Microsoft has unveiled plans for a new Outlook feature that would blur the boundaries between traditional email and more modern chat services.
Outlook for Windows has been revealed in a blog on the company roadmap, where users on Windows computers will be able to thumb up, laugh, heart, celebrate, or shed a tear in response to emails.
This way, the email client hopes it will allow you to apply your conviction and see the reactions of other people in Outlook without sending or receiving additional replies, because we all have been in a loop of unintentional replies.
Outlook reactions and tapbacks
According to the article, these new tapbacks may be released as early as this month. Microsoft is still working on a development and testing phase, but it is still to begin and implement this update to Outlook.
Microsoft has already played with reactions in its other communication services. Teams users can already select from a slew of emojis when a full reply is not needed.
The following notes are left on the site for other Microsoft features: web browsers and Macs, as well as iOS and Android, all with the same deadline for the launch in October 2022.
Elsewhere, the company is increasing its reactions for Teams chat users on all devices, allowing for more than 800 emojis.
Despite the widespread adoption of instant messaging-type communication platforms, Microsoft remains committed to the trusty email, which still has its place for external communications and sensitive information.
Over the Beta channel, the computer developer is playing with cloud options for email signatures, which for now are limited to Windows devices. This long-awaited feature is designed to maintain signature settings beyond just one instance, which is great news for hot deskers and multi-computer users.