Forum Discussion
Introducing groups in Outlook for Mac, iOS and Android
Krish Gali wrote:We are very excited to announce that we are rolling out groups experiences in Outlook for Mac, iOS and Android. When available on your device, you can -
- View your group list.
- Read and reply to group conversations.
- Add group events to your personal calendar.
- View unread messages sent to the group.
- View group details within the group card (Outlook for iOS and Android only).
We are working on quick iterations and additional functionality in the upcoming months, so stay tuned. More information here - https://blogs.office.com/2017/04/18/introducing-groups-in-outlook-for-mac-ios-and-android/.
Thanks,
Krish
Hi, we're finally able to see the Groups icon on iOS but I'm not totally happy with the implementation. Correct me if I'm wrong or your opinion differs:
- iOS Unread Badge Count does not include unread Group Messages/Conversations
- doesn't matter if the badge count is set to focused or all
- therefore no push notifications either, right?
- cannot mark group conversation unread manually
Also, I'd like the Groups Icon either moved out of the hamburger menu, at atleast show the icon at the very top, and immediately visible when I'm in my inbox. Almost no users I know open the hamburger menu regularly when there is no indication (=unread badge counter) that they should look also somewhere else.
Hi Ivan,
Thank you for your feedback. I'm from Groups team and I'd love to better understand your scenario with iOS badge count. Currently, iOS badge count only shows the number of unread messages in Inbox. Were you expecting the badge count to show the aggregated number of unread messages from all folders including Inbox, Groups and other folders? Or are you mainly looking for push notifications/alerts specific to group conversations?
Regarding marking group conversations unread/read manually and providing easier access to groups folder in the app, we've been getting multiple feedback on these and we're working through solving these issues.
We're committed to make Groups better on all Outlook apps so please keep the feedback coming!
-Maria
Maria Kang wrote:Hi Ivan,
Thank you for your feedback. I'm from Groups team and I'd love to better understand your scenario with iOS badge count. Currently, iOS badge count only shows the number of unread messages in Inbox. Were you expecting the badge count to show the aggregated number of unread messages from all folders including Inbox, Groups and other folders? Or are you mainly looking for push notifications/alerts specific to group conversations?
Regarding marking group conversations unread/read manually and providing easier access to groups folder in the app, we've been getting multiple feedback on these and we're working through solving these issues.
We're committed to make Groups better on all Outlook apps so please keep the feedback coming!
-Maria
Hi,
yes, I've been asked by multiple of my users how they can keep with the unread group conversations, like they do with emails.
The other iOS Groups app has push notifications and shows badges, though only for notifications and not as an unread count. So as soon as they open the Groups app, the badge counter is reset.
That's why I was hoping for a way to prominently show the count of unread group conversations within the iOS Outlook app. Right now it is hidden behind the hamburger menu (drawer) and users with hundreds of folders beneath their inbox would probably never even see the Groups icon because they would have to scroll way down - which most don't.
The result is the same as before - group conversation remain unnoticed without the user having to subscribe to all groups to receive a copy in their inbox.
My suggestions would be to place the groups icon somewhere next to the "hamburger menu", "search icon" and "compose icon", possibly reshuffle them. An alternative from an UI perspective might be to simply show an additional unread badge directly ontop of the hamburger menu, then people would know that there are unread messages that are not directly in their "inbox", but possible in subfolders or within groups.
Hi Ivan,
This is great! We're currently looking at options to surface groups activity more prominently in the app, especially for unsubscribed groups. So I'll defintinitely make sure to pass your feedback to our feature team. Thank you!
-Maria