Focused Inbox for Outlook is delayed

When Microsoft announced Focused Inbox for Outlook and Outlook on the Web (OWA) in July they planned to release the new features to First Release customers starting early September 2016. Roll-out to the 4th ring of customers was scheduled for October.

One month between First Release and GA may seem much, but for organizations that need some more time to understand the impact and communicate the changes with the end-users, a month isn’t that much time.

But more importantly, September has already passed and we have not seen the new feature to appear nor any new updates on the Office Blog or documentation for administrators.

Last week I attended Microsoft Ignite in Atlanta and had the pleasure to speak with some members of the Outlook time. My understanding is that the feature is ready, the documentation has been written but the actual deployment has been rescheduled to the November/December timeframe.

Microsoft has promised to do a better job than they did with the roll-out of Clutter. Documentation for admins should be published before launch to First Release tenants. If you want to be prepared, read up on Focused Inbox admin controls in my previous article.