Microsoft Outlook

Outlook is a free, cloud based email, calendar and contact management software provided by Microsoft which integrates with many other of it's cloud based services like OneDrive, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Sway, Docs.com and Office. Outlook has a come a long, long way in terms of user friendliness; it now features a very intuitive, clean and straightforward interface with every integration, customization and option available easily in your dashboard. My first impression after a long break from Outlook was excellent. I actually like the interface much better than Gmail. It's so stripped down and clean it would you to have a greater focus when writing emails, or using their other tools. It's easy to compose emails and to archive them or file them away in the appropriate category. You can add someone from your contact list super easy. As well as attach files using drag and drop technology. It's cool you can receive alerts on your screen when a new email has arrived. It's easy to turn this feature off, too. You can take a screenshot and enter this into your email quickly. The calendar feature is great. So easy to use and share event details. It's easy to manage contacts as well. With add-ons enabled inside your account including Bing Maps, Evernote, Custom Templates, Paypal for Outlook and Uber Rider Reminder. You can also sync social media networks into your Outlook account quickly such as Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yahoo, Flickr and PicHit. Outlook also integrates seamlessly to your Skype and SkyDrive accounts which I tested with no issues. The instant messaging integrated into Outlook is awesome. Using Skype inside Outlook is a brilliant idea. I was already logged into Skype when I first entered my new Outlook account and it didn't automatically sync but it does give the option to sign inside Outlook. It did however find my Gmail (Microsoft account email) contacts who are currently using both Outlook and Skype without logging in. Outlook would work great to facilitate internal communication. With the integration of Skype you can see if someone is busy or away and contact them immediately if not. Having meetings on the fly is very efficient and productive.

It seemed to lag slightly when I switch between apps inside the account with a wireless internet connection. But it was only truly noticeable once and it resolved the moment I was thinking it was taking a bit longer than I expected. Outlook could be taken to a whole other level by integrating features found in CRM softwares such as scheduling emails, more advanced contact management and filtering features. It's great as it is but this could be a cool way for Outlook to become truly differentiated in the free email market space. Though this could remain an add-in as Microsoft Dynamic CRM. It asked me to sign into Outlook using my Microsoft account email which is a Gmail. The 'From' field is then their random Outlook email identifier address or my Gmail address which I selected. I didn't see the option to customize the random email address they assign to be something relevant to my business. Perhaps it is possible with some more digging around or an add-in, but it wasn't clear how to do so immediately. I don't see the option to adjust the font size. People with impaired vision would likely have a tough time using the standard font size for any length of time. If this option exists I didn't see it when going over all options, but could be mistaken. I also didn't notice another option to advance to the next email upon deleting an email.

I like that they actively ask you when using the new Outlook for your feedback. They want to know how to make their software better right up front. Outlook is very easy to use nowadays compared to their older versions which had a poor reputation for having technical issues. But no longer, this current version of Outlook is awesome and I will begin using it frequently. I already subscribe to Office 365 which together with Outlook is a powerful set of tools that are familiar and easy to use. Overall, I am very impressed with this version of Outlook. I would definitely use this as my go to business email system if I didn't have this all setup currently using other systems. Highly recommended.