Bill reminders and a ‘quick reply’ box are among a host of new features unveiled by Microsoft as part of an overhaul of its Outlook app.
The company also announced new Outlook mobile apps that allow you to compose an email draft on your smartphone before finishing it on your computer.
The announcement comes less than a week after Google released a revamp of competing service Gmail in an attempt to lure in more businesses.
Some of the updates are available now, while others will roll out over May and June, Microsoft said.
Bill payment reminders (pictured) and a ‘quick reply’ box are among a host of new features unveiled by Microsoft as part of an overhaul of its email and calendar software Outlook
Bill payment reminders
As part of an improved Outlook calendar, Microsoft has introduced bill pay reminders to the software’s web service Outlook.com.
The update means the system will scan your emails for bills and automatically add due dates to your calendar.
Outlook.com will also send an email reminder two days before the bill is due.
The service already runs a similar feature for travel reservations and package deliveries, as does competitor Gmail.
Outlook for Windows is also getting calendar updates to help business users.
Meeting support
The software now offers suggestions for meeting locations in calendar entries and uses Bing to automatically add information about the venue.
This location support is also coming to Outlook iOS, as well as the option to book a meeting room from your mobile device.
Microsoft is also upgrading the Outlook calendar’s RSVP and meeting attendee tracking.
Microsoft is also upgrading the Outlook calendar’s RSVP and meeting attendee tracking (pictured). You’ll soon be able to see the responses of attendees to all of your meetings – even if you didn’t organise them – allowing all of those invited to track who has RSVP’d
You’ll soon be able to see the responses of attendees to all of your meetings – even if you didn’t organise them – allowing all of those invited to track who has RSVP’d.
Microsoft said: ‘With this insight, invited attendees can better manage their time and decide if they should attend based on the plans of others.
‘For example, knowing who’s going can save you some time if you decide the meeting can be addressed by other teammates who are planning to attend.’
Microsoft is also rolling out better time zone support for Outlook’s calendar on Windows and Mac.
You can now add a calendar entry that starts in one time zone but ends in another, which is helpful if you’re taking flights.
Outlook for Mac now supports viewing four time zones, while the software’s Windows version supports three.
Microsoft is also rolling out better time zone support for Outlook’s calendar on Windows and Mac. You can now add a calendar entry that starts in one time zone but ends in another, which is helpful if you’re taking flights (pictured)
Outlook Mail
Microsoft has revealed a number of changes to its Outlook Mail service as part of the new update.
The company is adding better support for emails that you are ‘blind copied’ into.
When you reply to an email for which you were copied into the ‘BCC’ field, the software now warns you to help you dodge an embarrassing faux pas.
iOS and Android
Outlook for the software’s iOS and Android iterations have also been injected with a host of new features.
Outlook for iOS will soon support syncing draft emails, allowing you to compose an email draft on your smartphone before finishing it on your laptop.
Draft syncing is already available on Outlook for Mac, Windows and Android and will be rolled out to iOS users later this month, according to Microsoft.
Users of Outlook’s Android app will finally have access to Office Lens as part of the new update. Lens lets you take photos of information on a whiteboard or piece of paper and then automatically crops them to appear as if they were professionally scanned
The company said: ‘Now you can continue drafting emails in Outlook for iOS that were initially started on other devices.
‘Draft Sync for iOS makes it easy to pick up where you left off simply by navigating to the conversation in your inbox.’
Users of Outlook’s Android app will finally have access to Office Lens as part of the new update.
Lens lets you take photos of information on a whiteboard or piece of paper and then automatically crops them to appear as if they were professionally scanned.
If you are planning a meeting that requires a tight control of the attendee list, Outlook gives you the option to allow or prevent the forwarding of your calendar invitation (pictured)
The feature will come with all versions of Outlook for Android but Microsoft has not announced Lens for iOS users yet.
Outlook Android is also getting a ‘quick reply’ box that is already available on iOS.
The box at the bottom of the screen that allows you to quickly respond to messages while keeping their content in view.
Next month Outlook for iOS and Android is getting support for favourite contacts.
The feature allows you to tag people as your top contacts – a label that persists across Outlook’s web and mobile systems.
Outlook for Android is also getting support to block external content in emails, and the iOS version will include Office 365 Groups support in June.