Microsoft updates Outlook.com; brings in new features, adds support for GIFs

Microsoft announced that it has started rolling out a revamped version of Outlook.com with new features and a new look. The company says that it is rolling out the new version as fast as possible, with millions of accounts being upgraded each week. According to Microsoft’s Official Blogs announcement, “The Outlook team is on a mission to bring you the best email and calendar experience—at work, at home—across all your favorite devices. In recent months, we made several updates to our desktop and mobile apps, launching Outlook 2016 and delivering a steady stream of updates to our iOS, Android and Windows 10 apps. Today, we are announcing an important milestone for Outlook.com.”

Existing Outlook.com users will get these upgrades soon. The new Outlook.com is built on an Office 365-based infrastructure so users get the benefit of an email service that’s used worldwide, along with all the features spotted on Office 365.  Microsoft allows you to do things like stay on top of that address book and automatically add flight info to calendars. In terms of new features, Outlook.com will also allow you to edit documents and respond to emails side by side. The company says, “Managing edits in an attachment can be an arduous multi-step process, especially in other email services that don’t work well with Office documents. Outlook.com is deeply integrated with Office, with a new side-by-side editing feature designed to simplify this process. You can now view or edit Word, PowerPoint and Excel documents and photos while simultaneously replying to the original message.” The biggest feature added to the new version is add-ins. Users can now add a GIF file from Office 365 or even search for and share restaurant reviews from Yelp. You can even manage your o-do list from  Wunderlist, among many other things. Soon, users will also be able to schedule a Skype call right from Outlook.com.