Outlook Web Access (OWA) 2013 has a nifty new view that really helps make it a lot more touch friendly.

Normally when you log into OWA 2013 you would see something like this:

If you are using this on a touch device you wouldn’t be the first to think that it’s not the greatest of experiences.  The folder nav etc… on the left is small and hard to tap with a finger etc..

OWA 2013 actually comes in three varieties:

• Phone mode (MS calls this 1-Wide because its only one column of information)
• Desktop/Laptop mode (3-wide)
• Tablet mode (2-wide)

You can force OWA into these modes by altering the URL in the browser as follows:

Here is that same folder showing Tablet Mode:

And now in Phone mode:

So to get this append the appropriate parameter on the end of your OWA URL … something like this:

https://pod51037.outlook.com/owa/?layout=twide

I personally like forcing my OWA to the twide mode on any touch enabled device. For example the new IE in Windows 8 seems to default to the normal OWA for me … but I like it in the touch friendly twide mode.

Offline mode
Final tip for the day is setting OWA to work offline.  This only works in new browsers like IE10.  It lets you access your email while not connected to a network.  This is handy if you don’t have Outlook on your machine and want to access things out of the office.

To set it up start by clicking the “cog” and picking “Offine Settings”. You are then walked through a series of steps to setup the offline store.

Very handy if you have a Surface or an iPad and like using OWA for email instead of those devices terrible native email client apps (IMHO YMMV ).

Enjoy!

-CJ