Microsoft Brings New Voice Features to Outlook for iOS

Microsoft announced today that it is adding enhanced voice capabilities in Outlook mobile for iOS. And yes, they’re coming to Outlook on Android soon.

“Today we are announcing new enhanced voice capabilities in Outlook mobile for iOS (and coming soon to Android) that make using voice to schedule meetings and compose emails simpler for everyone,” Microsoft corporate vice president Jared Spataro announced. “These new AI-enhanced voice capabilities quickly contextualize your voice requests and provide a rapid response, making it more easy and natural to work on the go.”

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday — and get free copies of Paul Thurrott's Windows 11 and Windows 10 Field Guides (normally $9.99) as a special welcome gift!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The new voice features are:

Schedule a meeting. Microsoft’s description of how this will work doesn’t make sense, so I’ll just paraphrase: Soon, there will be a microphone icon somewhere in Outlook’s Calendar view that you will be able to use to tell Cortana what you want to do. “Cortana uses AI to help you find the right file, connect with a particular co-worker, or manage your calendar,” Mr. Spataro notes. “Let’s say you want to quickly know what’s coming up next on your schedule. Just tap the microphone icon and ask something like, ‘When’s my next team meeting?’; Cortana will instantly contextualize your answer and get you up to speed.”

Natural language search. You will be able to say something like “Find emails sent to John with attachments about the Q1 project budget” without needing to rely on key search terms.

Dictation. Dictation in Outlook mobile works similarly to how it works in Word and Outlook on Windows: It lets you use your voice to respond to or write new email messages.

Tagged with

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 13 comments

  • JH_Radio

    Premium Member
    08 June, 2021 - 2:26 pm

    <p>Hmmm. might be worth trying outlook for iOS and android again. I like it on Windows 7 desktop and forget why I stopped using it on mobile. </p>

    • huddie

      Premium Member
      10 June, 2021 - 7:32 am

      <p>Maybe this will remind you: It’s badly implemented and buggy as hell.</p>

  • MikeCerm

    08 June, 2021 - 2:31 pm

    <p>Is the dictation in Word and Outlook any different than using the speech-to-text that’s built into the keyboard (on mobile), or voice recognition in Windows?</p>

  • jdawgnoonan

    08 June, 2021 - 2:58 pm

    <p>I am not sure how many people are itching for Cortana on iOS or Android for anything. The main thing I would like to see is the Windows Calendar and Mail apps be brought on par with Outlook for mobile. I personally do not consider the desktop version of Outlook to be the same product as Outlook on iOS or Android but more the companion of the Mail and Calendar app in Windows.</p>

    • mattbg

      Premium Member
      08 June, 2021 - 5:27 pm

      <p>Agree, but Cortana is really just the voice interface in this case and you need to invoke it somehow.</p><p><br></p><p>The problem I see is having to remember which assistant you’re supposed to summon depending on who wrote the app you’re in.</p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">If I’m on iOS I’d rather everything be engaged with Siri even if it’s not using Siri on the backend. </span>I can see why Microsoft nor Apple would want this. Microsoft wants Cortana visible because they sell it as a service, and Apple wouldn’t want the Siri brand corrupted by faulty AI that they didn’t develop. But if you were truly designing for the user regardless of corporate motivations I think that’s how it’d work.</p>

  • dougkinzinger

    08 June, 2021 - 3:03 pm

    <p>I’ve been beta testing the iOS version for a while. Works well except when the beta iOS SwiftKey (now a Microsoft product) crashes and won’t start dictating. Also the ‘back’ button is very tiny. 🙂 </p>

    • mikegalos

      09 June, 2021 - 8:15 am

      <p>Yeah, if you use a beta with a beta it’s not surprising you get crashes and bugs. That’s kind of a given for why what you’re using is in beta…</p>

  • jchampeau

    Premium Member
    08 June, 2021 - 4:41 pm

    <p>I suspect this is an iOS limitation and not an Outlook app limitation, but if I intend to use my voice to find the right file, connect with a particular co-worker, or manage my calendar, I shouldn’t have to open Outlook and tap the microphone first. Either I can do those things without taking my hands off the wheel, washing away the bacon grease, or putting down the dry erase marker, or I can’t.</p>

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    09 June, 2021 - 3:47 am

    <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"making it more easy and natural to work on the go."</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Erm, shouldn’t that be "making it easier and more natural to work on the go."?</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The sentence looks ham-fisted and I had to read it twice for it to make sense. I hope Outlook’s audio capabilities are a little more sophisticated than that.</span></p>

    • jchampeau

      Premium Member
      09 June, 2021 - 7:25 am

      <p>You’re correct. I’m reminded frequently of the juxtaposition of Microsoft’s supposed AI capabilities and all the ways they should use it but don’t—communication, making Windows updates not break things, etc., etc. Heck, I would settle for just regular intelligence from them.</p>

      • Paul Thurrott

        Premium Member
        09 June, 2021 - 8:50 am

        This is true of all AI companies. Google’s news apps is riddled with basic search filter mistakes: When I view Technology news, for example, I’ll see articles about relationship advice or whatever.

        • huddie

          Premium Member
          10 June, 2021 - 7:38 am

          <p>Virtual keyboard gesture typing and autocorrect hasn’t improved a jot in the last few years as far as I can see. Wouldn’t this be a good place for utility AI ?</p>

          • Paul Thurrott

            Premium Member
            10 June, 2021 - 8:49 am

            Sure, but you can’t rely on everyone having that keyboard.

Windows Intelligence In Your Inbox

Sign up for our new free newsletter to get three time-saving tips each Friday

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2024 Thurrott LLC