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Outlook.com is getting a major revamp

By Ng Chong Seng - on 22 May 2015, 10:41am

Outlook.com is getting a major revamp

Microsoft is rolling out today an update to Outlook.com to a small group of customers (details on how to opt-in to the new experience will be announced later). Labeled as a preview, this is the start of many changes that are coming to Outlook.com as it adopts an Office 365-based infrastructure.

A lot of the new niceties evolve around a refined inbox. Clutter is a feature that works behind the scenes to sort messages you’re likely to ignore into a separate folder. Expectedly, it gets better the more you use and “train” it. Search Suggestions put the people you communicate with and the content in your mailbox at your fingertips when searching for content. And Refiners let you pivot your search results based on the sender, folder, date received, and attachments. You’ll also see search term highlighting in your search results.

Also included are 13 new themes, a cool link preview, inline images, pop-out read and compose windows, pins and flags for keeping track of your important emails, and add-in support. As a start, Bing Maps, My Templates, and Suggested Meetings add-ins are built-into Outlook.com; third-party add-ins from Uber, Boomerang, and PayPal are on their way.

The Bing Maps add-in lets you open a map and get directions to a location found in the body of a message. (Image source: Microsoft.)

The new Outlook.com also sports new ways to collaborate. First to come are a new Skype experience, where you can easily shift conversations between email and Skype; the ability to quickly convert an attachment into a shared OneDrive link; and side-by-side views of an email and its attachment (thus allowing you to view and edit Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents while simultaneously replying to the original message).

Side-by-side views is a boon to multi-taskers. (Image source: Microsoft.)

Outlook.com’s calendar is also gaining some new features and improved navigation. You can easily manage shared calendars, quickly find events by searching for the name, invitees, location, or description. There’s also support for over 100 country and religious calendars.

Those who access the Outlook.com from a mobile device will also be treated to an improved experience, thanks to mobile-friendly calendar and contacts views, and new features like swipe gestures and add-in support.

Outlook.com's calendar now has collapsible panels on the left and right side of the calendar. (Image source: Microsoft.)

Lastly, you can now give feedback directly to the Outlook.com team through Outlook UserVoice. You can also see and vote on new features, which will help Microsoft when it’s deciding on what to prioritize.

Source: Office Blogs.

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