New Microsoft 365 feature could save you from an email disaster

A woman shocked at the email she just accidentally sent
(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Microsoft has unveiled a feature which may help keep users out of email-related hot water.

Normally, when a message on Microsoft 365 can't be delivered immediately due to a transient error, it will queue up and be periodically retried until either the message is sent or until the message expires 24 hours later. 

However, admins will now be able to customize the message expiration timeout to be less than a day, potentially saving user’s bacon when 24 hours is simply too late to find out if your message wasn’t sent.

What’s next for Office 365

The news comes as Microsoft has big plans on the horizon about the future of its email clients.

One Outlook, previously codenamed Monarch during its development phase, is meant to unify all of Microsoft’s disparate email services into one place, with the web app serving as the foundation.

The project will mean a single version of Outlook for Windows and Mac that will replace the default Mail and Calendar apps on Windows 10.

The new product is currently available for Office Insiders Beta Channel users and is so far only available to paying members.

According to a blog by Microsoft, the new product will have a host of new online collaboration features, including the ability to customize calendars and to tag cloud files as you would usernames.

Unfortunately, Microsoft has also just hit users of it email services, including Office 365 and Microsoft 365 office software suites, with price rises.

The price increase was first announced by corporate VP for Microsoft 365, Jared Spataro, last August in a blog post and came into play on March 15 following a series of delays.

The price hike was billed as the “first substantive pricing update” to Office 365 since its launch just over a decade ago.

Will McCurdy has been writing about technology for over five years. He has a wide range of specialities including cybersecurity, fintech, cryptocurrencies, blockchain, cloud computing, payments, artificial intelligence, retail technology, and venture capital investment. He has previously written for AltFi, FStech, Retail Systems, and National Technology News and is an experienced podcast and webinar host, as well as an avid long-form feature writer.