Microsoft has launched its Office app for mobile devices, with basic features available to Android and iOS users without requiring logins or subscriptions. — Microsoft
Microsoft has launched its new Office mobile app, bringing its productivity suite onto a single app for smartphones.
The software giant combined Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into a single app, redesigning it to be more user-friendly on the smaller screens of mobile devices.
This works somewhat like Google Drive’s all-in-one suite of productivity tools.
Some of the Office app's new functionalities include the ability to make quick notes, sign PDFs, scan QR codes, and transfer files between devices. It has also integrated Microsoft’s Lens technology which allows users to scan PDFs and convert images into editable Word and Excel documents.
Receiving a limited release on public preview last November, the app is now available for both Android and iOS smartphones. It is also available for Android tablets with limited support.
Since the public preview version, Microsoft has added more features including support for third-party storage (Google Drive, iCloud and Box, Dropbox), plus templates for documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
On its blog, Microsoft said three more features will be rolled out over the next few months: Word Dictation, which converts voice to text and reads voice commands to apply simple formatting and punctuation; Excel Cards View, which enables data viewing and editing in a compact fit-to-screen card format on mobile devices; and Outline to PowerPoint, which converts simple outlines into presentable slides with styling and formatting.
The app is free to use, though premium features require an Office 365 or Microsoft 365 subscription.
Users will also need to sign in to their Microsoft Account or connect to a third-party storage service to enable access to and store documents on the cloud.
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