How to start a Skype chat session from within the Office 365 Outlook web mail

Today's blog post is a quick tip on how to better use Office 365's Outlook web mail. If you are working with the web browser alone, you don't have the need for the separate Lync/Skype for Business client for a quick chat with some of your colleagues.

To start a Skype chat session in Office 365 web mail, simply click a person in your email message, or use the search function in the top-right corner. This opens up the contact card for the person, and if instant messaging (IM) is available, you can click the IM link to start a chat session.

At present, you can't make Skype calls from the web mail, but I wouldn't be surprised if at some point such a feature would be available. This would allow you to easily communicate with a web browser alone, such as when working on the road.

Hope this helps!