Get started with Outlook on dual screens
Published Sep 10 2020 09:00 AM 17.7K Views
Microsoft

The Microsoft Surface Duo delivers Outlook for Android out of the box as the one place for you to organize your email and your time. Outlook brings together your email, calendar, files, contacts and photos to help you organize your life and stay connected to what matters. With Outlook and the Surface Duo, we’ve made it easier to do both at the same time on two screens, or one.  It’s your choice. It’s also your choice on how you open Outlook with a new Calendar entry point on your Duo home screen.

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Let’s dive into what Outlook as a dual screen enhanced app enables you to do and how you can do one better on the Surface Duo.

 

Flexibility

One app, two ways to get started – perfectly synced. With Outlook on the Duo, you now have the flexibility to open Outlook from the Outlook app or the new Calendar entry point. If you open the Outlook app, it will open where you last left off, either in your Inbox, Calendar or Search experiences. If you open Outlook from the Calendar entry point, it will always bring you quickly to your Calendar; in Agenda, Day, 3 day view, week or month view based on how you last left the app. Regardless of how you open Outlook, you can choose to switch between your Calendar, Inbox or Search and stay organized. 

 

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One Outlook at play in multiple ways 

With the Surface Duo in Book Mode, you can see and plan for your day at a glance with the Outlook Calendar while checking out what’s new in your Focused Inbox at the same time.   

 

Focused Inbox and Calendar AgendaFocused Inbox and Calendar Agenda

Start getting things done with two screens and one powerful Outlook experience.  View your message list on one side and a specific email or conversation on the other so you can stay in context of the conversation and scan for other relevant messages.  With the Surface pen, you can hover over a message for additional details such as the contact information of the sender, accept or decline a calendar invitation or simply get a preview of the message body without having to open it fully.  

 

When replying to a message, rotate your Duo to access a dynamic, broader keyboard experience which may make it faster or easier for you to respond based on your preferences. 

 

Rotate to respond in OutlookRotate to respond in Outlook

 

It’s all about your preferences, your choice and flexibility with Outlook for Android and the new Surface Duo. We launched Outlook on Duo to display in Dark theme and default to the system settings. But this too is flexible, you can change your preferences in Outlook to Light theme anytime.

 

With the ability to have Outlook on both screens at once, you can keep your preferred calendar in view on one side to see the entirety of your day, week or month at the same time as the details of an event on the other.

 

Calendar day view and event details side by sideCalendar day view and event details side by side

 

The dual screens offers you the choice to expand the app for a single view across both screens – try spanning your Outlook Calendar month view this way, it’s like having a full view of your personal organizer in your pocket. To learn about more gestures for two screens, be just to check out Tips on your Duo device.

 

Outlook Calendar month view spanned across dual screensOutlook Calendar month view spanned across dual screens

 

Outlook connects you to the rest of Microsoft 365

With dual-screens, you can be more productive with the connected experiences across Microsoft 365.  Attaching files, photos or adding copied text, links or new contacts to emails is fast and simple, just drag and drop them into Outlook on Duo.

 

Drag and drop files from OneDrive as an attachment or a linkDrag and drop files from OneDrive as an attachment or a link

When you’re creating a new message or responding to an email in Outlook on one screen, you can open OneDrive on the other and drag a file to add it as a link or an attachment to a new message.  Or, if Edge is open on your other screen you can highlight text and links to quickly drag them over and drop into your message to share with recipients.

 

Similarly, you can now access and view your photo gallery in Outlook to make it easier to attach and annotate on images with inking powered by Office Lens.  Just add text or draw on it to add a personal touch with your finger or the Surface pen.

 

Your workflow is fueled by the suite of apps and connected experiences from Microsoft 365. Your hub for Teamwork and your personal organizer go hand in glove to create a powerful combination to simply keep you connected. Teams and Outlook can be grouped on the Surface Duo so you can quickly open both app at the same time. Outlook offers a quick Join button for your online meetings in the Up Next notification in your inbox, on a Teams Meetings card from the Upcoming carousel on the Search in Outlook home page and as always in your online meeting events on your Calendar. Combining Apps groups together is a helpful way to get things done faster with the Surface Duo.

 

Teams and Outlook as an App GroupTeams and Outlook as an App Group

 

The availability of the new Duo aligns with the completed roll out of Play My Emails in Outlook for Android to all customers in the United States.  With Duo, you can ask Cortana to Play My Emails from Outlook on one screen while you have your inbox open on the other. This way you can choose to listen to an email rather than read it as well as glance at images or graphic information with the related email open on the other screen.  Or, you can listen to your email being read out by Cortana while taking notes on the other screen.  Be sure to turn on Play My Emails from your Outlook Settings so you can listen to your emails and changes to your schedule when you’re busy doing other things and get time back in your day.

 

Please continue to let us know what you think about Outlook on the Surface Duo, the new Outlook Calendar entry point and any of the functionality that continues to roll out in Outlook for Android at https://uservoice.outlook.com and thank you.

 

1 Comment
Copper Contributor

Is there a way to use the dual screen option on another dual screen device besides the Duo (eg. LG Velvet)?

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‎Sep 10 2020 12:14 PM
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