First-Look, Outlook 2010 Beta

As new versions of Exchange Server have come out, Microsoft has typically given us a new version of Office right along with them.  Exchange Server 2010 is no exception, with Office 2010 soon to be released to the general marketplace. Sometime in the first half of this year we’ll see a formal release, but you can download the beta version now, which will continue working (and being updated) until October, well after the full release is slated to happen.  As your intrepid Exchange reporter, I of course took it upon myself to inflict the beta on my production systems.  Mind you, I waited for the first round of WTF?! to be over, but those horrific errors seem to have been corrected by now.

First things first, if you have an x64 system, you will need to uninstall the previous versions of Microsoft Office (even 2007) in order to install the 64-bit version of Office 2010.  I’m pleased to say that personalization is maintained, and 2010 seemed to remember most of my customizations from the earlier version.  If you are using a 32-bit system, you do not have to pre-uninstall earlier versions at all, just do an in-place upgrade. Also, the beta does require a key, so you’ll need to be invited into the beta program or be part of TechNET to get your hands on both the bits and they key. 

Once the installation is done, you’ll find that most of the applications look the same as they did in 2007, except that the Office Button is replaced with a File tab in the Ribbon.  This keeps all functions looking and feeling the same, and is easy to get used to.  Now, open Outlook 2010 and be ready for a big change.

As announced, the Ribbon interface is now part of Outlook 2010.  It is very well integrated, with button bars and functions smoothly changing as you move from Mail to Calendar to Contacts views.  Many have criticized the Ribbon, and for those who hate it, you can now hide it.  For everyone else, you’ll find it a welcome addition to the Outlook interface.

Also added to Outlook 2010 is the ability to group emails by conversation.  This allows you to see all emails in a certain thread at once, with an expanding drop-down format.  I’m not the biggest fan of this, as I prefer using the search feature, but I will say it is well executed, and easy to figure out and navigate.  The coolness factor here is that the conversation grouping extends to multiple folders, so you can find linked conversations even in folders outside the Inbox.

Moving on to mail functionality: The overall interaction with Exchange hasn’t changed radically.  AutoDiscover is still available, and seems to work great within a corporate Active Directory Domain.  You can still manually add accounts for most mail formats, and you can now add Text Messaging if you’re using Windows Mobile, Outlook Anywhere and Exchange 2010.  Once configured, email sync and workflow is very similar to earlier Outlook versions.  Both cached mode and online mode are still available for Exchange 2003 and up, as is Outlook Anywhere (formerly RPC over HTTPS).

There are, however, a few very welcome changes to workflows in Outlook 2010.  The most noticeable is how you’ll see Outlook/Exchange Meeting Request emails.  When you preview or open these messages, you will still see the usual data, but you will also see the event itself as it appears in a mini-view of your calendar.  This means if it is adjacent to or conflicting with another event, you can instantly see what event it’s touching without flipping over to the calendar.  As I work with a large group of people, and often end up with conflicting schedules, this feature makes life a whole lot easier for me and my co-workers.

You can highly customize the Ribbon within Outlook. This many not sound like a neat feature at first, but since the Ribbon changes with every view (Calendar, Contacts, Mail, etc); this becomes invaluable. Having different Ribbon buttons for each view means that you can click New Meeting Request when in the Mail view, but not have that button take up space in the Calendar view (where it is a default choice).

Now, on to the NetBook.  The smaller screens on these devices (I have a Toshiba N205) make Outlook a living nightmare to work with.  Microsoft has finally listened to their audience and created tools in Outlook 2010 to make this an easier tool set to view on a smaller screen.  One tap of the “Reading” view button (in the extreme lower-right corner by default) and all of the fly-out bars collapse to the sides. The Ribbon also minimizes, and you are left with a wide-open space for your email list and Preview Pane, and nothing else.  All the features are still there, you just expand the left and right fly-out panels to access whatever you need, and click the menu choice to temporarily expand the Ribbon.  Most of the fly-out bars have quick-links on them, so you can drag and drop email from your Inbox to a favorite folder, for example. Reading view (one that works this well) is a tremendously useful system for Netbooks, and one that has been sorely missing for generations of Outlook clients.

I will put out blog updates over time as I find new features and as Outlook 2010 moves closer to maturity and release.  This will include information on the new Social Connectors as they are available.  Outlook 2010 comes with the SharePoint Connector, but as we have SharePoint 2003 and the Connector requires SharePoint 2007 or up, I can’t report on that one just yet.  Stay tuned for more info as it is available, and of course check out the Microsoft Office Home Page for official details.

One final note for this posting.  When you install the beta, you see two tray icons appear - “Send a Smile” and “Send a Frown.” These are feedback buttons that you can use to send information to Microsoft including screenshots (optional, of course) and text-based messages.  Many have expressed their disdain for them, so it’s good to notice you can uninstall just that bit of code by going to Add/Remove Programs (or Programs and Features in Win7) and ditching the Send a Smile application.  Personally, I like them and have used both, but I understand how not everyone would want them installed full time.

More to come!