Outlook 2016 for Mac is Getting a New Email Editor

It’s a work in progress at the moment, but Microsoft is overhauling the email message editor in Outlook 2016 for Mac with support for picture formatting and rich formatting. The new functionality should arrive in mid-May, Microsoft says. And more updates are coming later as well.

The email message editor in Outlook 2016 looks and works a bit like Word 2016, and offers some of the same editing commands via its ribbon-based buttons. In a coming update to Outlook 2016, the following two additions will be made:

Format pictures. When you insert a picture into an email message, you’ll see new resize and rotation handles that let you resize or rotate the image immediately. (Or, you can right-click it anytime to get the same options.) To open an image editing task pane, just double-click the image.

Rich formatting support. The Outlook 2016 for Mac editor now provides “a richer set of fonts, font colors and bullet and numbered lists—plus enhanced font editing and hyperlink dialogs” in the ribbon.

These two new features are just the beginning, Microsoft says. More new Outlook 2016 for Mac editor features are coming soon, including support for tables.