Good things come to those who wait! A couple of weeks ago, a leaked Outlook client started working for some people. After finding out about it, Microsoft discouraged people from using the app until it was officially unveiled.
Well, that day has now finally come.
Microsoft has officially started testing this new and revamped client for its email service.
Developed under the codename of Project Monarch, this web powered app is an overdue replacement for the Mail and Calendar apps in Windows as well as the Outlook client. In essence, a major step forward for Redmond to unify its email solutions across platforms, under the One Outlook umbrella.
This new application is now being tested by Office Insiders in the Beta channel of that preview program.
And although it lacks feature parity with existing offering — naturally — there are a bunch of new capabilities that are part of this package.
For starters, this new solution is designed to bring consistency across the Windows and web codebases of the service. A new look is also its main highlight, as are the addition of several Outlook.com features to go with integration of new Microsoft properties like Loop, To Do, and elements from Teams.
The new Outlook app integrates with Microsoft Loop components, which offers users a way to create snippets of data that can be kept up to date automatically. Users will be able to update Loop components from within Outlook emails or Teams chats.
Similar to how Outlook already has the @mention feature that lets users quick add people without having to look up their email addresses, this new client enables you to do the same for files and documents as long as they are stored in the cloud. As in, your OneDrive for Business account.
Of course, this would not be a Microsoft product without a little dash of AI. And the new Outlook automatically reminds you about important emails you have not responded to, pinning them to the top of the inbox until you respond or dismiss the reminder.
To Do integration allows you to drag and drop email messages into an integrated To Do list, while the concept of Calendar Board provides you with a single view of your calendar entries, widgets and more.
You also get improved meeting management, the ability to pin emails to the top of your inbox, as well as the Sweep feature that helps you to manage emails by automatically archiving them. It moves the messages into folders while keeping only the most recent ones up there.
Since this new Outlook app is currently in preview, there are a bunch of known issues listed here.
Office Insiders in the Beta channel of the program can test out this new release, as long as they are using version 2205 of Outlook. They can do so by hitting the “Try the New Outlook” toggle on the top-right to trigger the change, and use the same switch to revert back to the classic version at any time.
