How: The app was announced last November, and went through a lengthy beta period since then. Why Do You Care: Using a single app will help keep all your Microsoft documents in order, and the new version of Office has a few tricks up its sleeve, as well. The new Office app simplifies using each of its three main apps, without having to switch back and forth between standalone ones. It’s also smaller; requiring less of your phone’s storage to install than the single versions. Lens, a powerful image conversion tool that turns your photos into editable Word and Excel documents, is integrated, too, along with a Notes function (oddly not OneNote). When you open the app, you’ll see three icons along the bottom (echoing the three-tab interface Microsoft updated all its apps with a while back). There’s a Home icon, which will show a list of all your previous Office documents, including the aforementioned Notes. In the middle is a big Plus icon, which brings up three options: Notes, Lens, and Documents. Tapping the Documents button will offer up a screen with three options for each of the main apps: Word, Excel, and PowerPoint (Scan, Blank, or create from template). The third main button on the bottom or your screen is Actions. Tapping there will net you a bunch of what look like shortcuts, including multi-step things you might do often, like Transfer Files, Image to Text (or Table), Sign a PDF, Scan to PDF, and more. Microsoft has added support for third-party storage services like Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and iCloud. On iOS, you can access the Files app, as well. Of course, if you’d rather use the standalone apps, you’re still safe. The single install apps will remain working and, according to Microsoft, remain the same as the versions in this new Office app. The app offers limited Android tablet support for Office documents, and plans on adding iOS support “soon.” There will be even more new features coming down the road, too, including dictation for Word, a card view for Excel (think Trello for spreadsheets), and Outline to PowerPoint (the app will build your presentation from just a typed outline). Microsoft Office, the mobile app, is free to download and use, though signing in with a Microsoft 365 subscription will unlock premium features, as it does on the standalone apps. Via: Engadget
