Outlook Mail & Calendar grabs People app integration, 'save all' attachments (Fast Ring)

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

Microsoft is starting to add more features to the Outlook Mail and Calendar apps for Windows 10. Version 17.7369.40418.0 is live for those in the Fast Ring on Redstone 2, which is ahead of Production/Release Preview and old Fast Ring at build at 17.7167.40818.0.

The changelog mentions three new features to look out for, including:

  • Browse and select contacts from the Windows people picker when addressing email
  • Switch to the People app from Mail and Calendar
  • Download and save all attachments in an email at once

At least two of those are clearly evident on our devices. Now when you create a new email the To: line has a people icon that lets you jump to the People app for information and contact lookup.

New People app lookup and 'save all' attachments features in Outlook Mail for Fast Ring

New People app lookup and 'save all' attachments features in Outlook Mail for Fast Ring

The other feature is somewhat obvious but much needed: users can now download all attachments in an email by selecting Save all attachments in the email. Previously, users had to save each attachment one by one.

We have not yet found how to switch to the People app from Mail and Calendar.

Seeing as these features are nothing too radical we should begin to see them push to Release Preview in the coming weeks assuming they do not rely on Redstone 2 OS changes. From the looks of it, it seems like Microsoft is about to start a new level of cross-app integration in Windows 10, which should bring back some of that old Windows Phone 7 and 8 feeling for those on Mobile.

Finally, the whole Office suite and Camera app were also updated although we have not spotted any new features quite yet.

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Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

89 Comments
  • THANK GOD
  • Need the ability to attach a contact to an email reply.
  • As in forwarding to an additional recipient or adding a contact's data file?
  • Adding a contacts data file. This is huge need in the business world.
  • Absolutely it is.
  • MOAR of this integration please!
  • Is that like when you ROAR for MORE?
  • Nice! But why do i no longer get reminders for facebook birthdays? Earlier there used to be an alarm that went of at noon to notify for all the fb birthdays. Wasn't it a calender feature?
  • Working for me
  • I get them via fb app in the notification center but not as an alarm like before.
  • Yes as in the notification centre. Don't know about the alarm (~.^)
  • You need to enable Contact and Calendar Sync on the Facebook app. It will add the birthday calendar to your phone again for those noon notifications like you're used to.
  • Help, mine is enabled on the fb app, but no birthdays shown on the calendar
  • Check Calendar's hamburger menu, there should be a Facebook section but it may be unticked.
  • It's ticked, man
  • Then there must be a bug. Not sure if it's on Facebook's side or Outlook's side.
  • Which fb app do you use? The ms or official one? I always get the message with the ms fb app that it is not able to sync.
  • I use the official one. I didn't think the Microsoft one was around any more?
  • I use the official facebook app
  • Same problem here. Sync enabled in the new facebook app, box ticked in calendar but birthdays do not show up in calendar.
  • I still get them in my calendar but no longer have the mandatory alarm at noon & thank God... It was annoying having 7 birthday alarms go off all at once in the middle of the day.
  • Which is true. I am just curious why did it exist earlier and why doesn't it anymore. Similarly, earlier the small store tile would show the counter for apps pending an update, the battery saver and storage sense had live tiles. In fact, the small alarm tile on w10m had a small notification when you would set an alarm at the top right corner. Even that is missing in my 930 on the latest Redstone 2 build.
  • Maybe they're bugs, or changes, either report them or wait and see what happens in the next build.
  • I just got the "alarm" birthday reminder. Maybe it's a/b testing? Fast ring 950XL and updated outlook 30mins ago
  • That's my guess, see how many people complain if it's disabled by default. There's no way to test voluntary use it It's always on.
  • That's because the MS FB App is no longer functional and the integration is lost on the Official FB Beat App. :-/
  • Thank you
  • Save multiple attachment.. Been waiting for this. .. I get routine emails from my 20 odd site office to submit several emails a week with 4-5 attachment each.. That's very tedious to save esp on a phone.... this update is a real time saver !!
  • Guys, I'm running into HTML email rendering issues with Outlook mobile. Emails with tables or png image file embedded are shown badly broken and unreadable. Running Release Preview here, is it better on production ring by any chance? I really don't care about other small things and the app gap, but I need emails to be reliable.
  • I think it was once written somewhere that html in emails has problems because of the underlying word engine? https://blog.jmwhite.co.uk/2015/12/11/html-email-in-outlook-mail-on-wind... Lucky me the only html email I receive are spam mails :) You could try another client from the store.
  • Unfornately for me it applies to a lot of regular work emails. Formatting data in a table format or inline embedding a png image in Outlook desktop clieant is routinely done (by default in in html format). Right now they don't get rendered properly or not at all in W10M Outlook.
  • It was all working fine for me until the past week. Now there are some regular emails I get that have issues. Reminders from teamsnap.com are one problem area for me.
  • I hope they fix this soon. When I can't read important work emails sent from collegues/clients, it's a big problem for me. Right now I have to go to webmail to read some emails properly.
  • Click a user from email address links to people app. That's the switch options...
  • Nice.
  • The option to switch to the People app is a new icon in the lower left on the PC app, right next to the Mail and Calendar icons. Downloading on Mobile right now.
  • and vice versa - the Mail and Calendar icons are now also in the People app at the bottom left so you can switch back.
  • Something I noticed in the last week (pardon if I'm late to the game), but it looks like the Outlook store app added the ability to send from aliases? Thank heavens...I hated having to jump onto a desktop or go to Outlook.com to be able to do that. Now if they only added the functionality to Microsoft Office Outlook desktop application.
  • I noticed that feature about a month ago, not sure exactly when it was added.
  • Send from aliases was added at least several months ago. I've been using it on Release Preview for quite some time.
  • I am not able to change my from email address used if I'm forwarding or replying to a message, only get the popup to choose account if it's a new email. It's pretty annoying. Is that normal?
  • They need to update the podcast app they have with the same old windows phone 7 UI of the past
  • This.
  • I wish they'd update it to universal so I can use it on Surface and desktop. Cloud sync via OneDrive would be icing on the cake.
  • Great. Now when are they going to remove the blank white screen when opening emails. The to , from and subject loads instantly but the body of the email takes a while to load. Doesn't matter if im on wifi or cellular data.
  • Nice, but where are the TASKS and NOTES from MS Exchange ? Still need Android or iPhone ? :'(
  • Yes seriously, how are tasks still not a part of the Mail/Calendar app yet?  Such a basic feature.
  • This has sadly become the norm.  Make us wait almost a year for sub-basic features that an app should have out-of-the-gate while requests for features that were deprecated from the previous app incarnation built into the previous mobile OS, continue to go ignored.
  • And categories.
  • ... and COMPLETED flag ?
  • I ask for happy to see it
  • Eh... When are they going to fix the mail live tile? Doesn't refresh on it's own unless you resize or remove the tile.
  • Creating and sending to Groups is the most serious missing feature, and its not a feature, its basic functionality that even the phone can handle. Way overdue, and still missing. I'll be happy when my Mom can email book club without bouncing to the website, or purchasing Outlook on Office.
  • OT: When would they fix the live tile not working on production build?
  • Works fine ok my other device running production
  • RS2 is only going to get better.
  • Strange, I thought a beta was about how to get it worse...
  • FINALLY - its allowed to send from different outlook mail aliases. That's great. I have waited a long time for that.
    It have been possible in outlook app for iOS for years. Now you can choose different"from" addresses in outlook for windows. Thanks MS
  • That has been there for ages here on my phone on public releases, think it came with the AU.
  • How about a fix for phone number being recognized as links in Mail and Calendar.......the only thing I ask for. Badly needed.
  • Any plans to fix cut and paste?  I find I have to keep closing and re-opening the app to 'reactivate' copy and paste after each use.  Lots of similar feedback in the hub but have never heard any response...
  • I would love to see custom color for EACH Mail account, not the entire app. Unified inbox is not usable since all 3 of my mail accounts are the same color. This is a very basic feature that MS for some reason doesn't see.
  • I've been enjoying stability of release preview but after reading about this and the groove update a few days ago, I'm thinking it's time to jump back into the fast ring. RS2 is starting to shape up nicely
  • Wait for next build cause current rs2 build is quite buggy. Your phone sim/sims might dead.
  • Don't know why but I'm getting all the updates even if I left fast ring and went to production ring when I reached the AU version.
  • Need the ability to attach an email from inbox or outbox to an email.
  • I cant take advantage of this feature since this is not widely used. ☹
  • Save all! Yes!
  • These features should have been there from the beginning of Windows 10.
  • Also available at Production Build 14393.189. The features are there too. No need to be in the fast ring for this one.
  • Yeah, I also received this update on production. Either my store account is stuck somehow on fast, or I don't know. But I just got the update.
  • Stuck or not, no complaints here.
  • Call me crazy but I'd like some consistence. I got the update on mobile, but not on my surface and desktop. Like for skype with SMS relay. It's a little weird.
  • Does the Camera update bring back Dolby Digital Plus Rich Recording for Videos? (6 channel audio recording on videos.) Lost this from my Lumia 930 with the Win10 update and loss of Lumia Camera.
  • Daniel, no offence but it's better not to mention that some features are somewhat obvious but much needed :-) The function you are mentioning (download all attachments) should be from day 1 and not after 1,5~2 years. Not to remind that saving a pdf file within the outlook client doesn't add the extention of the file.
  • Hmm sounds much more easy :)
  • Are they going to fix the Live Tile anytime soon?
  • Excellent! Greetings from Portugal
  • Wonder if the toast notification now shows photo of person emailing you
  • I love ❤ this feature, hope it will available for all rings
  • And I'm I the only one around here who's wondering when are they going to fix the issues with live tiles of the calendar, and with the live tile of email. I have only problems with emails though. Plus, when I send an email from my phone, it doesn't display my name but only my email address. It's like that on other peoples phones I've seen too. I love new features, but it seems like they've been igoring this problem for more that two months now.
  • We need the ability to email groups via the to field. 8 and 8.1 allowed you to type the group name in the to field. Would be nice to do that in the sms new message as well. Surely I'm not the only one missing this ability.
  • Slightly off topic, but how is RS2 for a daily driver?
  • I use my 950 XL on fast ring and the only issue I have is the occasional freeze on Edge requiring reboot. I am a "light user" though, so probably don't have the problems a "power user" might experience.
  • Both of these "features" are so obviously basic, you wonder if the designers are trying to be woodworkers, crafting everything as if it never existed before. It borders on pathetic any inability of "People" (the Address Book) to be agile and fully accessible anytime it is needed, and viewable in ANY manner (ex: normal alphabetical list of "people" with phone numbers and email addresses visible for all listings - NOT one at a time). And, of course, nearly everyone dislikes the circles.
  • Mail and calendar app still crashing immediately after launch. No fixes yet☹
  • This is nice! now if we could select a group rather than selecting individuals that would be awesome. This is however nice.!
  • I noticed another change. There are options available now for the folders, when we click [More], and right click on any folder name.
  • Nice but the apps are still missing some important features: ​-you still can't see the mail address from a recipient (yes! try it!), if you click on a name, you get *all* the contact's email addresses, so you don't know if it was sent from a work or a private account of that contact. Windows 8 and Outlook.com have a tooltip that shows the email address -if you open one photo from a mail with multiple photos, you can't swipe through them all -opening an attachment in Tablet Mode and closing the attachment brings you back to Start, not back to the mail -in week view of the Calendar app, a new appointment is always set to the first day, not the day you are looking at right now. MAJOR annoyance!