Update on Focused Inbox rollout for Outlook 2016 for Windows users

[Allen Filush]

Edited: Nov 10, 2017 with updated information. 

Focused Inbox is coming to an Outlook near you! Here is an update on our status for Outlook 2016 for Windows. If you want to see our latest for other platforms, see our blog post, as these details haven’t changed.

Note: we have provided admins the ability to control the rollout of Focused Inbox in their organizations. For more details, read our blog post on admin controls.

Rollout status

As a reminder, there is a client and service side component required for Focused Inbox to appear in Outlook. The user’s mailbox in Office 365 & Outlook.com must receive a service side update to be Focused Inbox enabled. Secondly, the user must have a build of Outlook that includes the client-side updates necessary for Focused Inbox to appear.

Service side status:

We deployed to 100% of Office 365 (Exchange Online) and Outlook.com mailboxes. This is no longer a factor in availabilty.  

Client side status:

There are a few client side requirements:

• Requires build 16.0.7967.2xxx+.  
  • This build began rolling out on April 21, 2017 to the Monthly (formerly Current) Channel for Office 365 ProPlus as Version 1703.
  • Those using a Semi-Annual (formerly Deferred) Channel build will not have access to this feature right now, as those channels offer delayed access to builds. Semi-Annual Channel will get Focused Inbox in 2018. 
• Currently, the feature requires Office 365 modern authentication be enabled.
  • Starting with build 16.0.8730 Version 1711, this requirement will no longer apply
  • If you are using a build prior to 1711, modern authentication must be enabled in Exchange Online. See Enable Exchange Online for modern authentication
  • Review Using Office 365 modern authentication with Office clients before getting started
  • Modern authentication is automatically on for Office 2016 client apps. However, it is possible to block this using a registry key. See How modern authentication works for Office 2016 client apps to ensure the Registry key is properly set.
• Previous use of Clutter
  • To ensure a good experience for those who previously used Clutter, user may get Focused Inbox rolled out in a defaulted-off state. See the chart in the “Transition from Clutter” section of our blog post.

[#2]

Thanks for the updates on how the rollout is going etc..

I finally got it working for my O2016 full client by enabling modern auth for Exchange (I had it on for the tennant already but not specifically Exchange).

One more question about Outlook multiple account behaviour - Focused inbox works properly for my personal (O365) & Work (O365) account when configured in Outlook as the primary mailbox. If I add the other account as a secondary mailbox Focused inbox doesn't show for it (regardless of which is primary or secondary).

Is this the expected behaviour & anything on the roadmap to allow Focused all the time?

Thanks

[#3]

@ben: It will work for Office 365 and Outlook.com mailboxes, no matter how many you have connected. It won't work for Gmail and Exchange on-prem mailboxes.

[#4]

I have 2x versions of Outlook, version 1705 and version 1701. 1705 has the focused inbox, version 1701 does not. Would I be correct to say the focused inbox is not available at version 1701? The Microsoft support agent told me this is not correct, but that is what I am seeing.

[#5]

As stated in the first post of this thread, FI requires build 16.0.7967.2xxx+, i.e. version 1703 or higher.

[#6]

The focused inbox has disappeared from my outlook.com/hotmail.com account and i am not sure where the emails have gone that were in the other folder. The clutter folder has not been updated since May when i switched on the focused inbox. The Focused Inbox has disappeared from the Options->Display Settings menu.

Why has this happened and where are my emails?

[#7]

hey Justin - Focused inbox doesn't move any email. It is all still in your inbox. If it is on, you see it in two tabs. If it is off, you just see all the email together in one view.

Clutter was decommissioned as we moved to Focused Inbox.

[#8]

I needed to resolve that issue as well. I've been endlessly searching online today because I'm facing the same issues you have (Focused Inbox working on Outlook.com and Android app but not on Outlook 2016 even though it's up-to-date). My search led me here and it's just now that I'm able to understand the difference in Focused Inbox's availability between consumer and enterprise customers. I agree that it should be clearly stated to avoid confusion and to level our expectations since we all want to have the feature across all devices and platforms.

[#9]

You might be able to add the item in Customize the Ribbon. I saw some users doing that but the icon is grayed out. I tried the same thing on mine with the same results.

[#10]

I also want to know :(

[#11]

That is a good clarification I should add to the core article above. Focused Inbox is only working in Outlook 2016 for Exchange Online accounts, not yet for Outlook.com. We are working hard on that, so stay tuned.

[#12]

Thank you for that clarification.  I think myself and many others have been strugling to get it working with outlook.com.  Glad to know mine is not broken, its the fact it has not yet been implemented.  The original release notes for O365 seemed to make it sound like it was available for all platforms.

[#13]

Hi Allen, can I just confirm that after enabling Modern Authentication it is not necessary to setup 2FA or etc to get FI to work?

[#14]

You are correct. Modern Auth is necessary. You do not need to do 2FA.

[#15]

Just an FYI.  We made an announcement with direction about Focused Inbox via an email tenant wide and then turned on modern authentication the following week.  It went very smoothly!  Really no issues except for the very few of us who are azureAD connected (I can explain if anyone is interested).  We then did a well attended and recorded webinar to train our regional offices 2 days after Modern Inbox was turned on.

[#16]

Has anything changed in the "insider" office builds for Focused inbox?

I did have it up and running fine for my work & personal O365 accounts but after re-building my desktop & laptop and reinstalling office neither account now gets focused inbox in Outlook 2016. Authentication is still using "Modern" (showing Bearer) in connection properties & still get it fine in modern & OWA clients...

[#17]

Let me know if it doesn't show up in a day. It can sometimes take a reboot to show it on a new device.

[#18]

Thanks, I'm on day 4 now :)

[#19]

One more Q - is the Office you installed the same one as you had installed before? I'm wondering if you moved from Office 365 ProPlus (the subscription version of Office, which has FI) to a perpetual version of Office (which doesn't have FI). Or moved from our Current Channel to our Deferred Channel in Office 365.

[#20]

Ah found it thank you - Had missed that it had hopped channels backwareds to First Release deferred rather than First Release Current. I'd paid attention to the build numvers which were higher than the pre-reqs but had missed that defered still wouldn't have it even at the higher version level.

Thanks for the assitance :)

[#21]

Any news on Focused Inbox support for @outlook.com? I can't get it to work so I assume it isn't ready yet (version 1706, Office 365 Personal).