Microsoft Outlook on the Web Gets Like, Mentions Social-Inspired Features

Microsoft on Wednesday introduced two nifty features to Outlook on the Web - Like and @Mentions. The new tools, inspired from Facebook and Twitter respectively, are meant to increase user participation on email threads and to highlight important mails.

Users can 'Like' a message by simply clicking on the thumbs up icon placed besides each mail on the reading pane. Once clicked, the icon is highlighted in Blue and shows that users have liked the message inside the email as well. On liking, the mail sender would receive a notification. "The new Like feature in Outlook on the Web provides an easy way to visibly endorse a specific email and call it out as something worth attention-perhaps a statement or idea you support," says Microsoft.

While the Like button focuses on the mail, the @Mentions feature focuses on an individual. Users can simply type '@' and the name to add a person inside an email body in a thread. On typing '@' Outlook would show user's frequent contacts along with an access to the complete directory. On selecting a person, Outlook would add the user in the 'To:' section of the email. Their name would also be highlighted inside the email body. Receivers would be able to sort emails based on the mentions.

Microsoft has already started rolling out the Like feature to Office 365 First Release customers whose Office 365 plan includes Exchange Online. It would reach eligible Office 365 commercial customers later this month. The @Mentions feature would first be reaching to First Release customers in mid-October and to eligible Office 365 commercial customers in mid-November. The feature would reach Office 2016 clients for Windows and Mac in the first half of 2016.