Michal Marek Last week's big event was the release of Microsoft's Outlook app for iOS. The billion-dollar corporation from Redmond has shown that it intends to continue expanding its range of applications for competing platforms and has come up with an e-mail client with a traditional and well-known name. However, Outlook for iOS is probably not the application we would have expected from Microsoft before. It's fresh, practical, supports all major email providers, and is tailor-made for iOS.
Outlook for iPhones and iPads is not a new application that Microsoft has been working on from the ground up. In Redmond, they did not create any new format for working with e-mails on the phone and did not even try to "borrow" someone else's idea. They took something that has been around for a long time and has been popular, and basically just rebranded it to create a new Outlook. That something was the popular email client Acompli, which was bought by Microsoft in December. The original team behind Acompli thus became part of Microsoft.
The principle behind Outlook, which previously made Acompli famous and popular, is simple. The application divides the mails into two groups – Priority a Další. Ordinary mail goes to priority mail, while various advertising messages, notifications from social networks and the like are sorted into the second group. If you are not satisfied with the way the application sorts mail, you can easily move individual messages and at the same time create a rule so that in the future mail of the same type will be in the category in which you want it.
A mailbox sorted in this way is much clearer. The biggest advantage, however, is that you can set notifications only for priority mail, so your phone won't bother you every time regular newsletters and the like arrive.
Outlook meets all the features of a modern e-mail client. It has a bulk mailbox in which mail from all your accounts will be combined. Of course, the application also groups related mail, making it easier to navigate through the flood of messages.
Convenient gesture control is an excellent addition. You can mark mail by simply holding your finger on a message and then selecting other messages, thereby making available classic mass actions such as delete, archive, move, mark with a flag, and the like. You can also use finger swipes to speed up work with individual messages.
When swiping over a message, you can quickly invoke your default action, such as marking the message as read, flagging it, deleting or archiving it. However, there is another very interesting Schedule function that can be selected, thanks to which you can postpone a message for later with a gesture. It will come to you again at a time of your own choosing. It can be selected manually, but you can also use default options such as "Tonight" or "Tomorrow morning". He can, for example, also do similar postponing Mailbox.
Outlook also comes with a convenient mail search function, and quick filters are available directly on the main screen, which you can use to view only mail with a flag, mail with attached files, or unread mail. In addition to the option of manual search, orientation in messages is facilitated by a separate tab called People, which displays the contacts with whom you communicate most often. You can simply write to them from here, but also go to correspondence that has already taken place, view files transferred with the given contact or meetings that took place with the given person.
Another function of Outlook is connected with meetings, which is the direct integration of the calendar (we will look at the supported calendars later). Even the calendar has its own separate tab and basically works fully. It has its daily display as well as a clear list of upcoming events, and you can easily add events to it. In addition, the calendar integration is also reflected when sending e-mails. There is an option to send the addressee your availability or send an invitation to a specific event. This will make the meeting planning process easier.
Outlook is also excellent when working with files. The application supports the integration of OneDrive, Dropbox, Box and Google Drive services, and you can conveniently attach files to messages from all these online storages. You can also view files contained directly in e-mail boxes separately and can continue to work with them. The positive thing is that even the files have their own tab with its own search and a smart filter to filter out images or documents.
In conclusion, it is appropriate to say which services Outlook actually supports and with which everything can be connected. Outlook naturally works with its own email service Outlook.com (including an alternative with an Office 365 subscription) and in the menu we also find the option to connect an Exchange account, OneDrive, iCloud, Google, Yahoo! Mail, Dropbox or Box. For specific services, their ancillary functions such as calendars and cloud storage are also supported. The application is also localized into the Czech language, although the translation is not always completely perfect. A big advantage is the support for iPhone (including the latest iPhone 6 and 6 Plus) and iPad. The price is also pleasing. Outlook is completely free. Its predecessor, Acompli, can no longer be found in the App Store.
[app url=https://itunes.apple.com/cz/app/microsoft-outlook/id951937596?mt=8]
Yeah, it's a great app and it does almost the same thing as native email and calendar, just not as well. In other words: if there were no native mail and calendar apps in iOS, this would be a great free solution. But native apps have a lot of neat little things that Outlook doesn't have. Therefore, there is basically no reason to install Outlook. Unless you want to have fun with how Microsoft wasted money on something that, while not bad, is not the best either. As usual, Apple has the best :-)
well... maybe I just can't do it, I'm sorry... but how do I create a mail in native email to which I attach several documents (from different directories or cloud storages)? In my practice, an absolutely frequent action... I use the iPad often, but I just like this about the outlook :-)
Yes, you're right that inserting files into an attachment is more pleasant in Outlook, I personally solve it directly from the application, for example: in Google drive, you can choose "open in" for a specific file and select an email and you can send it as an attachment. On the other hand, for example, photos cannot be sent via Outlook directly from the Camera/Images application, which is one of the most used functions for me if I want to send an attachment.
I also use Documents a lot for file management, from there you can also send attachments only through the native mail app.
I would like to know how to recognize read mail from unread mail in the native iOS mail client. Every time I open my mail, I feel that all the messages are unread. They couldn't have invented a more confusing application, some colors or user customization wouldn't hurt. (I know there is a tiny blue dot)
Mailboxes -> Unread -> Shows you unread mail.
which little things do you need? (I really mean this as a question, not a dig. I haven't tried Outlook)
For example, I find the "unread" option in the mailbox selection to be a brilliant simple function for an easy overview of unread emails.
Or perhaps in the calendar, the ability to move events using hold and drag. Or that when used with ExchangeServer, the calendar tells me when scheduling meetings whether the other meeting participants are free from work, Outlook can't do that either.
Or mark the meeting as private…
I didn't want to primarily spit on the Microsoft product, it's definitely not bad, only the native application is simply better. And so Outlook seems a bit useless to me.
Otherwise, I agree with Petr Šourek's comment, who says here that this is probably the beginning of a positive trend that will force Apple to constantly improve, which is definitely good for us.
The application would probably be good if it didn't store access data to accounts in the cloud and then download all mail in the background to unknown places.
http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/33059/hacking/ios-outlook-app-issues.html :)
Don't know how to set the conversation not to group?
That Microsoft would make some good software after a long time? It looks like it is :-) The advantage over the native Mail and Calendar application is the addition of attachments from many cloud services, but mainly functional push notifications with connected Google accounts. So far, the only thing I'm missing is the inability to start writing an email from Images, etc. (you select an image in the native application and want to send it as an email attachment). You have to choose the opposite procedure – start writing an email and insert-find the attachment.
pay the pan that Monkey Ballmer is history and MS is finally starting to catch its breath. I don't want to settle a flame about which is better or who copied what, but I see a positive direction from which we, the customers, will benefit
Yesterday I put a link here to an article that looks at this software from the point of view of company server security, and today this link is not here. may i know why
It doesn't look bad, but does it already support classic IMAP? When I tried it a few days ago, it was not possible to add a custom email account there except for the few supported ones. And such an application is of no use to me - I'm not going to use two different applications for the same thing.
There's no mention of IMAP and POP3, so I assume it doesn't support it, right?
Just look at the second image where there is a list of servers. What kind of protocol can he use to connect mail from Google, Yahoo, etc.?
Of course IMAP has. Well, at least I don't have problems with Google.
ok, so I will express myself more clearly. Is it possible to configure POP3 or IMAP for servers other than those listed, i.e. some generic IMAP, POP3 that I can configure myself? I will answer myself: no, it is not possible.
You are right, sorry for the misinformation.
I actually didn't have to deal with this because I created a Gmail account to which I connected all my accounts.
So I have no problem with this.