We’re obsessed about making things better for the millions of people who use Outlook every day and continue to advance how we introduce updates to the experience and help customers adopt change.
Last fall, we launched a beta program with Outlook.com to provide a preview of the web experience updates and an easy way to switch between the new and classic web experiences at any time. More than 10% of our users tried it out and two thirds kept it on through to the general availability launch and we received a ton of great feedback through that program that helped us understand how to deliver the right experience to you.
Today we’re pleased to announce “Coming Soon” in Outlook for Windows and an opt-in toggle in Outlook on the web that puts you in control of when you try major updates. These new features allow you to explore updates, return to the classic experience at any time, and continue to provide us with feedback.
In June, we announced Office 365 user experience updates . We are now ready to start rolling out these changes in Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web using the Coming Soon and opt-in toggle features. Building on the same guiding principles, our goal is to give you control, allowing you to try a new experience when it’s convenient, customize how you get things done, as well as surface options that are relevant and in context to how you work, all to help you get things done, faster.
Highlights of the changes coming to Outlook for Windows
Our approach is designed to help you:
- Customize your experience – As a productivity powerhouse, Outlook comes loaded with many features, but we’ve learned that most of you don’t always need them all, all the time. We are giving you options to make the Outlook experience your own with the ability to simplify the ribbon, personalize your inbox, and apply additional themes.
- Get things done faster – The updates make reading, composing, and taking action in emails and meetings faster. A more responsive web development framework and a modern design lets you see, read and respond to emails and meeting invitations, and attach files quicker.
- Stay organized – Intelligent technology, highlights, special icons and visual changes provide a modern calendar view to help you focus on your day and week, speeds up the process of creating and sending meeting requests, and help manage your time.
These updates are coming first to customers in the Monthly Channel (Targeted) and Targeted Release program in the next few weeks. For more details about updates to Outlook on the web, go here. And for additional insight into the Outlook for Windows updates, go here.
We are looking forward to you trying the updates and giving us feedback!
Thank you!
The Outlook team
