SuperTekBoy

One of the great new features in Outlook is scheduling meetings or appointments to start late (or end early). The end early feature has been included in Outlook for some time. However, the start late feature was introduced into the Office beta channel in version 2012 (build 13530.20000).

Note: This feature is now available in the Current (Preview) channel as of version 2012 (Build 13530.20218)

The shorten meeting feature allows attendees time between meetings. This is useful for many aspects, such as allowing users time to travel between meeting rooms, grab a coffee, reconcile notes, or decompress.

How to shorten meetings to start late or end early

To access this feature, open Outlook, navigate to the File menu, then select Options. From the Outlook Options dialog, select the Calendar tab.

Under the Calendar Options section, select the Shorten appointments and meetings checkbox. From the drop-down, choose whether to have meetings End early or Start late.

Note: If you select None, the prior checkbox will become deselected.

These options also allow you to specify how much time to shorten appointments and meetings. By default, any meeting under 1 hour will be shortened by 5 minutes. Any meeting for 1 hour or longer will be shortened by 10 minutes.

If you wish to change these defaults, pick another time from each drop-down. For example, for meetings one hour or greater, you have choices of 0, 5, 10, and 15 minutes. Once you have made your selection click Ok to save and close the Outlook Options dialog.

One of the benefits of being in the Office Beta Channel (formerly known as Insider Fast) is getting to see and test new Office features before they are generally available.

When you install Office, all new installations will default to the Current channel (formerly known as the Monthly channel). However, it is possible to change your update channel. The table below lists all the available update channels and their former names as these were recently changed.

The Beta Channel typically receives new features 1 month in advance of the Current Channel. For more information on the specifics of each channel, check out this article from Microsoft.

How to determine your Office update channel

To determine your Office update channel, open any Office app. In our example, we will open Microsoft Word.

Once launched, click Account. In the About Word section, you will see both the build number and the current update channel. In the screenshot below, you can see our build is Version 2012, and our update cycle is the Current Channel.

Microsoft Outlook is a little different. To check your Office update channel using Outlook, navigate to the File menu and select Office Account. Like other Office apps, the build and update channel will be listed in the About Outlook section.

Tip: The build numbers are formulated from a two-digit year and a two-digit month. For example, the first two digits, “20”, designate the year 2020. The second two digits, “12”, designate December. Microsoft documents all build numbers and release notes here.

If you are part of the Office Beta Channel (formerly known as the Office Insiders Program), then a new full dark mode has made its way to Microsoft Word.

Previously selecting Black under File > Account > Office Theme would change the ribbon, background, and status bars to black while leaving the editor itself a bright white.

The new Black theme now switches the editor to a true dark mode. From the screenshot below, you can see the background and text have been inverted.