Microsoft pushes out Windows 10 preview with new mail and calendar apps, tablet optimization

Microsoft today released a new Windows 10 Technical Preview for PCs, build 1061. The preview includes new mail and calendar apps, and improvements to Start, Taskbar, and Action Center.

It also adds optimization of the Taskbar for tablets, Task View improvements, and the ability to create as many virtual desktops as needed.

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New apps

The new email and calendar apps use a three-pane email user interface, and they allow you to toggle quickly between the apps. The Mail app includes customizable swipe gesture support, allowing users to swipe right or left to do things like delete, flag, move, or mark email as read or unread.

The apps also offer users some tricks that are more like Microsoft Word than email. It’s easy to insert tables, add pictures, and use bullets and color in text, Microsoft said. Both the new Mail and Calendar apps support Office 365, Exchange, Outlook.com, Gmail, IMAP, POP, and other email clients.

Start and Taskbar

The Start menu and Taskbar now have a transparent look. In the Settings app under Personalization, users can adjust the color of Start, Taskbar, and Action Center as well as the transparency. The Start menu can be resized. Start and Taskbar also now employ AutoColor, which pulls in the primary colors from the desktop background.

Tailor fitting for tablets

Microsoft said it has optimized the Taskbar for tablets. In Tablet Mode, the Start button, Cortana, and Task View buttons are bigger and more widely spaced to make it easier to tap. Items in the Notification area are also widened to improve touchability.

Pinned and running apps are removed by default to reduce clutter and simplify the experience. Start and Task View remain available for launching and switching. And if a user would rather see apps in the Taskbar, there’s a setting to keep them there.

Microsoft has also built in the ability to boot directly into Tablet Mode. For tablets under 10 inches, that’s the default behavior.

Virtual desktops everywhere

Users can now create as many Virtual Desktops as they want. Microsoft said a new overflow experience kicks in when you reach your system’s limit, letting you access any of your desktops.

Bug out

Build 1061 contains fixes for the following issues:

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• Indexing of new email in Outlook not working
• Hyper-V not enabling
• Visual Studio crashing during creation of a new Universal app project
• Tweaks to Project Spartan, including allowing a double-click on the titlebar to maximize and fixing an alignment problem whereby text and icons appeared partially below the bottom of the Favorites Bar

Build 1061 comes just a few weeks after Microsoft launched its last Windows 10 preview for PCs on March 30. That release included Project Spartan, the company’s new browser shipping on all Windows 10 devices (smartphones, tablets, PCs, and so on).