We previewed Actionable Messages last fall for Office 365 customers who use Outlook on the web. Today, at Microsoft Build 2017, we announced that we are bringing Actionable Messages to more Office 365 users, starting with a rollout to Outlook 2016 for Windows (in Office Insider Fast) as well as in Microsoft Teams in Developer Preview.

Put your service in the driver’s seat in Outlook and Microsoft Teams with Actionable Messages

Whether you are filling out a survey, approving an expense report, or updating a CRM sales opportunity, Actionable Messages enable you to take quick actions right from within Outlook and Teams. Developers can now embed actions in their emails or notifications, elevating user engagement with their services and increasing organizational productivity.

Add quick actions to emails with Actionable Messages

You can now embed actions directly in your service related emails in Outlook and make them actionable. Many services are partnering with us to bring Actionable Messages to Office 365 users, such as Hootsuite, Freshdesk, Sapho, Wrike, Zoho, SAP Fieldglass and TINYpulse.

Actionable Messages enable improved workflows and contextual actions add value to the user experience. For example, when a customer support ticket is marked as high priority, the Freshdesk customer support service will send an Actionable Message to the assigned agent. The agent can now take quick actions such as changing the status or re-assigning to another agent right inside Outlook. When the action is completed, the Actionable Message will refresh to reflect the updated state of the ticket.

Freshdesk Actionable Message in email in Outlook 2016 for Windows

Actionable Messages in Teams and Outlook using Office Connectors

Office Connectors bring relevant interactive content and updates from popular apps and services using notifications. In addition to building Actionable Messages in email, developers can also build Actionable Messages that post via a Groups or inbox Connector to Outlook or a channel in Microsoft Teams.

Nearly a hundred Office Connectors are available today to Office users, many are now enabled with actions such as Salesforce, Yammer, Stack Overflow, Visual Studio Team Services, Twitter, Trello, Asana, Bitbucket and Teamwork. Once configured, users will receive Actionable Messages that include contextual actions via Connectors.

For example, Teamwork.com helps teams collaborate and keep track of their projects. Users can set up a Teamwork.com Projects Connector for their Outlook Group or personal inbox and subscribe to notifications on project updates. Each time a new task is added to the project, a notification is sent to the user that includes actions such as ‘Complete’ and ‘Assign task’. The project manager can then take these actions without having to leave Outlook or switch applications, while the Connector card refreshes to show the updated state of the task.

Teamwork Connector card in Outlook 2016 for Windows showing actions – update task status to ‘Complete’, ‘Assign Task’ dropdown list and ‘View in Projects’ link.

We are excited to share some of our latest Actionable Messages partner integrations.

Freshdesk is a cloud-based customer support platform that enables companies of all sizes to provide great customer service. With the Freshdesk integration for Outlook, users can perform tasks like adding a note, updating ticket priority and status or assigning a task to an agent, all from within Outlook.

Hootsuite is one of the most widely used social media management platforms.  The Hootsuite Outlook integration enables Hootsuite users across an organization to amplify campaign messages to social networks directly from Outlook using Actionable Messages.

SAP Fieldglass provides an open, cloud-based platform that enables organizations to manage services procurement and external workforce programs. Quickly approve or reject expense reports from within Outlook using the Actionable Messages integration.

  
Sapho empowers employees in an organization with a Modern Portal Experience that surfaces relevant tasks and data using micro apps. With the Actionable Messages integration employees can complete work faster and streamline their internal workflows. Learn more at Betterwith.Office.

Teamwork helps accelerate your team’s performance by assigning tasks, communicating and tracking progress in one place with Teamwork Projects, Teamwork Chat and Teamwork Desk. The Teamwork Connector for Office 365 helps users keep up to date on their tasks from within Outlook and Microsoft Teams and perform quick actions such as assigning a task to team member, directly from a conversation.

 
TINYpulse empowers leaders by identifying employee driven insights through real-time feedback, coaching, and recognition channels improving business challenges, culture, and morale leading to higher employee satisfaction. The Office 365 integration makes feedback collection easy from within your email.

  
Wrike enables enterprises to easily manage work across multiple projects, get real-time visibility into work, and keep action items, deliverables, and conversations all in one place. By integrating Actionable Messages into email notifications, Wrike enables teams to quickly respond to changes by commenting on and updating tasks while staying in Outlook and Teams. Learn more at Betterwith.Office

  
Zoho is a cloud platform with all the applications vital to run a cloud business. Work smarter with the Zoho Outlook Actionable Messages integration available to users of Zoho Invoice, Zoho Projects and ServiceDesk Plus. You can now set a due date on a task, add notes or update status on a service request, accept or decline invoices and more, directly where you work, in Outlook.

How to build Actionable Messages for your service

You can integrate Actionable Messages in Office Connectors and in email that you send to your customers. Build actionable messages by embedding JSON payload in your email and connector notifications, coding once and reusing across delivery mechanisms, to support Microsoft Teams and Outlook.

We invite you to explore all the new opportunities to build Connectors and Actionable Messages. Visit dev.microsoft.com/outlook, where you can find code samples, videos and learning resources. We look forward to your receiving your integration proposals and hearing your feedback. Please refer to the Actionable Messages page to learn more and submit your integrations for review.