Outlook is the Microsoft brand for e-mail, calendaring, and personal information management on the computer, phone, and browser for personal and work use. Outlook Web App lets users access their information through almost any Web browser.

Outlook Live is a new service provided through Live@edu and the Exchange Labs initiative. If you sign in to your mailbox through a Web browser on the outlook.com Web site, you’re using the Outlook Live service. If you sign in to your mailbox through a Web browser and see Outlook Web App in the upper corner of the window, you're accessing a mailbox that's managed by a local administrator.

Instead of managing some settings through the Web management interface and some through the Options page, you can now manage all settings through the Web management interface.

Some familiar features have changed. You can now manage public groups from the Options page. Some of the features you use to customize your mailbox have been updated, such as Inbox Rules.

In addition to expanding the Web management interface to include all the options for your mailbox, some new features have been added to enhance the usefulness of your mailbox.

If you have a mobile phone that's running Windows Mobile 5.0 or a later version, you can use it to access your mailbox by using Exchange ActiveSync. For more information, see Set Up Exchange ActiveSync Access to Your Mailbox.

Short Messaging Service (SMS), also known as text messaging, is a way to communicate between mobile phones. You can send and receive text messages through Outlook Web App. In addition to sending and receiving text messages, you can receive a notification in a text message when you receive a new message.

For more information about how to send text messages from your mailbox, see Text Messaging Tab and Send a Text Message.

You can check your e-mail from multiple accounts, such as Hotmail, Gmail, or Yahoo! Mail Plus accounts, by connecting to those accounts from Outlook Web App. If you have an account with another provider that supports POP3 or IMAP access, you can connect to that account from Outlook Web App. When the accounts are connected, messages from the other account will be downloaded to your Outlook Web App mailbox and you can send e-mail using the e-mail address of that account from Outlook Web App. For more information, see Download E-Mail from Connected Accounts.

When you've sent a message to a large group of people or are expecting an important message from someone, you can use the Delivery Reports tab from your e-mail Options to track delivery information for these messages sent or received within the last two weeks. To learn more, see Use the Delivery Reports Tab to Get Delivery Information About Messages.

Outlook Web App has also been updated with new features to make it easier for you to find specific messages, access individual folders, and use your mailbox.

Conversation

The new default message view is Conversation, which lets you see an entire message thread in one place. For more information see Learn About Conversations.

Chat

Chat is now a part of Outlook Web App. You can chat with friends and colleagues using Outlook Web App just like you would using MSN Messenger or any instant messaging service. For more information, see Chat in Outlook Web App.

Filters

You've always been able to search your mail when using Outlook Web App. Now you also have the option to use a set of predefined filters to refine your search. For more information about filters, see Search for an Item.

Favorites

You might have noticed a new folder named Favorites at the top of your folder list. You can drag any folder up to Favorites to create a shortcut to that folder. Favorites can make it easier to access the folders you use the most. For more information, see Favorites.

Right-Click

Right-clicking almost anywhere in Outlook Web App will display a menu of things you can do. The actions available in the right-click menus have been expanded and made more consistent across your mailbox. Right-click a message, a folder, or a calendar entry to see the options that are available now.

Attach Messages to Messages

Sometimes you want to send an attachment with a message. In the past, you could attach a picture, a Word document, an Excel spreadsheet, or almost any file available to you to a message. But you couldn't attach a message from inside your mailbox to a message you were composing. Now you can. For information, see Working with Attachments.