Forum Discussion
MicrosoftNew feature: Introducing a new file experience for groups in Outlook on the web
Microsoft
cfiessinger, you asked so you'll get more feedback.
The new file experience is great in principle. A unified view is exactly what is needed to un-confuse users where files actually are. It makes things quicker to access and uncomplicates things. I see the following problems in the current implementation:
- Reinventing the wheel in terms of unification
- Microsoft Teams has a unified file experience across all teams and OneDrive
- Reinventing the wheel in terms of user experience
- Again Microsoft Teams has a unique file experience
- OneDrive & SharePoint just got a UI overhaul including re-usable components (looking at you SharePoint Framework & Office UI Fabric), yet the groups file experience seem to be yet another implementation of "files in a list"
- The unification is not consistent as outlined by me and others in this thread
I would advise improving the current implementation like so:
- Create one true file experience. Office UI Fabric should lead the way. Use that experience in Teams as well as in Groups. Don't let everybody see that you work in different product groups and there is no communication between those product groups. Users will thank you by understanding "ahhh this is the way Microsoft wants me to work with files" and not having to relearn everything for every application
- If you want to aggregate files from different sources into one view, there must be one master ("the one to rule them all")
- Imagine this flow:
- A file comes into the group via e-mail --> It's the master file, not editable.
- I move the file into the connected Team site --> (thinking in OneDrive/SharePoint) the master file gets updadated to link to SharePoint/OneDrive in the version history you can see the file came from an e-mail
- I go back to the initial mail and open the file from there and edit it --> I am not editing yet another copy from E-Mail attachments, I am editing the master file created earlier!
- If the user wants to create a copy of the file via SharePoint - fine, let him do this. This is now another master file. You shouldn't create copies besides the initial "working copy"
- The activity column is still valid, but should be renamed "Last activity" to know what happened with the file last. "Activity" implies that this is currently going on or I could click on this activity and do something with it.
- Imagine this flow:
So basically my two gripes are about the UI being yet-anther-file-UI and the experience making managing files actually more confusing for the end user.
- Use an existing file UI and/or implement that UI everywhere (Groups, Teams, OneDrive/SharePoint).
- Re-Think the aggregation/unification of multiple sources and use existing concepts like file versions and have one master file.
- cfiessingerThanks Dennis for taking the time to give use feedback. I like your idea of saving ALL attachments to SharePoint and that's the key challenge we are trying to tackle, over 90% of files shared via email today are send as attachments (vs. shared from SPO or ODfB) that's why just providing a SP lens does not suffice since lots of files are not in the Groups document library to start with. We are learning a ton since First Release and iterating fast to improve the experience so please stay tune.
Hi cfiessinger
I was wondering what the general feedback to the Files view in Outlook on the web is?
The current implementation seems to confuse my users. The main questions I get asked:
- Why are the files all mumbled up and in an uncomprehensive sort order and where are all the folders?
- Why do I not get transferred to the SharePoint Site Document Library when I clicking on Files?
- Clicking on files in outlook on the web is different than clicking on Files while in Planner
For users that do not grasp the concept of document library views (the Files in experience is just that, files without folders sorted by modified date) this seems unnecessary complicated.
- cfiessinger
Ivan we've just completed rolling this feature worldwide and overall this increased engagement.
At a high level I see two sets of users, ones that are fairly new to files and not used to viewing files in a structured matter, and ones that have been around for a while in the workplace and grew up looking at files from a file share lense with folders and subfolders. While I can see advance/mature ECM users to see gaps, new users find what they need in a flat view with files sorted by most recent modified date. Agin two key differences from a SP docblib, about this view is that it lists ALL files (not just the ones stored in the SP doclib but also all attachments for instance), and it shows the email thread associated with a file, are your users aware of these differences? Do they systematically put all their files in SP or some still email attachments?
We are not sitting still on this topic of files and email and plan to deliver a number of updates to address feedback and continue to help users easily work on files & emails.
To answer your questions below:
1- yes files are sorted by modified date, we plan to make this more obvious.
2- see above (we are showing all files + email tied to files), you can easily navigate to SP doclib from that view. Good point on Planner and it's something we are working to improve as well.
Regarding your last point, why would it be more complicated?
