DECEMBER 2019 PCWorld 23app doesn’t do much more than supply
shortcuts to recent Office documents and
apps, as well as account management. The
mobile Office app sounds much more capable,
though we haven’t see it in person yet.
“Users will also be able to do a variety of
common on-the-go tasks, such as converting
images to text, creating and signing PDFs,
and sharing files between devices,” Microsoft
says. The new mobile Office app will enter
public preview for iOS and Android on
November 4.
OUTLOOK ADDS A
BOATLOAD OF USEFUL
FEATURES
Outlook’s receiving a bunch of new features:
Play My Emails, Meeting Insights, a new
meetings scheduler, Cortana’s daily briefing,
and even improved Message Recall. What’s
significant is that many of those new features
are coming to the Outlook mobile app, too.
One of the highlights of Microsoft’s
Inspire keynotes may be Play My Emails,
reminiscent of the smarter, context-aware
Cortana shown off in May (go.pcworld.com/
ctaw). This new feature appears to be
constrained to Outlook, however, specifically
Outlook for iOS, and is live for iOS now.
Microsoft describes Play My Emails as a
“voice-forward feature that intelligently reads
out your email and shares changes to your
day— ideal for commuting or multitasking—
helping you get time back so you can focus on
other things.” You’ll be able to reply to emails
with simple voice commands and easily
navigate messages with new, larger tap targets
optimized for mobile use, Microsoft said. Play
My Emails also allows you to adjust Cortana
with a new voice option that uses neural voice
technology to sound more natural.
Separately, Microsoft is also cracking
down on what mobile data can be accessed
via a corporate and personal email account.
Even Outlook lock screen notifications will be
encrypted until unlocked, Microsoft says.
On the desktop, Outlook is also adding
support for Meeting Insights, a feature called
“Up Next,” and inferred locations, all of which
are designed to help manage your day. If you
add a personal calendar, users will be able to
see what time you’ve blocked out for a dentist
appointment, for example, and not schedule
over it. Travel times will also be accounted for
(which Cortana did years ago). It sounds like
relevant email conversations and files will
automatically surface in anticipation of your
next meeting. They’ll all be available by the
end of the year.
Cortana, now less a digital companion
than an office assistant, now can automatically
book your meetings with Scheduler, yet
another tool for tracking down open times on
shared calendars. Do you remember how
Cortana used to be able to display your day,
together with relevant information, when you
clicked her icon within Windows? That’s
being replaced with a summary “briefing