Connected Systems

Ever tried to find the right person in Outlook and ended up clicking around for longer than you’d like?

This one’s for you 😅

For something so central to how businesses run, contact search has always been a bit clunky.

That’s why this latest update from Microsoft caught my attention 👀

They’ve introduced a new “People” experience in Outlook.

It’s aimed at fixing a very real, everyday problem: Finding the right person quickly without digging through layers of organisation charts and folders.

The biggest change is how search works.

As soon as you start typing, results begin to appear straight away.

Not just names either. It can pull in job titles, departments, and other details, so you’re not relying on remembering someone’s exact name.

It also learns from how you work, so people you interact with regularly are more likely to show up first 🥇

That might sound like a small improvement, but when email and communication sit at the centre of your day, those small annoyances add up.

What’s also useful is that everything is brought together in one place.

Your company directory, your personal contacts, even linked accounts all feed into the same search.

Once you’ve found the person, you can message, email, or call them straight away, without jumping between apps or opening multiple windows.

There are a few other quality-of-life tweaks in there too 🌟

You can view contacts in a clearer table layout, act on several contacts at once, and organise people into categories