Microsoft changes Outlook web app name, revamps it with new features

Microsoft has revamped its Outlook Web App, changing its name and introducing new features. It will now be called Outlook On The Web. In addition to a host of new features to Outlook On The Web Microsoft says it’s also rolling out an improved user interface.

The UI has been tweaked to now have the email subject line larger, and reading messages has been optimised for easy reading.

Amongst the changes is a new action toolbar that provides quick access to clearing out the inbox, replying to an email, or adding an event to the calendar.

New Tools for Inbox

Microsoft has optimised Outlook on the web inbox for easy navigation and access. Some of these new features appear to have been taken from Google’s Inbox app. The new tools include a Pin, Sweep, Archive, Undo, and an improved line view.

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Not all the new tools are completely new. Sweep, for instance, was first debuted as part of Microsoft’s consumer Outlook.com email service. The feature, the company explains it, is a way for users to manage emails from specific senders.

Users can use this feature to make a few choices. They can choose to keep messages from a particular sender for a specific time, keep only the latest emails or delete all emails from a particular sender.

Pin, one of features similar to Google’s Inbox features, allows users to highlight any email in their inbox and keep it at the top of the inbox.

The improved single line view enables users to view emails in a single line over the traditional reading pane. Users will see a preview of the message contents in-line with the subject and clicking on it will display the message in the same window and not as a pop-up or in a separate window.

Curating visuals emails.

An interesting change to Outlook on the web emails comes in the form of what Microsoft calls visual emails. This feature appears to adopt editing tools that have become popular with users who share images on platforms like Instagram, facebook, Twitter etc. User will now be able resize images, add borders, add effects, rotate images and more. In another move that steps out of the realm of traditional emails, Outlook on the web comes with a set of emojis.

Changes to calendar

The calendar has received some tweaks too, making it easier to create new meeting requests and navigating it.

The calendar will now come with a five-day weather forecast with more details available with a click. The calendar also comes with some unique reminders. One can now add an “airplane charm to an upcoming flight, a knife and fork for a business dinner, or a music note for a piano class.”

The calendar also comes with email reminders, birthday and holiday calendars.

These new updates are only available for any Office 365 plan that includes Exchange Online (e.g. Office 365 Enterprise E1, Office 365 Business Essentials), including commercial, academic and government plans.