Latest feature in New Outlook may finally make you ditch Outlook Classic

Microsoft unveils a redesigned Outlook People experience with lightning-fast search, smart suggestions, and unified results across contacts.

Outlook, and email infrastructure in general, is a core component of an organization, which is also why things can go awry if it breaks. Microsoft regularly brings new features to Outlook to make sure that it meets the growing demands of its existing customers while also attracting new ones. Now, it has announced an Outlook upgrade that may be one of its best ones yet.

Microsoft has unveiled a brand new People experience for Outlook that "reimagines" how to manage and search for contacts across your directory. The company understands that navigating complex directory structures and nested organizational hierarchies can be tedious, which is why it has introduced an intelligent search experience.

This interface starts surfacing results as soon as you start typing, and you don't need to navigate org charts to find the right person. Microsoft has described the keyword search experience as lightning fast across names, designations, departments, and more. Additionally, it will surface smart suggestions based on communication patterns and organizational context. The result set will also be unified across organization’s directory, your personal contacts, or a linked account. Finally, once you find your desired contact, you can immediately start a Teams chat or call with them too, without unnecessary clicks.

Apart from this, Microsoft has also touted revamps in the following areas:

• Modern multi-column table view - See all your contacts at a glance with a clean, customizable table layout. Sort, filter, and scan your contacts faster than ever.
• Quick actions at your fingertips - Email, call, or chat with any contact directly from the contact list. No need to open a contact card first.
• Multi-select and bulk operations - Need to categorize, email, or manage multiple contacts at once? Select them all and take action in a single step.
• Categories for flexible organization - Organize your contacts with color-coded categories that work across Outlook. Tag contacts as “Key Clients,” “Project Team,” “Vendors,” or anything that fits your workflow.
• Import and export - Easily bring contacts in from CSV files or export your contact data whenever you need it.
• Consistent experience everywhere - Whether you’re using Outlook on the desktop, Outlook on the web, or Teams, the People experience is the same - modern, fast, and reliable.

The Redmond tech giant has highlighted that performance was a key metric while designing and evaluating the new contact search experience. It is rolling out right now on the new Outlook for desktop and the web experience. You can begin using it by clicking on the People icon in the left navigation rail.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post. Feedback welcome.

Posted Tuesday 24 March 2026 at 5:51 pm AEST (my time).

News posts: 2023 5,800+ | 2024 5,700+ | 2025 5,700+ | 2026 (to end of February) 854

RIP Matrix