Outlook.com gets support for Google Drive files, sharing Facebook photos, and a huge attachment improvement

Microsoft today updated Outlook.com with three enhancements to sharing, rolling out over the next few weeks. The Outlook web app is getting support for Google Drive files, sharing Facebook photos, and an improvement that makes it easier to find attachments buried in long email conversations.

Although Outlook for Android and iOS already has the ability to access Google Drive files, Outlook.com hasn’t had the option until now. Just start composing a new email, click or tap the attachment icon, select Google Drive, enter your account credentials, and select your files from the list or thumbnail view. Previously, editing Google file types would open the file in a new tab. Now, when you receive a Google Doc, Slide, or Sheet, you can open the file within Outlook next to your message window. If you have the correct file permissions, you can edit it right there without leaving Outlook.

If you follow the same process for connecting your Facebook account (click or tap the attachment icon from within a new message and enter your credentials), you can browse and attach your photos. You can see the photos you’ve been tagged in (Photos of me) as well as the ones you’ve uploaded (My photos) without leaving Outlook. This is perfect for when you need to send photos to those family members who inevitably still use email more than Facebook.

Last but not least, it’s now easier to find a specific attachment in a conversation. At the top of every thread, Outlook shows an attachment drop-down menu for all the attachments in the given conversation.

This is probably my favorite improvement. It means no more clicking through each reply to find the email where the PR person actually attached the news. Now all I have to do is convince Google to add the same feature to Gmail.