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Outlook helps you focus on what matters to you
We are being inundated with more information, more communication and more email vying for our attention. It is more critical than ever to have tools that help us cut through the noise and focus on what matters most. Today, Outlook is expanding the availability of two new experiences to do just that—Focused Inbox and @mentions.
These new experiences add to several recently released features, all aimed at helping you take control of your mailbox. In December, Outlook began automatically adding events from your email to your calendar. And last month we added simplified summary cards in your inbox and calendar for travel reservations and package deliveries. Combined, these features help deliver on Outlook’s core mission: Keeping you connected, focused and on top of what matters.
Focused Inbox—focus on the emails that matter most
For many, the inbox is the command center for their day. It’s the way to keep track of what is going on and what needs to get done. Outlook’s Focused Inbox makes this process easier by helping you focus on the emails that matter most to you. It separates your inbox into two tabs—Focused and Other. Emails that matter most to you are in the Focused tab, while the rest remain easily accessible—but out of the way in the Other tab. You’ll be informed about email flowing to Other, and you can switch between tabs at any time to take a quick look.
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You’re in control
Focused Inbox is not meant to take control of your mail, but rather work with you to prioritize what is important to you. What lands in your Focused Inbox is determined by an understanding of the people you interact with often, and the content of the email itself (e.g., newsletters, machine generated mail, etc.). If you need to fine tune your Focused Inbox, just use the “Move to Focused” or “Move to Other” options.
What this means for Clutter
Focused Inbox is a refinement and improvement of a previous feature called Clutter. Clutter’s purpose was also to help you focus on the most important items in your inbox, but it did so by moving “Other” email to a separate folder. Focused Inbox makes it easier for you to stay on top of incoming email without having to visit another folder.
As Focused Inbox rolls out, we’ll stop moving messages to the Clutter folder. See the “Frequently asked questions” below for more details on how this will work.
Rollout of Focused Inbox
Focused Inbox was first released on Outlook for iOS and Android and is being used daily by tens of millions of users. Now, it is coming to all versions of Outlook to give you one consistent view of the important items in your inbox. It begins rolling out this week for users of the new Outlook.com and will soon start rolling out for Office 365 customers in our First Release program in early September. Office 365 admins will have mailbox and tenant level control of the feature to stage the rollout in a manner that works best for their organization.
@mentions—get someone’s attention and focus your own
@mentions make collaborating on email fast and easy. Simply type the @ symbol anywhere in the body of your email and start typing to pick the person you want to address. Once you pick the person you want to address their name is highlighted in the message in blue, helping them know they are being asked to take an action in your message. In addition, if the person isn’t part of the email conversation already, they will be automatically added to the To… line so they receive a copy of your email.
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@mention someone by typing the @ symbol, followed by their name in the body of your email.
Focus on what needs your attention
In addition to helping you get other people’s attention, @mentions also helps you be aware of what you’ve been asked to do. Outlook adds an @ symbol in the message list for the messages you’ve been mentioned in, so you can see at a glance which emails require your action before you open them. Outlook also includes a filter so you can sort to see only the messages where you’ve been mentioned. Once you’ve opened the email, the blue highlighting of your name in the body of the email helps you quickly find where you’ve been mentioned.
Pro tip—For messages where you’ve been mentioned, Outlook also updates the preview text of the message. Instead of a preview of the first words of the email, Outlook shows you a preview of the text immediately following your mention.
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Outlook 2016 Quick Start Guide
New to Outlook 2016 or upgrading from a previous version? Use this guide to learn the basics. Helpful tips and tricks including:
1. Organizing your mail
2. Switching between views
3. Setting your preferences
And more!
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Stay on top of your travel and deliveries with Outlook
Places to go, people to see. Pack your bags.
Travel can be stressful, even when you’re planning to go somewhere for fun. Staying on top of travel plans and package deliveries can become time-consuming and a hassle.
First, Outlook began automatically adding events from your email to your calendar. Now, we have more new experiences to help you stay on top of your travel plans and package deliveries, including the ability to:
•Verify your travel reservations and package delivery details with ease using simplified summary cards in your inbox and calendar.
•Check in for flights, change hotel and rental car reservations or track packages at the touch of a button.
•Stay on top of your flights with reliable reminders.
These features are rolling out to Outlook for Mac and Outlook on the web today and will soon be coming to Windows, iOS and Android, as well as the Windows 10 Mail and Calendar apps.
Smarter email, simpler reservations
Travel itinerary emails are complicated to read because they contain so much more than just your reservation. It especially gets complicated when the itinerary includes multiple flights, hotel reservations and rental car confirmations. Outlook now displays the most important information from travel itineraries and puts them in an easily readable summary on top of your email
Quick actions at your fingertips (or a click of your mouse)
In addition to helping you see your travel plans at a glance, the summary cards provide you with quick actions for the key things you need to do. No more hunting for the check-in link in a long confirmation email or trying to find where to change your hotel reservation. It’s now just a tap or click away in the summary card above the email to go directly to the provider’s specific web page for the action.
All your travel info, automatically added to your calendar
In addition to smarter email experiences, Outlook automatically adds travel events to your calendar with the same summary cards for each step of your trip detected in the reservations. The events include everything you need to know, such as date, time, locations, confirmation number and a few other key pieces of info you might need at your fingertips. You can go to the original booking email with a single click from the calendar event in case you need to look up more details.
Travel updates and cancellations happen—for good or not so good reasons. Either way, Outlook automatically keeps the events on your calendar updated with new information from your travel provider.
Helpful check-in reminders to keep you on time
Timing is everything and it can mean the difference between getting the seat you want or settling for one you really don’t want. Not all airlines are great at notifying and reminding you when it’s time to check in for your flight. Outlook will always send you a reminder email exactly 24 hours in advance with a link to the airline’s check-in experience. What’s more, you can set an Uber ride reminder so you always get to airport on time.
And three hours before your flight takes off, we’ll remind you again, so you can plan to be at the airport on time.
And never miss package deliveries!
We know travel is not the only thing you need to keep track of, so we are also adding package tracking experiences. When you receive a shipping confirmation email, we’ll summarize the most important info in a card above the email and automatically add an event to your calendar (for non-commercial accounts) to provide quick actions.
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A deeper look at Outlook for Android Wear
Outlook promises to keep you connected, focused and on top of what matters. Wearables promise to always be with you and provide relevant, timely information at glance. Combined, they have the potential to help us get more done in life and work.
Last August, we released Outlook for Apple Watch, letting you interact with email and calendar information right from your wrist. For details about Outlook for Apple Watch read, “Wearable Productivity—new apps for you to wear” on our Outlook blog.
Today, we are introducing the Outlook watch face for Android Wear. With the Outlook watch face, you can quickly see an overview of your day’s schedule along with key details on where you need to be next. Staying on top of your day has never been easier.
Let’s take a deeper look at what you get with Outlook for Android Wear.
Always know what’s next with a glance at your watch
Starting with today’s update, you can easily stay on top of your day with a quick glance at the Outlook watch face. Outlook will show an overview of what’s coming up in the next 12 hours, overlaid on the dial of your watch. Colors on the dial match the colors of the calendars you’ve added to Outlook on your Android phone.
Details of your next event are front and center, showing you how much time is left until your next meeting and where you have to be. You also have information on how many new emails you have received since you last looked at your phone.
See your day’s schedule overlaid on the dial, with upcoming meeting details available at a glance.
Don’t have any events on your calendar in the next 12 hours? Outlook will show you who has recently sent you mail. Simply tap to dive into the details.
Outlook for Android Wear shows the number of unread emails and who they are from.
Wearables are equal parts utility and fashion. You can personalize your watch face background and accent color to fit your style for the day.
Do more with notifications on your watch
In addition to keeping you up to speed on what’s next, Outlook lets you interact with notifications and take action right from your wrist. Tap a notification to read and interact with an email. You can take the same actions that are available in Outlook for Android, including archive, schedule, flag and delete. If the email includes an event invitation, you’ll also have the ability to RSVP in a snap. If you need to reply, Outlook provides a preset list of responses and supports voice dictation. No need to even take your phone out of your pocket!
Outlook watch face also reminds you of upcoming events, so you’ll never miss another meeting. Tap the reminder to show the meeting time, location and meeting organizer so you’ll arrive prepared. If you are running late, send a note with a couple quick taps.
What’s up next
Have an idea for how we can improve your experience on Android Wear and Apple Watch? Let us know by submitting a new feature idea or voting for an existing one directly in Outlook by going to Settings > Help & Feedback > Suggest a Feature. Stay tuned for more to come!
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Bringing Outlook Mail and Calendar to Microsoft HoloLens
Today, we are thrilled to bring the first holographic email and calendaring apps, Outlook Mail and Calendar, to Microsoft HoloLens—the first fully self-contained holographic computer. Our team is eager to get Outlook apps into the hands of early HoloLens developers to allow them to experience the benefits of email and calendaring in mixed reality.
Outlook Mail on HoloLens—personalize the app by choosing an accent that matches your surroundings.
With Outlook Mail on HoloLens, you can now place your inbox on your office wall to stay on top of emails while simultaneously interacting with other digital content in your real world. You can also quickly see what’s coming up next in your day with your new wall calendar. Since Outlook Mail and Calendar apps are built on the Universal Windows Platform (UWP), like other Office apps for HoloLens released at //build 2016, it was easy for our developers to deliver a familiar experience to users who are already using the apps on Windows 10 PCs, tablets and phones.
Outlook Calendar on HoloLens—vertically resize the app to see even more of your day.
This release is just the beginning, and we’re excited about the opportunities that HoloLens presents to build new and powerful ways of staying connected, productive and on top of your schedule. We are far from done innovating in mixed reality and would love to hear your feedback on how you use Outlook Mail and Calendar on HoloLens and what features you want to see next.
We invite HoloLens developers to install the Outlook Mail and Calendar apps from Windows Store on HoloLens and write to us with your feedback, comments and questions at the developer forums.
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3 things businesses can learn about email security from the Panama Papers hack
In today’s IT environment, data breaches are a constant threat. According to Gemalto’s 2015 Breach Level Index, last year 1,673 data breaches around the world led to 707 million data records being compromised. And though email has come a long way over the last decade, it’s still one of the greatest threats to data security.
We don’t have to look far to see what kind of damage hackers can do when a business does not ensure secure email. In what’s being called “the biggest leak in whistleblower history,” the Panama Papers hack made international headlines last month. This hack enabled 2.6 TB of data to be stolen through the email servers of Mossack Fonseca, a legal firm based in Panama City.
The stolen data gave information about offshore bank accounts and shell companies used by prominent people worldwide to avoid taxes or conceal their wealth, according to “The New York Times.” The hacker then communicated with a German newspaper regarding the confidential files, expressing his or her interest in exposing the data. Once the newspaper realized how much data was involved, it contacted the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which has coordinated other tax haven mega-leaks in the past. Together, they released the information to the public.
So how did the hacker get access to the legal firm’s email servers in the first place? According to ITPro, security and privacy expert Christopher Soghoian ran a test showing Mossack Fonseca did not follow Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols for email encryption. Whether you believe the Panama Papers leak was a good or bad thing, a more important question remains: What can IT security professionals learn from this?
Here are three tips for ensuring secure email:
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Encrypt important emails—When email encryption is not part of a business’s security measures, hackers can easily intercept emails and read them. Any information contained in these emails or attachments can help hackers gain further access into a company’s network.
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Create a business culture of security—Be sure that all employees are aware of the risks of lax data security and help them recognize suspicious requests and phishing schemes. Hacks often occur because a hacker finds just one “in” that leaves the network vulnerable. This “in” can be as simple as a stolen email or portal password. Hackers can then send emails from an internal account and make IT requests that sound legitimate. From there, they can potentially breach the email server and obtain access to all incoming and outgoing attachments, burrowing deeper into the network until they’ve reached the information they want to find.
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Choose a secure email service with impressive security features—This means selecting a service that promotes business communication while actively protecting sensitive information. It should have built-in defenses against viruses, spam and phishing attacks. Deep content analysis should identify, monitor and protect data, thereby preventing data loss.
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Don’t let your organization become one of 2016’s data casualties.—Do everything possible to avoid Mossack Fonseca’s fate and protect your, and your customers’, sensitive information through top-notch email security.
Get more out of your email to help grow your business. Tour the new Office 365 capabilities including Advanced Threat Protection, real-time protection for your messaging system against malware, viruses and malicious URLs.
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New editor coming to Outlook 2016 for Mac
Welcome to the new editor in Outlook 2016 for Mac. Enhanced formatting support has been one of the most frequently requested improvements in Outlook 2016 for Mac. Today, we are laying the foundation with the new editor and will continue to build on this work in future updates, including support for Tables.
Let’s take a look at some of the key improvements.
Resize and format pictures
When you insert a picture in an email message, you’ll notice the new resize and rotation handles. You can use these to resize or rotate the image on the canvas. You can also pull up the context menu and select the Size and Position…option to manually set the size in the dialog, as shown below. Double-click an image in the editor to open up the full task pane with image editing controls.
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Rich formatting support
With the new editor in Outlook 2016 for Mac, you now have access to a richer set of fonts, font colors and bullet and numbered lists—plus enhanced font editing and hyperlink dialogs. These are available on the ribbon by using the familiar controls in the Message tab or using the menus for Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, Notes and Signatures.
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These features will roll out in mid-May. You can also sign up for Office Insiders program to get early access to new Office innovations. Please read “Format email messages in Outlook 2016 for Mac” to learn more on how to use these features.
What’s next?
We will continue to refine the new editor in upcoming releases. This includes adding support for Tables. If you have additional requests for specific functionality, please suggest or vote at our UserVoice forum.
—The Outlook team
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You send and receive a lot of emails, and it’s natural to make mistakes along the way—you forget how to spell someone’s name, leave someone out of a group email or forget to add a flight to your calendar. We’re bringing new people and calendar features to Outlook on the web to help you avoid these common mistakes and get things done faster. These changes are coming to Office 365 users beginning in a few weeks.
Outlook on the web learns from you
Do you spend extra time trying to add the right recipients to your email? Ever struggle to find someone because of the spelling of their name—is it John or Jon? Have you ever sent an email only to realize that you forgot to add someone? Outlook now helps you avoid these problems.
First, Outlook will save you time when choosing recipients. Just place your cursor in the To: or Cc: line and Outlook will bring up suggested contacts in a drop-down list based on your usage. These are the people you’re most likely to email based on who you’ve been communicating with recently and most frequently.
Suggested contacts learns from you to make reaching the right people easier.
Outlook has long had a spell checker for the body of an email, but what about common variations on the spellings of names? Outlook can help. Outlook will now show you names of people you email most frequently—even if you spell their name wrong. For example, if you occasionally write to “Kathryn,” her name will appear as a suggestion even if you typed “Catherine.”
Finally, forgetting to include people in an email is common. Now, Outlook has help for that too. If you frequently send emails to the same set of people—say, Steve, Anna and Bob—then whenever you email only Steve and Anna together, we’ll ask, “Do you also want to include Bob?” This prompt will not get in your way and will only show when Outlook is highly confident you want to add Bob.
Flying somewhere? Let Outlook make sure it’s in your calendar
Have you ever struggled to find your flight information because you forgot to copy/paste it into your calendar? Moving forward, Outlook will take care of this for you. When you receive a flight confirmation via email from a supported provider, Outlook will gather key information and automatically add it in your calendar—no extra clicks, no copy/paste, no drag and drop.
In addition, Outlook will block out the time of your flight and show the flight number, destination and airport. You will receive an automatic reminder three hours before your flight that includes the original email in the calendar event, so you have all the details handy.
Outlook will automatically add a calendar event for flights detailed in an email.
To find “Events from email” in Outlook on the web, click the Settings icon (gear icon), Options and then Calendar. It’s on by default, but you can turn it off if you want.
Great, you say, but what about other types of events? We like the way you think! That is why we won’t stop with just flights. In addition to supporting more providers, future Outlook updates will support event types beyond flights.
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