Top Five Work Management Features in New Outlook

1. Seamless Integration with M365 Applications

New Outlook excels in its integration with other Microsoft 365 applications. This allows you to manage your tasks, files, and schedules all in one place, enhancing your productivity. Here’s how it works:

Microsoft To Do

On the new Outlook sidebar, you can quickly access Microsoft To-Do. This integration lets you see your tasks, due dates, and priorities. You can mark tasks as important, set reminders, and even view your tasks in your calendar view. This feature helps in keeping track of your to-dos and ensures nothing falls through the cracks.

OneDrive

Outlook now integrates with OneDrive, allowing you to access your recent documents and shared files directly from your email interface. This feature is particularly useful for attaching files to emails or accessing important documents without leaving Outlook. It streamlines the workflow and saves valuable time.

Microsoft Bookings

One of the most helpful features in new Outlook, Bookings is fully integrated and designed to streamline the appointment-setting process. It allows users to:

• Share Calendar Availability – You can generate a link that displays your available time slots, which can be shared with clients or colleagues. This feature eliminates the need for back-and-forth emails to schedule meetings.
• Embed in Email Signatures – The booking link can be easily added to your email signature, making it readily accessible to anyone who needs to schedule time with you.
• Client Self-Service – Clients or colleagues can book appointments directly through the link, selecting from your available times. This feature ensures that meetings are scheduled efficiently and at mutually convenient times.
• Integration with Outlook Calendar – Appointments booked through Microsoft Bookings automatically appear in your Outlook calendar, ensuring your schedule is always up-to-date and accurate. Learn more about Bookings here.

2. Enhanced Email Functionality

Email is the most important element of Outlook, and the new version brings several enhancements to make managing emails more efficient:

Schedule Send

With the schedule send feature, you can draft an email and choose a specific time for it to be sent. This is particularly useful if you’re working late or on weekends and don’t want to disturb your colleagues outside of working hours. You can set emails to be sent during their working hours, ensuring your message is timely and considerate.

Snooze Emails

The snooze feature allows you to remove an email from your inbox temporarily and have it redelivered later. This is perfect for managing emails you can’t immediately field but don’t want to forget about. By right-clicking on an email, you can choose to snooze emails for a few hours, days, or even until a specific date.

Pin Emails

Pinning important emails to the top of your inbox ensures that critical messages remain easily accessible. Hovering your mouse over an email in your inbox reveals this feature along with the flag email option.

Sweep Function

This is a great feature to help organize your inbox. The sweep option lets you manage repetitive emails by creating rules to move, delete, or archive emails based on your preferences. This helps keep your inbox clutter-free.

3. Improved Calendar Features

The new Outlook brings several improvements to the calendar, making it a more powerful tool for time management:

My Day Feature

The My Day feature consolidates your tasks and calendar appointments in one view. You can see your daily schedule, upcoming meetings, and tasks in one place. This helps you stay on top of your day and ensures you don’t miss any important commitments.

Integration with Microsoft Teams

Thanks to the integration with Microsoft Teams, you can chat with meeting participants directly from your calendar. Additionally, any tasks from Microsoft To-Do that are due on the same day will appear in your calendar, giving you a comprehensive view of your daily obligations.

Suggested Meeting Times

When scheduling a meeting, Outlook now suggests available times for all attendees based on their calendars. This feature simplifies the process of finding a suitable time for everyone, reducing the back-and-forth emails typically associated with scheduling meetings.

4. Personalization Options

Personalization is key to making any application work for you, and the new Outlook offers several options to customize your experience, allowing you to tailor the application to your needs:

Customizable Ribbon

Switch between a simplified and classic ribbon, and additionally, you can customize the ribbon to include the actions and commands you use most frequently. This makes it easier to access the features you need without navigating through multiple menus.

Settings Sync

When you switch to the new Outlook, you can bring over all your settings from the classic version. This includes your email signatures, preferences, and customizations. Any changes you make in the new Outlook will also be reflected in Outlook for the web, ensuring a consistent experience across different devices.

Unified Account Management

Manage multiple email accounts (Microsoft 365, Gmail, Yahoo, iCloud, and IMAP) from one place, making it easier to stay organized.

5. Advanced Search Capabilities

Searching for information within Outlook has never been easier. The new advanced search features help you find what you need quickly:

Unified Search

Outlook’s search functionality now extends to OneDrive and Teams. This means you can search for emails, files, and Teams messages all from within Outlook. This unified search capability saves time and ensures you can find all relevant information in one place.

Refined Filters

You can filter search results by criteria such as unread status, importance, attachments, and more. This helps you quickly narrow down the search results to find the exact email or document you need.