Outlook input needed for Microsoft

[Rob Bushway]

We met with Microsoft's Outlook Program Manager last night. They are in the planning stages for Outlook 14 and 15, and have requested some specific information from the tablet community in regards to Outlook and tablet / umpc usage.

What they are looking for is how you currently use Outlook with your Tablet PC / UMPC. Describe your work scenarios when in convertible and slate mode. When operating in slate mode, how are you currently using your pen to interact with Outlook.

They are not asking for input right now on how you would improve Outlook from an ink perspective.

The Outlook Program Manager and others on the team will be monitoring this thread for your input. Please help spread the word on this.

[LennartP]

i know it´s not what they want to hear but:
make josh einstein a rich man, buy teo and / or let him convert outlook into a completely ink-enabled app. i want to see the calendar with my handwriting, contacts, tasks, everything. add a one-note style diary.

[thegreatdilbert]

I use outlook to organize all of my class times and homework assignments. I use the calendar to block out time for my classes and whenever my friend misses a class I email him the homework task I have made. We both have outlook 2007 and it is a very good program. I don't know how I ever got along without it...

The only time I ever use my computer in convertible mode is when I am writing an english paper. Other than that I am always in slate mode. That is unless I'm just surfing but then I don't use outlook at all. While in slate mode, I use my pen for everything. I love being able to create a task and ink in whatever assignment I have to do.

I do have to say that I would use outlook more often in convertible mode than in slate mode if my school allowed me to send through my gmail account. Currently I have outlook set to send and receive through my gmail. Soon I hope to have access to an exchange server and at that point I will use outlook as my primary email application. I will most likely continue to use the calendar and task functions with my stylus but for emailing I will use the keyboard. I would prefer to send ink emails, but I do not think my professors would find it very professional.

Honestly, I don't know what changes I would make to outlook other than adding full ink support. Other than that I am extremely happy with outlook. Keep up the good work!

[mmzerofan]

Rob;
Thanks for the heads up. I hope this forum fills up like the Dell customer feedback site.

I agree with Lennart (above), Microsoft should simple buy/license TEO from Josh (or hire him and put him in charge of Outlook development) and that would be the end of it.

Anyone who hasn't at least tried TEO 3.0 should turn in their tablet and never be allowed near one again.

I would love to use Outlook in slate mode exclusively, but I can't. TEO allows me to do what I want to do with Outlook with my digital ink.

So, to answer the request since your source isn't looking for "direct" input for product enhancement at this time (if not now, then when?). The thing that keeps me as a tablet user using the keyboard more in Outlook is that Outlook doesn't support ink the same way that OneNote does. Meaning my digital ink should stay ink unless I decide to convert to text.

That's what I love about OneNote and am now finding myself trying to do more things in OneNote that I would ratherdo in Outlook. ON lets meink and when Ire-openit, it is still inink.

Outlook may let me input in ink via the TIP, but then it always converts it back to text. I'd rather input straight to ink and let it remain in ink, even when I am reviewing my schedule for the day, week, or month or my contacts, or my Tasks, or my Notes.

So for me, at least outside of TEO, Outlook, unfortunately, remains a primarily keyboard inputapplication in landscape mode but I long for it to be a slate ink version like it would be with TEO.

Ikeyboard everything into Outlook but do review it in slate mode. While in slate, I can at least change times and some other simple menu choices. But I don't "interact" (or enjoy using) itin the same wayI would while using TEO or while doing things in ON.

Outlook is a great application and, IMHO, one of the "must have"software applications from anybody.It can and should be better from a tabletpc perspective but Outlook still "had me at hello"[img]smileys/smiley32.gif[/img]

[erintom]

Using Motion m1200 slate & Outlook 2007. I generally use TIP when writing or replying to email, enterring appointments, tasks & notes. I would like Outlook to be more like OneNotes-allowing inking in all areas.

[arebelspy]

I use Outlook with TEO, similar to the above posters. I'm sad it's no longer actively being updated (for the most part) due to the developer needing funds for his family, but I'd love to see it natively incorporated into Outlook in the future.

-arebelspy

[Yonatan]

This one should be easy.

I love Outlook, however, I'm a lefty and I hate sifting through and reading emails in slate mode because I have to reach across the screen and cover it in order to reach the scroll bar.

Please please please add the option to move the scroll bar to the left for all of the lefty tablet users. So far, OneNote is the only piece of Microsoft productivity software that I have come across that does this. Please show some lefty love (and please pass this along to the appropriate channels for other applications such as Word).


Oh and one last thing, is it possible to just make this change in the form of an update rather than having to wait 4 years for the next version of Outlook?

Other than that, Outlook is great and it makes my life a lot easier.

[alexziel]

This good news. I recently made a video showing Outlook 2007 on my Q1P. There were a few areas I noted for improvement. The biggest one is no way to scroll down on the to-do bar which results in my task list not being accessible when I'm in landscape mode. Feel free to check out the video.

[Rob Bushway]

thanks for the great feedback. However, lets focus the conversation on Microsoft's specific request - How are you currently using Outlook when in slate and convertible mode on your tablet pc. they are not looking for feedback at this point on how you would improve outlook - that time will come, but this is not the time to provide that opportunity. They need to understand how you currently use Outlook as a tablet user, which paints the picture for scenarios they can particularly address. He was quite specific with this request, and being a developer myself, I understand why.

[Sumocat]

I use Outlook extensively at work, but I'm stuck at a desktop, not a tablet.

At home, I use Outlook on my tablet for the basics: turning emails into tasks and appointments, tracking my documents in journal, maintaining my list of contacts. I could get by without it and did for quite a while, but without it, I can't use TEO. In many ways, the desire to use TEO is what drove me to use Outlook on my tablet. In fact, I upgraded to Office 2003 specifically so I could upgrade to TEO 3.0 without hassle. Fortunately, Josh Einstein had the insight to make TEO 3.0 compatible with Outlook 2007, so I'm free to upgrade to the next level, but beyond that? I'm not at all sure.

I also started using Outlook on the Desktop after Kevin Tofel blogged about it on jkOnTheRun. Very simple yet useful. Kind of like a Sideshow display, except it is fully functional and on the main display.

One thing I stopped using in Outlook on my tablet is notes. Why? Lack of ink. I ink notes in Windows Journal, Outlook journal, and when I need a portable note, I snip and sync to my iPod Nano. But without ink, notes in Outlook has little use for me.