17, 2021, Microsoft 365 apps and services will no longer support Internet Explorer 11. Users who continue with Internet Explorer 11 after that date are likely to have a degraded experience or may be prevented from connecting to Microsoft 365 apps and services.
Microsoft announced on August 17, 2020 that Microsoft 365 apps would no longer be supporting Internet Explorer 11, giving users 12 months to change to a supported browser. Over the past 12 months, support has been reducing, with Microsoft Teams stopping supporting Internet Explorer 11 in November 2020.
M365 support for Internet Explorer 11 will be phased out over the following weeks and months, rather than the deadline date seeing an abrupt cessation of support. This will help to ensure a smooth end of support, according to a recent Microsoft blog post. What that means for users is that if they continue to use Internet Explorer 11 in conjunction with any Microsoft 365 apps or services and problems are experienced, no support will be available and the user experience is likely to get progressively worse after August 17, 2021.
Starting on August 17, 2021, users logging in to the Outlook Web App with AAD accounts will continue to get the full OWA experience, but no additional features will be received after the end of support date. Users logging in with Microsoft Accounts (MSA) will be redirected to the Outlook Web App Light experience.
Microsoft said it is aware than some users may continue to use ‘Open with Explorer’ and ‘View in File Explorer’ in SharePoint to access document libraries. “To avoid disruption, these customers will be able to use these features for now when they go to a document library in IE11,” said Microsoft. “These features remain in maintenance mode and aren’t receiving further development. We encourage all customers to move to a modern browser and OneDrive sync for a better user experience and easier access to files.”
Microsoft has warned that using Microsoft Edge in Internet Explorer mode will not extend Internet Explorer 11 access to Microsoft 365 products beyond the end of support date. Enterprises that depend on legacy Internet Explorer-based websites and apps will still be able to continue to use them by using Microsoft Edge in Internet Explorer mode.
Microsoft also said that from June 15, 2022, Internet Explorer will be retired from Windows 10 and will be replaced with Microsoft Edge – Microsoft’s Chromium based web browser, which will be the final nail in the coffin for Internet Explorer.