Microsoft announced an update to their Outlook app for both Android and iOS to add in some major improvements to the People and Calendar portions of the app.
The People section of the Outlook app is no longer limited to just “top contacts. Notably, on the Android platform Microsoft can tap into the contacts that a user has on their smartphone or tablet to present a unified view of all contacts. Users accessing a corporate Exchange server will be glad to know the updated app also supports searching the Global Address List which is an organization’s directory. If you know a person’s name in your company, but not their email address, you can just do a search on their name to find their contact info.
When a contact is viewed in the new Outlook app now, Microsoft will present users with a full view of contact information. Besides the basics of phone, email, or address, users can interact with this data to start a new email, place a call, or get directions to an office. Similar to their desktop platform, users will also find they can quickly access emails, meetings, and files shared with a contact.
Over in the Calendar portion of the app, Outlook now has a three-day view available when a user sets their device in a landscape orientation. Outlook’s Calendar also supports zero-length meetings, a “remove from calendar” option to get rid of cancelled meetings, and an improved day picker when creating and editing meetings.
In one of those areas where a small change can have a big impact, Microsoft added search term highlighting to search results. This can help users spot a search term in context a little more quickly or possibly help them determine whether they need to refine their search.
A few other improvements were added to the mobile app to help improve usability. Users will find they can now do a “select all” for bulk operations, though this improvement is still forthcoming for Android, and they can undo bulk actions. Users can also empty their trash and deleted items folders. Microsoft made some improvements to the 30 languages available for localized use, and made some accessibility improvements to the message list and compose screen.
Looking ahead, Microsoft says they are working on support for mobile device management and support for IRM protected emails.
If you want to give Outlook a try, hit one of the download links below.
source: Microsoft Office Blogs
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