Microsoft is adding a range of new “intelligent” features to its email and calendar service Outlook. These include relevant material suggestions to help users prepare meetings they are going into a little blind…
The new features draw on Microsoft Graph, a developer platform that draws on Office 365 APIs to add the AI-powered functions. They are initially only being rolled out in North America, however.
Gabriel Valdez Malpartida Prod Marketing Manager, Outlook at Microsoft Corporation wrote in a blog that supportive information “includes files that have been shared with you in email, public files on SharePoint or OneDrive, emails you’ve had on the meeting topic, content shared during the meeting, meeting notes, and post-meeting content.”
“The information is uniquely tailored, so people who are in the same meeting will not necessarily see the same recommendations.”
After the meeting Outlook will organise files shared in OneDrive, SharePoint and your email registry. It will scrape these for relevant information contained within documents and notes, of the back of this it will make suggestions.
Outlook AI
Another featured rolled is a supplement to Outlook’s suggested replies; a function similar to that offered by Gmail and LinkedIn, which both give suggested reply options. Now Outlook will detect if there is an ‘intent’ to meet after a conversation and will prompt the option ‘Schedule a meeting.’
If you are trying to schedule a meeting outlook will suggest days and times when all invested in the meeting are free. It will also suggest a few locations for the group to select for the meeting to take place.
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This feature also comes with an option to use FindTime which lets all attendees vote on which time suits them best.
“Wouldn’t it be great if Outlook suggested you a time and day when everyone could meet? Yes, we thought so too. When you are trying to schedule a meeting, Outlook will suggest days and times when attendees are free to meet. No more looking through free/busy schedules,” comments Malpartida.
