New accessibility features in Play My Emails
Microsoft is committed to creating products and services designed for everyone, including over one billion people with disabilities. In celebration of Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Microsoft is excited to announce new accessibility features for the Outlook Mobile app on iOS and Android phones that will empower blind and low-vision customers to achieve more. Cortana’s updated features were designed to be more compatible with mobile screen readers through innovative gesture controls and improved interaction models. This will enable customers to effortlessly switch between voice commands and screen reader controls to catch up on emails, organize their day, and take advantage of Microsoft’s powerful search capabilities. An eyes-free email experience We made it easier than ever to invoke Cortana and start listening to your emails. On an Android phone, simply say, “Hey Google, play my emails in Outlook.” iPhone users can set up a Siri Shortcut and add it to the Home Screen or widgets. For even quicker access, you can combine a Siri Shortcut with Apple’s new Back Tap feature, which allows you to start listening to your emails just by tapping the back of your phone. Once you’ve set up a Siri Shortcut for Play My Emails, go to Back Tap in the Accessibility Touch Settings, choose Double Tap or Triple Tap, and then select Play My Emails from the list of Shortcuts. To learn more about Play My Emails accessibility features for mobile devices see, Accessibility gestures in Play My Emails. As you’re listening to your emails on an iPhone with VoiceOver turned on, you can use customizable touch gestures to triage your inbox. The default setting lets you archive an email by swiping up with three fingers and flag an email by swiping down with three fingers. On both iPhone and Android, you can pause playback by double tapping the screen with two fingers and you can control the readout speed by asking Cortana to "speed up" or "slow down." Plus, you can switch to a different app or turn the screen off while continuing to listen to your emails in the background. With a more accessible Cortana, you can easily ask about upcoming meetings, emails from specific contacts, and even schedule focus time. Play My Emails is optimized for both Cortana and your screen reader to provide a seamless audible email experience. For a full list of things you can say to Cortana while listening to your emails, see What Can You Do With Play My Emails from Cortana? We’re committed to accessibility At Microsoft, we’re dedicated to providing inclusive tools and features that empower people living with disabilities to achieve more. To ensure we're creating products that effectively meet the needs of all our customers, all our products follow a set of accessibility principles based on transparency, accountability and inclusion. Throughout the development of Play My Emails, Microsoft worked with blind customers to understand and implement the necessary requirements to translate their needs into voice-enabled capabilities. As Play My Emails continues to evolve, we're committed to creating new features and experiences that are accessible to all our customers. This is achieved thanks to the insightful and valuable feedback we receive from you. When the Outlook Mobile app is open you can say, “I have feedback,” at any time to share your thoughts and suggestions. We want to hear from you! Frequently asked questions How do I customize the up and down swipe gestures on iOS? When using Play My Emails on iOS with VoiceOver turned on, you can archive an email by swiping up with three fingers and flag an email by swiping down with three fingers. These swipe gestures map to custom action buttons that appear to the left and right of the Play button on the Play My Emails screen. These gestures can be customized to perform different actions, like flag, snooze, delete, and more, by going to Settings > Play My Emails > Swipe Options. To change the action taken when swiping up with three fingers, you need to change the Swipe Left option. To change the action taken when swiping down with three fingers, choose Swipe Right. How do I change the speed of the readout? You can change the readout speed by going to Settings > Play My Emails > Readout Speed. Or while you’re listening to your emails, you can tap the mic and ask Cortana to “speed up” or “slow down.” Where can I learn more about Cortana in Play My Emails? For more information, see What can you do with Play My Emails from Cortana? How do I give feedback on Play My Emails accessibility features? When you have the Outlook Mobile app open, just say, “I have feedback.”
Find, do, and discover with Cortana & Microsoft 365
Time is priceless and while we can’t own it, we can make the best use of it. Balancing work and life continues to challenge us daily. Over half of working parents surveyed, said it’s been difficult balancing household demands while working from home. Using Cortana, your personal assistant in Microsoft 365, you can take back control of your day, organize your work, and plan ahead to achieve more. Why? Because work should be impactful, seamless, and fluid… AI in Microsoft 365 lets you take control of your time. At Microsoft Ignite we demonstrated our continued investments in bringing natural, voice-driven experiences to Microsoft 365 apps and services to help you work smarter in addition to new innovation to help individuals, managers, and leaders personalized and actionable privacy-protected insights that help everyone in an organization thrive. In this article we’ll recap announcements from Ignite 2020 and where you can learn more from Ignite 2021 sessions. Rule your day Never miss a beat with your daily briefing email. Planning is one of those important things we don’t have time not to do. Daily briefing emails from Cortana help you start your day on track. You get a glanceable summary of your important requests, follow-ups, and info related to upcoming meetings. Currently available in English and Spanish, briefing emails will start rolling out next quarter to users with Exchange Online mailboxes in French, German, Portuguese, Italian. And updates, including in-line action links to easily book time in the week ahead to recharge, catch up on email, or prioritize learning are now generally available in English and Spanish. Additional updates unveiled at Microsoft Ignite 2020 including an integration with Microsoft To Do and actionable reminders to improve meeting effectiveness are now rolling out in targeted release. Learn more about how your daily briefing can help save you time and keep you focused here. Catch up on what’s new in your inbox – while even when your hands are full –so you can get time back in your day. With Play My Emails in Outlook for iOS you can get up to speed even when you don’t have time to read. With an intelligent read out of your emails, natural language interaction with Cortana and a user interface designed for people on the move, you can stay organized, on top of what matters and get back to living life outside your inbox, so whether you’re just walking your dog, or commuting to work, Play My Emails helps keep you focused and informed. Learn more about Play My Emails in Outlook. Use spoken or typed natural language to complete tasks on Windows. With the latest update Cortana can help you retrieve your Microsoft 365 files across not only your device but also cloud locations such as SharePoint and OneDrive. The Cortana experience in Windows 10 enables you to type or speak natural language commands to save time finding what you need, stay on schedule, connect with people, set reminders, and more. You can also invoke the experiences hands-free using the wake word “Cortana”. Use Cortana to open or search files by: Parts of file names - “Hey Cortana, open marketing deck” Author names - “Hey Cortana, open budget Excel from Anthony” Document type - “Hey Cortana, find my recent pdfs” Learn more about what you can do with Cortana in Windows here. Some things are easier said than done Interact with your calendar and email naturally. Cortana integration with Outlook gives you a natural language productivity assistant that helps you easily get things done on an iPhone or iPad. Cortana can help schedule new events and customize the event details on screen with language that you use every day—instead of tapping or typing. You can simply ask Cortana in Outlook to “Schedule a Teams meeting with Megan and Adele for next Tuesday at 2 PM to discuss the launch.” Or find out “When is my next meeting with Nestor?” You’ll also be able to quickly compose emails using requests like “Create an email to Megan and Diego.”. We’ll start the roll out of conversational AI in Outlook for iOS in the coming weeks. Initially, this new conversational AI capability with Cortana will be available in English for customers in the United States using Outlook for iOS with a Microsoft 365 work account. This experience will roll out later this year in Outlook for Android. Make the most of your meetings Running late and need to send a quick message to your next Teams meeting? Cortana in the Teams mobile app helps you streamline communication, collaboration, and meeting-related tasks using your voice. Simply click the microphone in the upper right of the Teams app and say, “Send a message to my next meeting that I’ll be there soon”. Ask Cortana to check your calendar, join a meeting, make a call, share files, or find messages or chats from a particular person, topic, or time range. For example, “What’s on my calendar tomorrow?”, “Call Adrian King”, “Find the Marketing deck from last month” or “Search for messages from Megan.” Currently available in the U.S., the experience will soon be available to English speaking customers in Australia, Canada, U.K., and India. Get the latest on what’s new for Microsoft Teams from Microsoft Ignite here. Go hands-free with Cortana on Microsoft Teams Devices. Introduced last fall at Ignite, Microsoft Teams Display is a category of all-in-one dedicated Teams devices featuring an ambient touchscreen, with a hands-free experience powered by Cortana. Using natural language, you can effortlessly join and present in meetings. You can make requests to Cortana like "What’s on my calendar today?", "Share this document with Megan", "Join my next meeting", “Add Joe to the meeting", or "Present the quarterly review deck". We will soon make answers from Bing available, so you can check what time it is for your colleague in Europe before calling or get a quick weather report before you leave the house. Currently available in the US, Cortana on Teams displays will be expanding to more regions including Australia, Canada, the UK, and India. For folks heading back to the office, we are adding Cortana to Microsoft Team Room Devices so you can join meetings hands-free and stay safe. Learn more about AI and Cortana in Microsoft 365 and get more productivity tips at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2131191.
