Microsoft has today announced an update to its Outlook app for iOS that brings a variety of changes and improvements. The two new headline features are redesigned conversations and navigation, while an improved search will be coming soon.
The update to Outlook’s conversations design makes it easier to stay on top of email threads, especially long ones.
Outlook now shows more of your conversation at once and provides clearer separation between individual messages, making it simpler to catch up on your conversations.
When you tap on a conversation to read it, Outlook automatically opens to show the first unread message. You can pick up right where you left off without scrolling.
You can now quickly reply to everyone by simply tapping the quick reply box and starting to type. When you’re done, just tap the send button to see your message added to the conversation. This means that you are now finally able to see the rest of the conversation while you type your reply.
If you want to do more with a conversation than just quickly reply, simply tap the recipients list to edit, or the ellipsis to get to the additional actions, like Forward.
For the improved navigation design, Microsoft has brought a faster way to switch between accounts and browse folders, as well as getting support.
The account and folder menu has been beautifully redesigned to give you super-fast access to all your accounts, as well as key folders such as Inbox, Drafts and Groups. Pro tip: Press and hold on an account avatar to pin the sidebar open!
Help and Settings buttons are easy to get to in the sidebar, making it even quicker to get in-app product support. While we hope you don’t ever need to contact our support team, we know we’re not perfect, and there are times you could use a helping hand. They’re always available and ready to help, all within the app!
Lastly, Outlook for iOS and Android will be getting “a more intelligent search” in the near future:
Search will be front and center in the app’s simplified tab bar. No matter where you are, the new search will be a tap away. Our goal is to bring more proactive and contextual information to your fingertips without even needing to type in a search box.
People and Files will be seamlessly integrated as part of the search experience. There’s a section for People and Files—both with proactive suggestions.
When typing a name in the search box, it will instantly display suggestions from your most frequent contacts. Tapping on a person provides one-tap access to the new People card announced a few weeks ago.
Microsoft has also posted a short video showing the new changes to the Outlook app, which is a free download from the App Store.
