Reprinted from TidBITS by permission; reuse governed by Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND 3.0. TidBITS has offered years of thoughtful commentary on Apple and Internet topics. For free email subscriptions and access to the entire TidBITS archive, visit http://www.tidbits.com/ Microsoft Outlook Arrives for iOS Julio Ojeda-Zapata When Microsoft rolled out iOS versions of its Word, Excel and PowerPoint productivity apps early last year (see '[1]Office for iPad: A Deep Look,' 3 April 2014), another of its flagship Office apps, Outlook, was glaringly absent. But an iOS flavor of the ubiquitous mail, calendar, and contact app seemed inevitable. After all, a Mac variation of Outlook has been available for years (alongside the original Windows version), and saw a big update in October (see '[2]Microsoft Outlook 15.3 for Mac,' 2 November 2014). What's more, Microsoft in December [3]snapped up tech startup [4]Acompli, which had developed a mobile app for email, scheduling, contact management and more. Sure enough, Microsoft last month released upgraded [5]iOS and [6]Android versions of the Acompli app, but with a familiar name: Outlook. Both are free. The new Outlook is being positioned as a no-brainer for those already invested in Office-type productivity, and as a highly integrated messaging, scheduling, and contact-management hub for those who don't want to juggle individual apps. Multi-service compatibility is another Outlook draw. It works with Google, Yahoo, and iCloud, along with Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync and Outlook.com. Cloud-storage services Box, Dropbox, Google Drive and, of course, Microsoft's OneDrive are also along for the ride. [7][tn_Outlook-Services.jpg] In a holdover from the Acompli period, Outlook has a streamlined interface with Mail, Calendar, Files, and People buttons (plus Settings) along the bottom for easily switching from mode to mode. It's worth noting that Apple's Mail, Calendar, and Contacts apps collectively do most of what Outlook does ' and supports one service, AOL, that Outlook doesn't ' but there is something to be said for having all your information in one place. That has long been a Microsoft bragging point. Mail -- Once a user's various email accounts have been set up, they're accessible in Outlook's Mail view via a menu that swoops in from the screen's left edge. That menu offers single-tap access to the inbox for each account, as well as a consolidated inbox, and account subfolders are available with another tap or two. [8][tn_Outlook-email-accounts.jpg] Mail can be filtered in a number of ways. Most notably, messages can be displayed in Focused and Other views, with the former option showing only important missives. Outlook had an initially flawed grasp of what that meant for me ' spam made the cut in certain cases, alongside messages from my mother and my best friend ' but the app learns over time. Separately, a Quick Filter menu narrows options to unread email, flagged emails, and messages with file attachments. [9][tn_Outlook-inbox.jpg] Outlook has familiar [10]Mailbox-style swiping gestures, which can be customized. By default, the app archives a message with a leftward swipe, and prompts to schedule a message to return to your inbox later with a rightward swipe. Either gesture can be reassigned to delete, move, flag or mark as read/unread. Pressing and holding a message listing opens a bulk-editing mode for selecting multiple messages. One note about Gmail accounts: All such Google mail accounts set up properly in Outlook via IMAP (which worked reliably for me). Gmail accounts that are part of the paid Google Apps for Work service also support Exchange ActiveSync, but I couldn't set up my Google Apps account that way in Outlook even though I can do so in Apple Mail. I'm still trying to figure out why. You can choose which account from which to send email, and you can set a per-account signature, but for those who forward mail into Gmail, for instance, you cannot set an arbitrary return address. That points out the most notable account-setup limitation: Outlook for iOS lacks an 'Other email' option for generic IMAP accounts, which is odd since Outlook for Android does offer such a menu choice (with IMAP configuration options). Hopefully Microsoft will add this to the iOS version soon. Calendar -- As with email, Outlook consolidates calendars from various services, including Google, iCloud, and Yahoo, along with Outlook.com and Exchange ActiveSync. [11][tn_Outlook-calendar.jpg] The calendar function is otherwise predictable, with an agenda view, a week view, and a combination day and month view (tap the name of the month). Events can be assigned reminders, and setting up a meeting is simple enough. Calendar colors are customizable. Notably absent from the calendar lineup are Facebook events, which can be accessed using Apple's Calendar app, along with third-party apps like the [12]Sunrise Calendar app (my default). In a related twist, Microsoft earlier this month [13]acquired Sunrise, so Outlook might get a Facebook event infusion before long. Files -- This Outlook view got my attention because hunting down files attached to email messages can be a pain. Now such files are shown in their own tidy lists corresponding to each mail service, along with file-storage services Box, Dropbox, and OneDrive. When I configured my Google account, Outlook also added my Google Drive. [14][tn_Outlook-files.jpg] Listed documents can't be edited within Outlook, but Microsoft gives each mail account the option of attaching files to outgoing messages, sharing them via whatever services the user has configured for that purpose, or saving them to any of the file-storage accounts. Files already in Box, Dropbox, OneDrive, or Google Drive can be shared out or sent as attachments. [15][tn_Outlook-sharing.jpg] File management is one area Outlook shines in comparison to Apple Mail, which has no file-only view, and doesn't let you attach files from, or save files to, the likes of Box and Dropbox. I suspect many people will jump to Outlook for this reason alone. People -- Outlook's integrated approach carries over to the app's People view, which lists contacts from each service in its own tidy list, or in a consolidated multi-service view. It's easy to compose a new message to a person by tapping the pencil button next to that person's name. [16][tn_Outlook-people.jpg] Tap an person's name and Outlook shows pending meetings and recent file attachments associated with that person, along with recent messages (about the last four days). It would be nice if Outlook could expand the scope of the email search, but there's apparently no way to do that. [17][tn_Outlook-recent-messages.jpg] Bottom Line -- In the iOS realm, Outlook has entered a crowded field with dozens of mail and calendar apps jockeying with Apple's stock apps for user loyalty. But Outlook stands out because it consolidates functions from a number of different apps into a single, simple-to-navigate interface, and because it assembles a variety of email and cloud storage services into an integrated information hub. Its file management features are another big plus. As a result, Outlook seems destined to carve out a major slice of the iOS market on the strength of its name and undeniably useful features. It's free and easy to test, so if its features sound attractive, give it a try. References 1. http://tidbits.com/article/14647 2. http://tidbits.com/article/15207 3. http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2014/12/01/microsoft-acquires-acompli-provider-innovative-mobile-email-apps/ 4. https://www.acompli.com/fwd-microsoft-acquires-acompli/ 5. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-outlook/id951937596?mt=8&at=10l5PW 6. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.outlook&hl=en 7. http://tidbits.com/resources/2015-02/Outlook-Services.png 8. http://tidbits.com/resources/2015-02/Outlook-email-accounts.png 9. http://tidbits.com/resources/2015-02/Outlook-inbox.png 10. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mailbox/id576502633?mt=8&at=10l5PW 11. http://tidbits.com/resources/2015-02/Outlook-calendar.png 12. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sunrise-calendar-for-google/id599114150?mt=8&at=10l5PW 13. http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2015/02/11/microsoft-acquires-sunrise-creator-innovative-calendar-app-mobile-devices/ 14. http://tidbits.com/resources/2015-02/Outlook-files.png 15. http://tidbits.com/resources/2015-02/Outlook-sharing.png 16. http://tidbits.com/resources/2015-02/Outlook-people.png 17. http://tidbits.com/resources/2015-02/Outlook-recent-messages.png .