Microsoft announced on Thursday that Outlook is getting a new feature that will allow you to use generative AI to create themes based on your personal preferences.
AI-powered themes are available to people who have a Copilot Pro consumer subscription and business accounts with Copilot enabled. They are available on iOS, Android, Windows, Mac, and the web.
With Themes by Copilot, you can build a theme inspired by more than 100 locations or create a theme based on your own location. You can decide if you want the theme to dynamically update every few hours, each day, weekly, or monthly.
Once you generate a theme, you can choose to view it in a realistic, oil painting, or cartoon style.
“If you’ve enabled location permissions in Outlook, the My Location theme will bring you imagery uniquely inspired by your locale, dynamically updating for you as you head out the door on a trip or vacation,” Microsoft wrote in the blog post. “Similarly, a dynamic theme based on the weather would be updated to reflect the current weather conditions where you are.”
You can access the AI-generated themes via Outlook’s Appearance Settings.
The company says the new addition will allow people to personalize the email service just as they would spruce up their desk with artwork or candles.
Although the new AI capability doesn’t offer any additional functionality, it does provide a fun way to personalize your email app. While both Microsoft and Google have been working to bring AI-powered productivity features to their email services, Gmail does not currently offer AI themes (Chrome does), which means Outlook users now have a bit more creative freedom.
Thursday’s announcement comes a day after Microsoft brought AI-powered features to Notepad and Paint. Windows Insiders are getting access to a “Rewrite” tool that will let them rephrase sentences, adjust tone, and modify the length of their content with the help of AI.
As for Paint, Windows Insiders will get access to new AI image editing tools, including a Generative fill feature that lets you make edits and additions using text prompts. A new Generative erase feature will let you remove unwanted objects from your artwork.
Microsoft is rolling out the two features in preview on Windows 11 in the U.S., France, the U.K., Canada, Italy, and Germany.
