What’s New in the New Outlook for Mac? - March Update

[Jessica_Wilczek]

It’s been a few months since we launched the new Outlook for Mac in Insider Fast, since then we have already introduced many top-requested features. We have been working hard to build experiences that are seamless, intuitive, and designed to address important workflows – which is why we have been listening closely to your feedback every step of the way.

We appreciate all the feedback you have shared with us, and it is something we pay close attention to as we add more things to Outlook for Mac. For example, you told us how much you need Automatic Replies, move to recently used folders, and message list density settings, so we listened and delivered.

Density settings help you personalize your message list.

Today, starting with the Insider Fast 16.36 (20032300) build, we are sharing some of the most noteworthy updates so far, and also giving you a glimpse into what’s coming soon. Here’s what’s new:

Ability to tailor your message list in a way that is best for you

• Density setting – Personalize your message list by choosing to view a longer preview of each email or a more compact view so you can see more messages in the list at a time.
• Snooze – For those moments when you don’t have time to read or respond to an email, simply “snooze” it and select the time that works best for it to show up in your Inbox again as an unread email. This is the same experience as Outlook for iOS and Android and on the web. Snooze options include snooze later today, next week, or a specific date in the future.
• Swipe gestures – Simply swipe an email to one side or the other using your Magic Mouse or trackpad to quickly perform pre-set actions, such as delete, flag, archive, move, snooze, and read/unread. Swipe gestures are set by device, giving you the ability to customize your Mac experience  – just as you can today in Outlook mobile.
• Move to recently used folders – When you select “Move” to move an email to a folder, Outlook suggests folders based on your usage history. If you’ve repeatedly moved similar messages to a specific folder, Outlook makes it easier for you to organize your inbox and saves you time by suggesting that folder rather than you having to choose from all your available folders.

Easily snooze messages or perform quick swipe actions directly in the message list.

Intuitive features that make going through your email a breeze

• Actionable Messages – The new Outlook for Mac now supports Actionable Messages created with Adaptive Cards. This means that if you receive this type of email, you can take quick action directly from your inbox, such as filling out a survey or approving an expense report. Various actions can now be embedded into emails to make engaging with them easy and faster to respond.
• Teams presence – In the message header or address line you will be able to see the availability of people in your organization based on current Teams presence status.

More control over your calendar events and personal time

• Do Not Forward settings – Set certain events as “Do Not Forward” to protect the meeting and ensure it isn’t sent to others by restricting ability to forward.
• Teams Meeting toggle – This toggle will be available when you quickly create a new calendar event. By switching the toggle on you can more easily make any meeting a Teams meeting.
• Automatic Replies – Introducing the ability to set automatic replies for times when you are out of the office or away doing other things. When your automatic replies are active, a banner will appear at the top of your inbox indicating this.

When your automatic replies are active, a banner will appear at the top of your inbox.

Optimizing the user experience

• Message header –The new Outlook for Mac introduces a refreshed, simplified email message header with the goal of a more streamlined user experience.
• Message formatting toolbar – Improved keyboard navigation helps you format your emails quickly as you compose them. You can simply tab in and out of the formatting bar, and use arrow keys to move within it, to quickly create or respond to email with various formatting options, such as bold, italicize, or underline.
• Send button – We’re testing two different locations for the send button.  One at the at the top and another at the bottom of the mail screen. We will rely on your feedback and usage behavior to assess which location results in the best user experience to help define the intended experience for general availability.
• Preserve Settings – When you switch over to the new Outlook for Mac, your existing settings for Focused Inbox and conversation view will automatically be applied in the new experience to ease the transition.

 We’re testing two different locations for the send button. One at the at the top and another at the bottom of the mail screen.

Coming Soon…

• Add-Ins –  Ability to install your favorite add-ins and enhance your productivity within Outlook, something we know you’ve all been waiting for.
• Unified Inbox – Combine multiple mailboxes into one single inbox, making it easier for you to view everything that is important in one place.
• Search all mail – Search has been updated to include all mail, no longer limited to the specific folder or mailbox you may be currently in.
• MailTips – Gives you more information about your mail, like giving you a heads up if you’re messaging people with automatic replies turned on or that you may be sending an email to recipients outside your organization.
• Room Finder – Assists you with meeting scheduling and we will be ensuring that the experience in the new Outlook for Mac is the same as the Outlook for Windows and on the web experiences.

Stay up to date

Updates and new features are coming to the new Outlook for Mac regularly. We’ll be posting updates here on Tech Community to keep you up to date on what has recently been added to the new Outlook for Mac in Insider Fast, as well as let you know what to look out for in future updates. In the meantime, let us know what you think on UserVoice and check out our Release Notes for more detailed information on new features and fixes.

Still haven’t tried out the new Outlook for Mac? Sign up for Insider Fast to experience faster sync, new features, and an updated design.

As a reminder, the new Outlook for Mac is only available for Office 365, Outlook.com, and Google accounts using mac OS 10.14 Mojave and above. If you are having account issues, do not see your account, or cannot access it in the new Outlook for Mac, visit the support page.

Stay up to date and check out next month's update!

[lunddal]

While the new options are great, the font size in the message list is still too big and seems out of place compared to the rest of the interface.

Please allows us to make it smaller - the same size as in the old Outlook would be fine.

[Vivek Kumar (SVC)]

@lunddal - Assuming you have already gone to Outlook Preferences > Reading > and then selected [Compact] - You can then further make the overall font size of Outlook smaller by going to Outlook Preferences > Fonts > and then choose Smaller on the Text display size slider.

[lunddal]

@Vivek Kumar I know, but that makes everything smaller. It's specifically the size in the message list that relatively to the other text (mailbox lists and more) seems too big.

It's bigger than the "old" Outlook and much much bigger than Apple Mail.

The font sizes on OWA are more balanced.

[dannykorpan]

Search all mail and working Add-Ins are more important than the location of the send button...:weary_face:

[Vivek Kumar (SVC)]

@dannykorpan - Both Search All Mail and Addins are currently in development and will be coming to the New Outlook for Mac soon! 

[dannykorpan]

Thank you, I’ve got the ability to read. What I have talked about was the false priority of features for the beta.

[vkedyk]

I am getting totally different view of outlook. 

Please see below:

How i can get view like described in the article?

I am using macbook air 2016 with macOS Catalina 10.15.4.

My outlook version is 16.37.20040602

Please help @Jessica_Wilczek 

[bryanbecker]

We desperately need CalDav support

[bryanbecker]

I, too, am running 16.37.20040602 on my Mojave Mac and have nowhere near anything resembling this.  The look, menu options, etc.  Even the Read options picture above don't match mine:

I wonder if this is related to the fact we are using IMAP and not native exchange for email?

[vkedyk]

@bryanbecker try to restart your mac. it should work then. mine worked out 

[bryanbecker]

@vkedykI just rebooted and it looks exactly the same as before.

I don't even see the slide option for "New Outlook"

[bryanbecker]

Just an update.  I uninstalled my whole office 365.  Did a fresh install and then upgraded to 16.37.  I still do not have the option for the "New Outlook".  I'm not sure what else I can do.  Other people in my organization have the same install process, and they have the new outlook.

[Steven Tolboe]

@bryanbecker  This is currently only available for people on the Insider Fast track. Check to make sure you have Insider Fast enabled and not Insider Slow.

[bryanbecker]

@Steven TolboeI am on Insider Fast otherwise I would not have gotten the update.

I was given the support link one what you need, etc and I have all items enabled, etc.

And I have everything right.  So I'm really confused here.  I don't know if @Jessica_Wilczek or @Vivek Kumar (SVC) have any ideas or a support way to work with me on this.

[ms6fa]

The view of Outlook in this article is different from mine, I use Office 365 and for example, I don't get to see the calendar and tasks on the sidebar of my screen.
I'm I missing something here or what @Jessica_Wilczek? 

[wilmored]

How to we add the "Cc" field back as a default when creating emails instead of having to manually select it?

[shock143]

It's awesome interface now it's better than Apple Mail

[Dirk_Smith]

This is great, but have you added back a much-used feature that people have been begging MS to add back: the ability to only notify new/removed attendees for meeting invites? This has become a huge headache for people since you inexplicably removed it from Outlook 2016.

[bryanbecker]

I still do not have the new interface/look yet.  :frowning_face:

[simonwds]

It's not bad. I like the look. But there are some MAJOR problems:

a) Please get the Zoom plugin working. This is critical in the current working environment. Literally cannot use it until you fix this. 

b) The way real estate is used on the email list is really BAD. 1) Please allow turning off of preview in the email list. The two current options are useless as all they do is take screen space. 2) Need to be able to remove categories in the email list, i.e. today, yesterday etc. 3) Font on email list is too large. These three items are a big cumulative problem that desperately needs fixing. I'm frankly amazed you have gotten this far with such an obvious interface design flaw, which seriously inhibits seeing enough emails at a glance.

c)  Click to add appointment is super un-intuitive. You should be able to click and enter info directly

in the appointment

d) Dragging emails to folders in different email accounts doesn't work - eg one outlook.com account and a gmail account

[simonwds]

Oh and one more thing. Why does the preview pane always default to blank? This is ugly. It should default to the top message on the list.

[Sean Ellis]

I see that it has the immensely unpopular "Search in the title bar" anti-feature. Breaks basic platform UI rules, worse than the old search, 2700 votes against on Uservoice...

[ncprius]

Is any outlook for Mac able to limit size of local cache, like to 30/60/90/180/360 days? This has been requested since 2016 and has nearly 1000 votes at: 

https://outlook.uservoice.com/forums/293343-outlook-for-mac/suggestions/13153866--mail-to-keep-offli...

Outlook on windows has had ability to limit local cache for years now, btw.

[Erik_Uner]

Ditto on the Zoom plugin.  Creating a new meeting is not intuitive - offer option similar to the old way.  Until these two are fixed, impossible for me to switch.

Wishes:

Can't reorder the columns (I like the flag column first).

Need option to show the full date/time in the date field.

[mdfreas]

Does anyone know how to stop sent items from showing up in your inbox when you're using conversation view? I used the conversation view in the previous version and my sent items weren't showing in my inbox. Is there a setting to change this?