Faster, with a modern design, and new features – the new Outlook on the web is here
Published Jul 03 2019 09:58 AM 94.9K Views
Microsoft

During Ignite last year we announced an opt-in experience so you could try the new Outlook on the web, give us feedback, and help us shape the changes in one of the most used productivity apps in the world. To those who tried the new experience during this opt-in period and submitted feedback and suggestions, thank you!

 

During the last 8 months, thanks to you, we’ve made many improvements throughout the product and today we are excited to announce the new Outlook on the web is ready.

 

We are humbled by the millions of people who depend on Outlook every day to connect with others, organize their days, and get things done. Let’s look at some of the main features.

 

Email is the heart of Outlook and where people spend a significant part of their day. We have designed the new mail experience around you and the people that are important to you – You can personalize your experience, have a little fun, do things faster, and keep those people front and center with new and updated features:

 

Categories

It’s now easier to identify , right from your message list. Categories make it easy to tag, find, or organize your messages. Add multiple categories to a message, add a category as a favorite, or use Search to find it.

 

cut over categories.png
Clearly identify Categories in your message list

Dark mode
Personalize your inbox with dark mode for those times when your eyes are a little tired. Don’t worry, you can “turn on the lights” when you want to read a specific email or when composing one.

 

dark mode.png

Find dark mode in Settings and turn on the lights whenever you need to

 

Expressions
Sometimes you are out of words, luckily, images are worth a 1,000 of those. Add emojis and GIFs to your messages right from Outlook.


Expressions.png
Go to the smile to find emojis and GIFs

Favorites
Favorite what is most important to you and put it front and center in your inbox. You can favorite a contact, a group, or a category by to them so you can have easier access and see the message count for each. Once you favorite them, they sync to Outlook mobile too!

 

favorites.png
Once you favorite an item it shows up in your Favorites and syncs to Outlook mobile

Quickly get to the emails you are composing or reading

Do you jump from writing one email to the next to reading a different one? Now it’s easier to keep track of that. When you create new messages Outlook will keep a tab for them at the bottom of the reading pane, so you can start as many as you need, go back to reading a previous email, and still find the one you were writing.

 

tab compose.png
You can find new messages at the bottom of the reading pane

 

Time management is key to getting things done and to efficiently organize your day. Recently we announced new features in Outlook to help you save time with intelligent technology - Whether you are trying to organize meetings, figure out where you have to go next, or finding a future event, Outlook is here to help you stay organized.

Calendar Search
Now you can search across multiple calendars. Search for a person, keyword, or location and Outlook will show all the matching events across your calendars. You can also use the filters to adjust which calendars you’d like to search, or the timeframe you’d like to search in.

 

Cal Search.png

Search across multiple calendars

Quickly create events

Creating a meeting is now easier. Right from the calendar surface with one click bring the quick compose form, invite people, find a room, and even get suggested times for when everyone is available.

 

quick compose.png

Create a meeting faster

 

Focus on today
There is just so much you can pay attention during the week.  In order to help you with that, we are making today and tomorrow front and center by dedicating more surface in your calendar to them so you can easily identify your upcoming events with a quick glimpse at your calendar.

 

FocusOnToday.png

Today and tomorrow are front and center to help you focus

 

Snooze an email
There are moments in which you don’t have time to properly address an email and wish it would have arrived at a different time. For those moments when the time is not right, Outlook now allows you to snooze an email for a more convenient time. When you snooze an email, it leaves your inbox and re-appears as an unread message at the top of your inbox on the time and date you selected.

 

Snooze.png

Snooze an email to a more convenient time

Upcoming events in month view

Seeing your calendar in month view gives you a good sense of what days or weeks are busier, and now it’s also easier to keep track of your day’s events while still seeing the big picture. In month view, Outlook also shows you how long you have until your next event.

 

Mogenda V2 updated.png
Quickly identify your next event in your calendar’s monthly view

 

Online meetings get more options

You likely create or attend several online meetings during your workday, so we want to make your online meeting experience as streamlined as possible – This means options on how to create your meetings, easily join an online meeting, and quickly check how many people are attending the meeting.

  • Create an online meeting
    We’ve updated our backend to more closely reflect your organization’s online meeting policies. Depending on what services you are enabled for, you will see 1 of 3 options: i) A drop down menu to “Add online meeting” where you can select between a Skype or Teams meeting, ii) a toggle to create a Skype meeting or iii) a toggle to create a Teams meeting.

    CreateAnOnlineMeeting.png
    Go to Add online meeting to select your provider

  • Join an online meeting from the event peek
    Joining an online meeting from the place where you keep track of your day should be easy. And now it is, just go to the meeting event and you can join in one click right from the event peek.

    JoinAnOnlineMeeting.png
    Join an online meeting right from the event peek

  • See attendees’ responses to a meeting
    You can now easily identify who is invited to the meeting and see everyone’s response. We’ve added a quick summary in the event peek and in the full meeting invite attendees are grouped attendees by their response. If you use the event peek, you can see attendees’ details if the meeting has less than 3 attendees or a summary of responses if there are more.

    AttendeesResponses.png
    See attendees’ responses in the event peek


Outlook has more than email and calendar, it’s your one place where you can connect with people, organize your day and tasks, and get things done with integrations across Office.

 

Tasks now sync with To-Do

The new Tasks experience now syncs your tasks with To-Do and across some Office apps like Planner in your “Assigned to me” list. Do you flag emails to remember to follow up on them? Now when you flag an email, it will be created as a task in its own “Flagged email” list in To-Do!

 

TasksAndToDo.png

See flagged emails and tasks assigned to you in the new Tasks experience

 

Again, we want to thank you for giving us feedback and helping us shape the new experience in Outlook on the web. We hope the features and design of the new experience help you organize and get things done faster, so you can spend a little less time in your inbox and more time in the things that matter.

 

We’ll have more things coming but we want you to keep helping us shape Outlook, so let us know what you think. We love hearing from you, so please, give us feedback in our UserVoice channel or using the “Smile” feature on the top right corner.

 

Thanks!

 

Frequently asked questions:

Q. Who will see the new experience?
A. Starting in late July, Targeted Release customers will notice that the opt-in toggle has been removed and they can only see the new experience

 

Q. My organization has blocked the opt-in toggle. Will I still see the new experience?

A. Yes. When your organization is upgraded to the new experience, the previously available option to block the toggle will no longer work.

 

Q. Why can't I see the new Outlook on the web?

A. Your organization might have blocked the opt-in toggle for the new experience. Once your organization is upgraded, you will see the new Outlook.

87 Comments
Deleted
Not applicable

Looks pretty awesome. Is there a date for a release on the windows app ?
Greetings

Steel Contributor

Look and feels amazing. However, you removed the distribution list management options from the new experience, which is a breaking change for us and our over 700 distribution lists. Until this has been implemented, we cannot use the new experience! And I seriously hope that you don't put us into that situation!

@Daniel Niccoli I believe group management is coming, it was visible on one of the screenshots we've been shown. Gabriel can hopefully confirm. What I haven't seen yet is accessing the GAL/Address list in the Contacts experience, is this coming @Gabo?

Silver Contributor

Do i understand this correctly? If you snooze an email, it will show up at the top of Inbox as if it just arrived. What received date and time will it show? Will it stay on top all the time or later go into its real receive order? Because this can create confusion about when an email was actually received.

Steel Contributor

@Vasil Michevuntil I see this functionality working in the preview, I don't care about features that are supposed to be implemented ...someday. What I find unsettling is Microsoft's increasing tendency of pushing development at the cost of functionality. It hasn't even been two months since the debacle with the internal Sfb-to-Teams transition that broke so many peoples Skype-infrastructure, that they had to lock the comment section of the blog post, because they couldn't handle it anymore. And features that have been removed, because they weren't ready in May, and that have been promised for July, still are missing. And now the OWA seems to be heading into the same direction.

Brass Contributor

If distribution list management is not supported in the new OWA you will have a Sev A breakage ticket opened on the day this is implemented.   Is that what you are aiming for?  Frankly our trust level in Microsoft on these types of changes is shot at this point.

Microsoft

@Daniel Niccoli and @Clinton Woodward  I want to assure you that the Distribution Group management UI is indeed returning to the new experience.  In fact, it has been enabled for the tenants that are in Targeted Release.  We enable these features there first to ensure we get the proper feedback before opening them up more broadly.    

 

We also updated the UserVoice topic as we have been working on that particular item.  

 

Thanks for the feedback!

 

David Los

Lead Principal Product Manager 

Silver Contributor

A few quirks i have noticed. Dark mode only works for reading, but there is no way to have dark mode when composing? When Dark mode is enabled top bar switches from branded to regular blue bar. I can't find a menu to snooze emails for some reason..

Iron Contributor

There's a BIG problem in PEOPLE.

With the new version I can't see the Directory with all user of the tenant.

How can I see them as in the old visualization???

 

OLD 
img 1.jpg

 

 

NEWimg.jpg

Steel Contributor

Yes, we're also missing that. Not having our custom address lists at hand is a big limitation. We are using them a lot.

Iron Contributor

I have discovered that however writing the name in the search box of a person present in the directory of the organization ,

it is displayed and you can add it to your contacts inserting eventually other information!

Is this the new UI?

Copper Contributor
The snooze function - i love it.
Copper Contributor

Missing access to public folders for people.  We use public folders for a company wide address book that admin staff maintain.  Worked in outlook application and outlook on the web in the old version.  Does not seem to be there in the new outlook.

Copper Contributor
The dark mode is great! But in configurations the background still white.
Silver Contributor

@Tiago da Silva Faustinodoesn't it bother you more that compose window is white, which you stare at far more often than at settings?

Microsoft

@wroot and @Tiago da Silva Faustino  thanks for the feedback on dark mode!  We are continuing to look at ways to improve it, this includes ensuring that screens like the compose form has dark mode enabled as well.

Copper Contributor

Hi, in the old web client, Chat/Messaging was available, in the new client this is no longer there.  Many of our users prefer the web chat option, will this be provisioned in the new client before forced roll-out?  Thanks for any info.

Steel Contributor

@Gabo and @David Los  

Will the "Report Message" Add-in work after going to New Experience ? We have trained our staff to use this whenever they receive Junk or when things should not be considered as such. The Add-in has been a User Voice high request for a long time.

 

What about the "Skype for Business" web widget? This was one of the reasons we told people to turn New Experience Off.

I had several users open Help tickets because they could not find Skype for Business web and it was because they kept sliding the toggle on.

We depend on the Skype for Business web to appear when our staff sign into the Outlook pane. I missed similar question above when they called it Chat/Messaging or I would not have re-asked the same question About Skype for Business web. Sorry. 🤷‍:male_sign:

Copper Contributor

What is the min IE version that should be used with this new OWA version?  We have seen many issues while using version 11.0.9600.19301.

Microsoft

@Matt_D1976 Web chat for Skype will be coming back for all users before we move everyone over to the new experience.  It should be rolling out now if you are a targeted Release tenant.

Copper Contributor

Thanks for the quick response @David Los , will advise the team here :)

Brass Contributor

I cannot understand announcing that all users will be forced in to the new version when you're still - just a few weeks out - adding back in functionality that should have always been in OWA (directory, chat, etc.). Once you have everything either in the new version or a very good justification for why it's not, then you announce and plan the full release of the new version. Not when things are half-baked.

I'm so tired of explaining to users on a nearly daily basis changes Microsoft makes to the Office 365 products. I'm glad for a constant stream of new features, but changing the flow and the usability for the end users in the way that Microsoft likes to do it is not workable. I'm starting to think it's just not worth it anymore.

Brass Contributor
Where are the options to configure meeting rooms booking permissions ?
Copper Contributor

Hi, there is a bug in Dark mode.  When you switch it and try to open another mailbox you can't see where to type the mailbox.  I tried opening ticket with support but telling me it is by design. 

 

owa-regular.jpgowa-dark mode.jpg

Note: I drew the red box in the dark mode graphic....it just appears as a black square. The Dark Mode settings box display is what i'd expect to see.

 dm-setting.jpg

Microsoft

@Brian Knipfel - Thanks for reporting that issue.  We will for sure take a look at this!

Brass Contributor

@David Los Why would I not see the Snooze option?  I'm in targeted release, but still don't have it.  I'm got the toggle on.  This is one of the features our users are most excited about.

Silver Contributor

I am also missing snooze. Although I'm not in targeted, but i have every other feature.

Microsoft

@wroot and @Michael_D Snooze is currently not rolled out fully.  We are still in the validation/testing stages before we enable it fully for Targeted release.  It should be coming soon.

Copper Contributor

outlook.bmp

 

Well at least we have access to public folders for people in the new Outlook on the web when you    

select People.  However when composing a message in outlook on the web, and you click To: in the new outlook it does not bring out the Contact list as it does with the old version.  

Copper Contributor

Are there plans to incorporate voice mail settings into the new web UI? Today you have to switch the UI back to classic mode before voice mail options appear.

Copper Contributor

Are Add-Ins supported at all in this new version of Outlook on the Web? I can administrate them and see them in the older version, but in this newer version, they seem to completely be missing.

Copper Contributor

I am in the targeted release as one of the Admins of my tenant, but I can not locate Dark Mode settings. I see in the above comments that others have seen. Should I be able to use dark mode yet?

 

Brass Contributor

@GWOSAD Mine finally showed up yesterday, same for our other admins, so maybe soon (dark mode)!

Copper Contributor

Is there a way for a tenant admin to get more precise timing for when these changes will appear for clients? The communications component of change management is tough when working with a two-month window (8/3 - 9/30).

Brass Contributor

I agree with @Jeffrey Kempenich.  I've always had an issue with some of the super wide rollouts, but this one especially.  I have warned my users, but it would be nice if we had a way to know a tighter window.

Brass Contributor

I noticed the voicemail settings are missing from the General section. i.e. voicemail PIN reset   Will these settings added prior to launch? 


 

Brass Contributor

Brian Knipfel - I saw similar issues with dark mode. In my case it was a calendar that was unreadable.

 

Another design issue: If I want to open the calendar of another user in my org, it's non-obvious. It's not clear if I need to Search at the top, click "Add Calendar", click "Import calendar", or right-click "People's calendars".

 

1.png

 

When I finally figure it out, instead of giving me the directory, my first choice is Australian rules rugby :D

 

2.png

 

And somehow this is going to be fixed in the next week? I am skeptical, sorry.

 

3.png

 

 

Copper Contributor

The ability to turn off 'Send junk mail to Junk Mail folder' is STILL missing.

 

Our organization uses a separate hardware anti-spam appliance as our email front-end in front of O365, and the O365 junk mechanism pretty much only ever generates false positives. It IS available in the old version we NEED to have the oprtion available in the new one, because, otherwise the Junk Folder simply becomaes something you have to check as often as your Inbox for valid email.

Iron Contributor

Some great new features but it looks like I still have to have the Outlook desktop app open as well as Outlook on the web so I can see event reminders over the top of other applications (OWA only shows reminders over Office apps).

Brass Contributor

I agree with the consensus of this forum, forcing everyone to use a build of the app that isn't even finished yet is not good practice.

Brass Contributor

Why is Skype chat enabled when we've set SfB/Teams to Teams only mode? This creates confusion for users.

Copper Contributor

When is overlayed calendars coming to OWA? We use SharePoint for individual project calendars and a lot of our staff use OWA but they can't overlay their project calendars. Major miss!

Microsoft

@Daniel Letsinger and @Joseph Halpy Thanks for the feedback about the Voicemail settings.  This functionality will indeed be there by the time we start moving tenants that are not targeted release to the new experience.  You will see Voice Mail settings in the new settings experience.  

 

Thanks for the feedback!

Microsoft

@chrisbuesold - Thanks for reporting this issue!  We are investigating this now.  If you are Teams Only mode you should only be seeing teams. 

Microsoft

@Rae Jobst Thanks for the feedback about the new experience and for notifications and reminders.  With the new experience we do have web push notifications which will allow you to get notifications even if you do not have Outlook on the Web up.  However, right now it is only new mail notifications.  As we continue to build out more functionality Calendar reminders are for sure something we would think about!  Thanks for the feedback, it truly does help us prioritize what we should build next!

 

 

 

Copper Contributor

PLEASE fix the contact/distlist/resource search and add back in the option for browsing the GAL when choosing email recipients.

Honestly, what am I supposed to tell our 200+ employees?  That they'll have to memorize Distribution Lists, Resources, and other staff member email addresses in order to communicate and schedule meetings?!

 

Copper Contributor

I'm glad to see the option to add public folders is back.  However, it is not working properly.  When I attempt to add a public folder much of the list is grayed out.  If I try to choose one of those it says that type of public folder can't be added.  I can go back to the old OWA and it adds fine.  Please fix this ASAP as a large portion of our users use the public folders daily.

Copper Contributor

How do I get the old version back? Or can you help me figure out how to put calendars side by side instead of having to import them and have them be mixed all together in one calendar. Thank you

Brass Contributor

@GWOSAD and others, I couldn't figure out why the admins had dark mode and no one else.  Turns out, if you have your organization profile set to prevent users from overriding their theme (we do because we have a custom theme), then it also blocks their ability to turn on dark mode.  BUT, you can run a powershell script to adjust a setting in the user's OWA Mailbox policy that will allow them to use dark mode, but they still can't change the theme, which works perfectly.  It does take maybe 30 mins to take effect, and some users had to refresh, clear cache, or sign out to get it working.  Just a shame that I had to figure it out on my own, but hopefully they get that fixed.

 

Just run the script below, inserting whatever OWA Mailbox policy you want to adjust.

 

Set-OwaMailboxPolicy -Identity POLICYNAMEGOESHERE -ThemeSelectionEnabled $true

Copper Contributor

Thank you @Michael_D! I opened a support case, but they were not able to shed any light on this. I will try this powershell command now and let you know what happens.

 

UPDATE: It works exactly as indicated. Thanks a bunch @Michael_D

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‎Jul 02 2019 07:07 PM
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