Recently, Microsoft has introduced new collaboration features for the Outlook Web App, giving users the ability to edit the documents online without leaving the window, and send it back to the recipient. Previously, when we receive a document in our email for review from any co-worker, the first step is to download the file, review, re-attach it, and send it back to the recipient. Microsoft is trying to reduce the number of steps involved to improve productivity.
Now, users can open the document right inside the Outlook Web App in a side-by-side view and make changes to it. On one side, you’ll see the email view while the document will be on the other side of the window. You will be able to edit the document from the same window. It creates a editable copy of the document and all the changes you make are automatically saved. After editing the document, all you have to do is write the email, and voila! You’re done. Just send it back to the recipient.
However, there’s one catch here: to do this, you must have an Office 365 subscription. We’ve seen Microsoft integrate Office 365 in other apps as well — Office for iPad — which also requires a subscription if you want to edit documents.
These are not the only changes. Microsoft has also made some visual tweaks to the way attachments are displayed, as well as the ability to download multiple attachments in a single zip file. “In addition to the side-by-side view and edit-and-reply enhancements, you’ll also see two more new capabilities. The user experience for attachments in the attachment well has been updated, so now when you attach files, they’re bigger and better looking than they’ve ever been before. And you can now download multiple attachment at once in the form of a single zip file,” says Microsoft in a blog post.