Outlook for iOS Gets a New Scheduling Experience
- Paul Thurrott
- Oct 31, 2016
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Microsoft Outlook for iOS is picking up a great feature from the desktop version of the app: the scheduling assistant. But you’ll need to add an Office 365 commercial account to see it.
“Our goal with Outlook has been to provide a mobile experience that’s good for more than reading messages while standing in line for coffee,” the Outlook Team explains. “As part of our mission, we released a new and improved calendar on iOS and Android in September that brought you things like Maps and Skype for Business integration.”
This week’s update applies only to Outlook on iOS, though Microsoft notes that the Android and Windows 10 Mobile versions will be updated soon as well. And it brings the scheduling assistant from the desktop versions of Outlook down to the phone. As this animated image so aptly demonstrates.
The idea is that when you schedule meetings with others, it helps to know what their schedules are so you can find free time that works for everyone. So you can now create an event, add coworkers, and then tap the date picker to access the scheduling assistant. Times that work for everyone will show in white, while yellow is used to indicate partial availability. And red is for no availability. From here, you tap the time picker and drag and until it turns green, indicating that everyone is available at that time. Again, since Microsoft already did the hard work:
As noted, you will only get this functionality if you’re using an Office 365 commercial account.
You can download Outlook for iOS from the Apple Apps Store.