Which Microsoft email client first appeared as part of Microsoft Office 97?

The Microsoft email client that first appeared as part of Microsoft Office 97 was Microsoft Outlook.

Office 97 introduced Outlook 97, Microsoft’s successor to the earlier Exchange Client and Schedule+ products. Outlook combined email with calendaring, contacts, tasks, notes, and other personal-information-management features, making it more than a standalone mail reader. It was designed to work especially closely with Microsoft Exchange in business environments, while also supporting Internet mail configurations.

Office 97 was version 8.0 of the suite and was released in November 1996, although Outlook 97 itself is commonly listed with a January 16, 1997 release date. The product’s “97” label matched the Office generation, not necessarily the calendar year in which every component became available.

The distractors represent different Microsoft products or product lines. Outlook Express was a separate, lighter mail and news client associated with Windows and Internet Explorer. Windows Mail arrived much later in Windows Vista, while Entourage was Microsoft’s Mac email and personal-information manager. Outlook therefore is the canonical answer for Office 97.