Microsoft on Friday announced that it started rolling out add-ins to Outlook for Android, providing users with the ability to access their favorite apps within the company’s email and productivity tool. The same functionality already debuted on iOS devices earlier this year, and its Android version not only contains a number of previously introduced mobile add-ins but also ships with numerous new ones, Microsoft said. Among other things, the Outlook Android app will now feature native support for Evernote, Nimble, Outlook Customer Manager, Microsoft Translator, GYFCAT, Wrike, and Trello.
Add-ins were originally envisioned as a versatile productivity feature, providing users with the option to access all relevant capabilities of their favorite apps within Outlook and consequently save time on switching between several mobile tools and copy-pasting information. That product design strategy hasn’t changed with the functionality’s move to Android, with add-ins now being even more comprehensive than before, according to Microsoft. While the company didn’t specifically state that its newly introduced feature for the Android version of Outlook was launched as a combination of a client-side update and a server-side switch, that seems to be the case, and you’ll have to make sure that your mobile app is up to date to use it. The Redmond, Washington-based tech giant released the latest Outlook update on Friday and you can refer to the Google Play Store banner below to see if your app already downloaded it automatically or if you have to prompt a manual installation.
Once you’re running the latest stable build of Outlook for Android, you can start using the feature by navigating to the app’s Settings menu, tapping the “Add-ins” options, and using the plus sign on the following interface to begin adding plugins to your app. The newly launched add-ins which weren’t previously available on iOS include project management platform Wrike, agile tooling developer service JIRA (by Yasoon), and email task manager MeisterTask. GIF platform GYFCAT is also part of the new package, as is MojiLaLa, a robust sticker service with a vast database of options for decorating your messages. Microsoft is encouraging users to send feedback after experiencing Outlook add-ins on Android devices, while also calling developers to refer to the Outlook Dev Center for more information on how they can create their own services compatible with the platform.
