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Last year, we introduced a new cross-suite service for Office 365 commercial and education customers called Office 365 Groups, which enables people to create public or private groups. The first apps to take advantage of the Office 365 Groups service include Outlook, OneDrive for Business, OneNote, Skype for Business, Power BI and Dynamics CRM. Yammer, Delve and Planner will also soon take advantage of this service.
Along with today’s launch of Office 2016, we’re introducing Groups in Outlook 2016 and a new mobile app called Outlook Groups. These new capabilities offer a better way to get work done with others and offer a number of benefits compared to traditional distribution lists.
In Outlook 2016, creating a group is easy and new colleagues can also join existing groups and quickly get up to speed. Each member of a group can participate in conversations, schedule meetings, share files and notes and even initiate a Skype for Business voice and video call for urgent real-time decisions. Learn more about Outlook 2016 and its new Groups features here.
With the new Outlook Groups mobile app for Windows Phone, iOS and Android, you can now engage with your group on your phone while on the go—continue conversations, view files, @mention colleagues and even discover other relevant groups. You can learn more about the Outlook Groups app here—we’d love to hear what you think, so please submit a review.
Group conversations in Outlook 2016 and in the Outlook Groups mobile app.
If your organization already has Office 365, download Office 2016 to get the newest version of Outlook for your Windows PC, and download the Outlook Groups app on your phone today. Please keep your input coming as we continue to help teams work more effectively together across Office 365 and beyond.
—Christophe Fiessinger, senior product manager for the Office 365 team, @cfiessinger
Frequently asked questions
Q. What are the systems requirements for Outlook 2016?
A. Outlook 2016 supports PCs or Windows tablets running Windows 7 or higher. View the Office system requirements for more information.
Q. What is the minimum requirement for installing Outlook Groups on my phone?
A. Outlook Groups requires an Office 365 work or school account. We’ve listed the minimum requirements across Windows Phone, iOS and Android here, as well as the mobile app frequently asked questions.
Q. When will Delve and Yammer integrate with the Office 365 Groups service?
A. By the end of 2015, we’ll introduce Office 365 Groups insights and discovery in Delve. We are targeting the Office 365 Groups and Yammer integration to be available during the first half of 2016, as mentioned in this post last May. For more information on our roadmap, please visit Office 365 Roadmap and the Office Blogs.
Q. Why didn’t we call the mobile app “Office 365 Groups?”
A. Office 365 Groups is a cross-suite service enabling individuals to easily create public or private groups. Individual apps such as Outlook Groups will take advantage of the Office 365 Groups service and deliver new team collaboration experiences.
Q. Where can I go to learn more about these Office 365 Groups updates?
A. If you’d like to learn more about Office 365 Groups in Outlook and the new mobile app, join our YamJam.
On Thursday, October 1, the Office 365 Network will host a YamJam from 9–10 a.m. PDT / 8–9 p.m. GST. Members of the product engineering team will be on hand to answer your questions. For those unfamiliar with a YamJam, it is similar to a “TweetJam” on Twitter or an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) on Reddit, except it takes place on Yammer. It provides the opportunity for the community to ask questions and have a discussion with a panel of internal Microsoft experts on a particular topic. Here’s how to participate:
- Request access to the Office 365 Network. All requests will be approved as quickly as possible.
- Join the Office 365 Groups group. You can find it by using the Browse Groups function or through the search bar.
Log in at 9–10 a.m. PDT / 8–9 p.m. GST on Thursday, October 1 to ask questions, follow the discussions and connect with Microsoft team members.
Source: https://blogs.office.com/2015/09/22/introducing-availability-of-office-365-groups-in-outlook-2016/
