Microsoft releases its new unified office app for Mobile devices

When it comes to using Microsoft office apps for your business, it’s normally an easy decision to download at least one of either Word or Excel onto your phone, though some may also include PowerPoint or OneNote onto their phones to ensure true productivity and synchronicity with their Windows machines.

They are great apps to sue if you truly do value the effectiveness of the Office platform, but I guess for many, it just means that they now have a lot more apps that need downloading, often with little shared functionality between them. Something though that will soon become a thing of the past as Microsoft is releasing its new unified Office app for iOS and Android today, which combines Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into a single application.

All of the main apps are combined, meaning you can switch between documents quickly, scan PDFs, and even capture whiteboards, text, and tables into digital versions, where they can be utilised across the entire suite. Microsoft is also adding support for third-party cloud storage like Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and iCloud.

While the initial feature set will be useful for quickly creating templates, scanning tables, and just using Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files on the go, Microsoft has more mobile-focused features planned, like word dictation and a new Excel cards view designed to make working with cells on a touch screen a little easier. One of the biggest problems with the current versions of excel. Having one app across the entire Office Suite will also hopefully make the maintenance effort across the different apps a lot easier for Microsoft and possibly allow them to add new features across the apps a little easier.  

The release will also be available on Android tablets with “limited support,” with a fully optimized tablet experience will be available on both iPad and Android soon. Microsoft is also promising several new features and update over the coming months as it looks to build out the feature set and optimise the UI further.

As for those who prefer to just use the standalone versions of the different office apps. They will remain available for the time being and be supported by Microsoft, though if you want the ultimate office experience, it would be better to get the new app instead.

Last Updated: February 24, 2020