What you need to know
- Microsoft just announced new features for Outlook for the web to help improve contact management.
- Outlook web now has an improved People hub, a new contact editor, and the ability to sort contacts into categories.
- Enterprise users can also take advantage of self-updating contacts on Outlook for the web.
Microsoft is working to improve the contacts experience within Outlook. Following user feedback, the company has new features for keeping contacts up to date. Starting today, Outlook on the web has self-updating contacts, contact categories, a new contact editor, and an upgraded people hub. Note that self-updating contacts are only available for enterprise users.
Self-updating contacts automatically stay up to date to stay in line with an organization directory. People also have the choice to keep certain information. For example, someone may have a direct line to a contact that is different than the one found in the directory. That number could be set to persist even if the directory was updated with a different number.
Categories work in a similar way to tags. Users can place contacts within different categories to make it easy to sort through information. Existing folders will be migrated to categories, which should streamline the process of switching to the new organization method.
The new contact editor has an improved visual experience.
All of the new features work with an updated People hub, which is a tool that allows you to manage your contacts. Microsoft's Tech Community post announcing the new features highlights what the People hub can do:
- View, manage, and organize your contacts
- Create and manage personal contact lists
- Access important contacts by favoriting them
- Quickly call, message, and email contacts/contact lists
- All of this and more!
All of the newly announced features are for the web-based version of Outlook. Microsoft is working to bring the power of Outlook web to the mail app on Windows 11 and Windows 10. Yesterday, Microsoft rolled out the new Outlook as an option for all Office Insiders, even those using personal accounts. With Outlook moving toward being web-based, Microsoft can consolidate its efforts to create a better experience across platforms.
