Microsoft is working on adding support to the Outlook on the web browser-based client for sending emails via alias email addresses (also known as aliases or proxy addresses).

After the feature's release, Office 365 customers will be able to send messages via Outlook on the web using any previously set up alias besides their primary SMTP address.

Email sender aliases support will prove useful for users who need to send emails from multiple branded domain names or on behalf of a specific company team or department.

Having the choice to choose any alias available for their account will also remove the hassle of setting up shared Office 365 mailboxes or creating additional POP or IMAP accounts.

Outlook on the web (Microsoft)

"So to kick-off our journey to provide you and your users with the flexibility to send email using an alias, we're excited to announce that soon Outlook on the web (aka OWA) will natively support the ability to choose the sender or FROM from a drop-down list right within the compose pane," says the planned feature's Microsoft 365 roadmap entry.

"And when the recipient receives that message, the FROM and REPLY TO will show that alias, regardless where the recipient's mailbox happens to live."

This new feature designed to allow Office 365 customers to send email from proxy addresses (aliases) from Outlook on the web is currently under development, with Microsoft planning to make it generally available in all Exchange environments during Q4 2020.

Additional Office 365 email improvements

In related news, Microsoft is working on adding the highly popular Outlook for Windows Message Recall feature to the Exchange Online hosted cloud email service for businesses.

Once it will roll out to all Office 365 environments during Q4 2020, the Message Recall feature will make it possible for users of Microsoft's cloud email to retrieve emails not yet opened by the recipients, regardless of the email client they use.

Redmond is also planning to add protection against Reply-All email storms in Exchange Online sometime during Q3 2020, an issue impacting Office 365 members of improperly locked down email distribution lists.

Reply-All storms (aka reply-allpocalypses) are huge chain reaction email sequences usually started by one of the members of a large email list who replies to the entire list using the "Reply All" feature. This can lead to accidental Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) incidents that could take down some of the email servers used to deliver the numerous replies.

Another feature dubbed 'Unverified Sender' designed to help Office 365 users identify potential spam or phishing emails that reached their Outlook inbox is also currently under development.

Last but not least, Microsoft is currently enhancing the way emails sent using the Office 365 Message Encryption (OME) service are seen by mail servers with the end goal of making them a lot less likely to be marked as spam and automatically sent to the Trash folder.