Outlook for Office 365 Feature Update for February 2019

Strictly speaking, it is a March update as they were a little late to release the 1902 update of Outlook for Office 365 (Monthly Channel). However, because of the version number and as we most likely get another feature update later this month, it still makes sense to refer to this update as the February update.

Anyway, there were 4 new feature included for Outlook this month;

  • Build in time between back-to-back meetings
    Give attendees time to catch their breath or travel between locations by setting meetings to end 5-10 minutes early by default. Learn more here and here
  • Use Read Aloud to listen to your email
    Outlook can read your email aloud, highlighting text as it’s read. To turn on Read Aloud, go to the Ease of Access settings. Learn more
  • Message Encryption: encrypt-only IRM policy
    New encrypt-only option appears in the Options > Permissions menu for Office 365 Message Encryption users. This option allows you to encrypt a message and send it to anyone, inside or outside your organization. Learn more
  • New default for range of recurrence
    For the Recurrence dialog, the range of recurrence used to default for “No end date”. This facilitated the creation of long-running recurring series, which can become corrupted over time. We are updating the default for the Recurrence dialog to “End by”, such that our default value matches recommended best practices for calendaring. Learn more

Additionally, note that Microsoft Teams is now installed by default as well for new Office 365 ProPlus installations. Microsoft Teams will not be installed automatically when “merely” updating.

Note: Depending on your installation type, this update can be installed via the Microsoft Store or the Update Now button in Outlook itself and updates Outlook to: Version 1902 (Build 11328.20146).