If any onlookers were puzzled by Microsoft's recent acquisition of email startup Acompli it's now clear the investment was well worth it.
Microsoft's plans for the app came into full focus Thursday when the company rolled out a new version of the app, now rebranded as Outlook.
With a focus on productivity and features geared toward businesses and power users alike, the new Outlook apps fill what, up until now, was a pretty big hole in Microsoft's mobile offerings.
Multiple accounts and a more "focused" inbox
One of the most notable aspects of the Outlook app is that you don't actually need a Microsoft email account to use it. In addition to Outlook.com and Exchange accounts, the app also supports Yahoo, iCloud and Gmail accounts as well as Box, Google Drive and Dropbox for storage.
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If you were an Acompli user, the new Outlook app will feel very familiar, The core of what was Acompli is largely unchanged though touches like the "quick filter" and "Sent from Outlook" default signature, are thoroughly Microsoft.
Outlook's inbox defaults to a so-called "focused inbox" view. That is a kind of priority inbox made up of a combination of all your connected email accounts. I didn't find the focused inbox filters to be quite as tight as Google's Priority Inbox, but as a feature I sorely missed in the original version of Acompli, it's a welcome addition. (You can also manually move messages to the focused inbox.)
Calendar and location sharing shortcuts
As with Acompli before it, Outlook's built-in calendar is all about multitasking. If you spend a lot of time scheduling appointments and checking your availability, the calendar function will cut down on huge amounts of time that would have been spent switching between apps.
The calendar automatically syncs with the calendar tied to your email account and if you are subscribed to multiple calendars you can switch them on or off in the calendar menu.
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But the best part of the calendar is using it to message your availability. While in a message, you can send your availability by tapping the calendar icon in the bottom right corner. Choose the appropriate day, select the time slots you're free and this info will automatically populated into a chart in the body of your message.
Likewise, you can also send a map of your current whereabouts from within a message by selecting the maps icon. This automatically adds a quick snapshot of your locations, though it would be nice if you could add custom map locations as well.
Files and people
The app also has dedicated sections for files and people. Files displays all your recent attachments you've exchanged in all your email accounts and provides handy links to access files from your OneDrive, DropBox, Google Drive or Box account.
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The people tab acts as a kind of "favorites" for the contacts you're in touch with most frequently. Tap into a particular name to see a list of all your most recent messages, meetings and files. It's a handy way to find a particular message when you can remember the sender but not the contents of a message.
While the app is unquestionably a huge improvement over the Outlook Web App (which, as we've noted before, Acompli's own CEO trashed prior to joining Microsoft), I do have a few quibbles.
While Acompli supported four different gestures for inbox organizations, Outlook only supports two. But the gestures are fully customizable and Outlook general manager Javier Soltero says this was done to keep things simple. You also can't select multiple messages at once, which seems like a given for an email app, particularly one aimed at a business-minded audience.
But these shortcomings are relatively minor and Microsoft says the app will be updated weekly so it's likely the app will continue to improve with more updates. The new Outlook will also be coming to Windows devices with Windows 10, which was previewed during last week's Windows 10 event.
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