Microsoft has steadily been improving the Outlook app that is available on Android devices. Recently, they added support for add-ins which allow users to perform tasks without having to jump into a different app.
In addition to support for add-ins that were already available in other versions of Outlook such as Evernote and Trello, Microsoft has also brought support for Wrike, JIRA, MeisterTask, Gfycat, and MojiLaLa.
Add-ins are free to use and work with the already existing Outlook app on Android. They're only available for Outlook.com and Office 365 commercial accounts but Gmail support is on the way. Here's our thoughts on Outlook's latest... addition.
Smooth as silk
The best thing about add-ins is that they just work. They're easy to setup, easy to use, and in our testing worked consistently and quickly. A personal favorite is Gfycat, as there isn't much I ever say that can't be said in a GIF.
To setup add-ins you open the settings icon and then scroll down to add-ins and pick the ones you want to use. Within emails there is a box icon that opens up a menu with all the different add-ins you've enabled.
Add-ins are aimed to skip the process of having to open another app and to that end they serve their purpose. For example, using the Trello add-in extracts information from an email and enters it into the details for a card.
Another handy add-in is Microsoft Translate, which can translate an entire email at once without having to copy and paste text into a new app.
A good start
As is the case with apps, having more options is always better. The add-ins that are already supported within Outlook on Android are very nice but over time we need to see the library of supported add-ins grow for it to be a viable part of Outlook for mobile. There are plenty more add-ins available for the desktop versions of Outlook, so hopefully developers will take the initiative to build adapt those add-ins for the Outlook's mobile apps.
Until then, add-ins are a useful but limited addition to Outlook on Android. But if you use any of the services that are currently supported, add-in support is a big boost to productivity.
Summing things up
Overall, add-ins work well and are a natural addition to the Outlook experience on Android that's been available on other devices for a while.
Hopefully, Microsoft sees similar support from developers for add-ins optimize for mobile to what they've seen for other versions of Outlook.
