A different way to look at Outlook Web Access

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If you access your Exchange Online mailbox in Office 365 from a browser using http://mail.office365.com you’ll see something like the above default view. This happens because Outlook Web Access detects you are using a browser on a desktop and formats the display as such.

What you may not be aware of is that on other devices, say a tablet or a mobile, Outlook Web Access will format the screen differently automatically.

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If you want to see this on your desktop you can ‘fool’ Outlook Web Access by appending the following to the URL:

?layout=twide

thus, the complete URL in this case will become:

https://pod51041.outlook.com/owa/?layout=twide

When you do so you should see the above layout designed for a tablet. The menu items are further apart, there are nice big buttons at the bottom of the screen and so on.

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Now if you instead append:

?layout=tnarrow

you’ll see the above layout which is how it would appear on a mobile device.

So by just adding a few additions to the end of the Outlook Web Access URL you can see how it will appear on both a tablet or mobile without leaving the comfort of your desktop.

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