Microsoft will now bring apps to your inbox with add-ins for Outlook on iOS.
The company states,
“We’re thrilled to collaborate with Evernote, GIPHY, Nimble, Trello and Smartsheet and bring their add-ins to Outlook on iOS. We’re also making a few of our own add-ins available today with Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Translator, with many more to follow.”
With the new add-ins, Outlook will go on to help you to accomplish amazing things, which you were not able to do earlier from the email.
Image Source: blogs.office.com
Microsoft states,
‘There has never been a better time to make your move to Outlook, called “the best mobile email app, no matter what phone you’re using” by Wired.’
Transform your inbox into a do-box with add-ins for Outlook
Email is an important part of communication, as it helps in gaining quick information. Completing tasks often requires leaving the inbox and accessing other apps and services. The new add-ins for Outlook allow you to transform your inbox into a “do-box” and accomplish tasks faster, right from your email. The add-ins allows you to get more things, saving valuable time which is spend on switching apps.
Hence, Microsoft introduces add-ins for Outlook on Windows, Mac (Insiders) as well as on the web, and now it is also available for iOS, and very soon support for Android will also be launched.
Build your own add-ins for Outlook on iOS
Outlook on iOS includes add-ins from several initial partners, and now they are opening the platform up so that every developer can add mobile support to their add-ins with just a few steps, as per the official blog:
- Add-ins that support mobile must pass a strict set of validation criteria, so we encourage you to share your scenario ideas and mockups for pre-approval before you start implementation, using the form at https://aka.ms/outlookmobileaddin.
- Decide what scenarios to enable on mobile. Not every action makes sense on the small screen, so be sure you’re highlighting the most important functionality of your add-in for mobile. Keep in mind that only mail read scenarios are supported right now.
- Update your manifest to declare support for the Mobile Form Factor and define the actions you came up with in step 1.
- If applicable, make sure any backend calls to the mailbox are using our REST API. EWS requests are not supported on mobile.
- Build mobile-specific UI for the small screen using our design guidelines.
- Submit your add-in to the Office Store for validation. You can find instructions here.
Add-ins for Outlook on iOS
Microsoft states that the add-ins which have been launched will bring the power of CRM, social intelligence, project management, and more—right to your inbox.
Now, add-ins for Dynamics 365, Nimble, Evernote, Smartsheet and GIPHY are available for Outlook on iOS, complementing their existing add-ins already available to Outlook users on Windows, Mac (in Insiders) and on the web. Along with this, Microsoft is launching new add-ins for Trello and Microsoft Translator across Outlook on
iOS, Windows, Mac (in Insiders) and on the web. For more information, check the
official blog.
In order to start using add-ins for Outlook on iOS, all you need to do is go to Settings > Add-ins and then tap the add sign next to the add-ins you want to enable.
After changing the settings, when you go back to your inbox and open an email to read, you will see an add-in icon in the email header. On tapping this particular icon you will be able to launch the add-ins which you have gone on to enable.
Image Source: blogs.office.com
Once you have enabled the settings, you will be able to access add-ins from Outlook on iOS as well as from Outlook 2016 or 2013 for Windows, Outlook on the web, and Outlook 2016 for Mac (currently available only in Insiders) for the same email account.
The add-ins for Outlook on iOS are currently available only while reading email.
Microsoft states,
“We’ll be adding more add-in actions when composing or replying to an email in the future.”