Ever since Google decided to stop supporting
ActiveSync I've struggled to find a good gmail
solution on iOS.
Googles own Gmail app is full featured but
it's painfully slow.
There are other apps that have improved on
the gmail experience but they ignore Exchange
email in the process.
If you work in a corporate environment chances
are you need both.
I'm happy to report that that struggle ends
today.
This is Outlook, by Microsoft, for iOS.
It's not the full featured outlook that you'd
find on a PC or Mac.
But what it does have to offer are a wonderful
combination of all the best email features
I've been looking for.
First I'd like to demonstrate its best feature
and that's it's speed.
In order to be a good email app it has to
be responsive.
Even from a completely closed state the app
launches very quickly.
This is huge when compared to the gmail app
from Google.
Most good email apps incorporate swiping to
make managing your email easier.
Even the native email app on iOS does this
in iOS 8.
However the swipes are very limited.
In outlook I prefer to have my swipes set
to archive and delete.
A full swipe to the right will archive the
message.
Because this is the first time I've archived
a message on this device it needs to know
if it should create an archive folder to store
the messages in or use an existing folder.
I already have an archive folder called all
mail so I'll choose that one.
All subsequent swipes to the right will now
immediately archive the message.
A full swipe to the left moves the messages
to the trash can.
In the android version Microsoft chose to
implement different actions for partial swipes
versus full swipes much like the native email
app on iOS.
However the iOS version of outlook doesn't
appear to support that.
Going to the settings tab we can see all the
swipe options we have available.
First choose the direction you'd like to swipe
and then you're given a choice of do nothing,
archive, delete, schedule, move, mark as read
or unread, and flag.
Since the default action is to schedule I'll
set it back to that.
This allows you to file away messages that
you're not ready to act on but don't want
to archive just yet.
Now when I swipe to the right it gives me
three options for how I want to schedule.
If I choose a time I can use the scrolling
selectors to pick a date and time.
Addictionally I can choose in a few hours
or tomorrow morning.
Either of these options will move the message
to a scheduled folder, or a folder you chose,
and will return to the inbox after the time
you specify.
This can be really helpful if you have a lot
of email in your inbox that you can't act
on yet but you need to clear out some of the
clutter.
You also have all the same functionality from
within a message as well.
There's a button for archive, delete, and
more.
If I choose the more option I can then schedule
the email, move it out of the focused inbox,
move it to a folder, or mark it unread.
Choosing to move it out of the focused inbox
will prompt to create a rule for all messages
from this sender going forward.
This is the same functionality that Apple
and Google have built into their vip and important
inbox features and allows outlook to learn
what's important to you.
You can also move messages from the other
section into the focused inbox and create
rules for that as well.
On the calendar tab you have all the basic
features that you would expect in a calendar.
You can view in an agenda list, by day, or
by week.
For some reason they've left out a month view.
To create an appointment you click in the
time slot where you'd like to schedule your
appointment.
I mainly use my exchange account for my calendar
and I noticed that the synchronization of
the calendar wasn't nearly as good as the
mail synchronization.
Additionally the synchronization for exchange
in general seemed to still need some work.
My gmail synced beautifully with no problems.
Sometimes exchange worked flawlessly as well
and other times there was a slight delay.
Nothing to be too concerned about though.
On the file tab you can see all the files
from your emails broken out by email account
and date.
From here you can click directly on the file
to view it.
These pictures have already been buffered
which it why they are loading so quickly.
If it's an attachment you haven't opened already
then you'll need to wait for it to download.
From here you have access to your typical
share sheet as well as cloud options and the
ability to create a new email with the file
attached.
The people tab lists all the recent people
that you've communicated with through email.
You can then click on a specific name and
view the threaded conversations you've had
with that person.
You can also see any calendar appointments
you have in common and any files you've received
from them.
Managing multiple emails at once is a breeze
by simply long pressing on a message you'd
like to select.
You can then select other messages by tapping
on them.
Once you have your messages selected you can
move them, archive, delete, or flag.
Microsoft has done a good job leveraging the
functionality of iOS 8.
From the lock screen you can swipe a message
to the left to delete or archive it.
Banner notifications are interactive as well.
I did notice that neither of these interactions
take effect until you open the app though.
So if you're using multiple devices to manage
your email this can get annoying when you
see messages that should have been archived
or deleted already still in your inbox.
Just open the app on the other device and
they'll disappear.
Within the settings you can customize a lot
of things without it being overwhelming.
Microsoft has included seven sounds to choose
from for your mail notifications.
The most frustrating thing about all of these
customizations is that you have to redo them
on each device you setup.
It seems like icloud could copy these settings
over, but maybe that's a limitation from Apple.
After using this app for a short time I'm
not ready to say it's the best gmail experience
on iOS.
However, if you're managing multiple accounts,
and one of those happens to be gmail, you
should give it a shot.
The clever files and people tabs are really
helpful. and customizable swipes will make
quick work of an out of control inbox.
If you have any questions that I didn't cover
leave them in the comments, and as always,
thanks for watching.
