For anyone who spends a significant portion of their day crafting emails on the go, Microsoft’s latest update to Outlook mobile feels like a breath of fresh air. Imagine you’re in the middle of typing a detailed message on your iPhone or Android device—then, suddenly, you need to check your calendar for an upcoming meeting or reference another email thread. In the past, this meant abandoning your current draft, hunting for it later in the drafts folder, and trying to piece everything back together. Now, with Outlook’s innovative minimize button, that disruption could soon be a thing of the past.

The new feature introduces a simple yet powerful tool: a minimize button that transforms the way you manage multiple tasks while composing an email. Instead of losing their place or scrambling to locate a draft, users can now tap a button to neatly tuck away their work into a floating stack. This allows you to quickly switch between composing an email, checking your calendar, or browsing other messages without missing a beat.

Interestingly, Microsoft isn’t the first to explore task switching within an email app. Apple’s native Mail app on iOS has long allowed users to manage multiple drafts, letting them swipe down to add them to a task-switching area. This intuitive design has been praised for its simplicity and effectiveness. Meanwhile, Gmail on iOS opts for a more straightforward approach by simply saving emails in the draft folder when you navigate away.

By introducing a floating stack of drafts, Outlook mobile is carving out its own niche in the mobile email landscape—combining the best of both worlds. It not only streamlines the drafting process but also ensures that switching contexts doesn’t lead to lost work or a disrupted thought process.

Currently, the minimize button is in its beta testing phase on both iOS and Android. For those who can’t wait to try out this feature, Microsoft is offering early access through the Microsoft 365 Insider program.