If you have multiple email accounts configured within Outlook, then you are aware of how difficult it gets when it comes to tracking down new emails. At times, it may also be difficult to tell whether the email is from your work or personal account.
In turn, you end up wasting a lot of time trying to track this information or even miss out on important information entirely. However, Microsoft has announced the release of a new feature that’s designed to help Outlook for Mac users “create a distraction-free experience across multiple accounts.”
With the new feature in place, you can create profiles to help separate your accounts from each other. What’s more, once you create these profiles and select one, you won’t get distracted by notifications from another account.
This new addition comes shortly after Microsoft made the Outlook app for Mac free to download and use from the Mac App Store, you no longer need a Microsoft 365 subscription to access it.
For instance, if you have created two profiles, one for work and the other for your personal account and you select the profile linked to your personal account, Outlook won’t send you notifications from the profile linked to your work account.
This way you’re able to keep tabs on everything that’s going on in either account. Microsoft has indicated that users can switch between profiles using a single click or by pressing the Control+Tab keys. Additionally, to make the transition more seamless, users can leverage Siri automation to make the switch automatic at a specific time during the day.
Aside from buffering out distractions using the profiles, Microsoft has also stated that users will be able to:
- Theme your work profile to be a different color than your personal profile.
- Switch between various Outlook to help with work-life balance. For example, you can switch to your personal profile, every weekday after 6pm and switch back to work at 8am, the next day.
- Set up as many profiles as you need to best manage your time and your inbox.
- Define different Outlook window appearance for different profiles.
- Tie your email accounts within Outlook for Mac to Apple’s Focus Filters.
It is worth noting that you need a minimum of two accounts to make use of this feature. You must also have access to the New Outlook for Mac. The feature has started rolling out to Insiders running Version 16.70 (Build 23021201) or later.
In Outlook related news, Microsoft recently announced it had started rolling out third-party account support for its new Outlook preview app. The company announced there were plans to expand this support to iCloud and Yahoo in the future.
