Word, Excel and PowerPoint for iOS gain comment editing, file renaming, fonts and much more

Microsoft PowerPoint 1.2 for iOS (iPhone screenshot 001)

Microsoft on Monday issued a refresh to its mobile office programs on the App Store: Word, Excel and PowerPoint. These productivity applications now feature on-the-go comment editing, file renaming, quickly jumping to a page and much more.

Last month, the Windows giant has rolled out matching updates to Word, Excel and PowerPoint with full support for iOS 9’s new Slide Over and Split View multitasking modes on the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 4. In addition, the apps have gained useful shortcuts on iPads with wireless keyboards, Vietnamese localization and other perks.

Word 1.14 for iOS changelog

New in this update:

  • Fonts when you need them: Are you missing fonts in a document? Word automatically downloads them when you need them.
  • Quickly jump to a page: Long document? Navigate to a specific page — fast! Scroll, hold and drag to go directly to the page you need.
  • Rename a file: Everyone likes a do-over! Now you can name a Word doc directly from the Open or Recent tab.

Other recent improvements are:

  • Bi-directional and complex script languages: now supports bi-directional text editing and complex script for Arabic, Hebrew and Thai.
  • View protected documents: open and view documents that have access permissions applied to them.
  • Easier sharing: invite people to edit a document and grant them permissions, all from within the app.
  • Integration with Outlook: edit a document attached to an Outlook email message. When you’ve finished, the updated document will be attached to a new email message, ready to send.
  • New storage options: open, edit and save your work to iCloud and other online storage services. (requires iOS 8)
  • New templates: create great-looking Word documents more quickly by using one of the new templates.
  • Word Add-ins: add functionality to Word that enhance your documents and helps increase your productivity. (only on iPad, requires iOS 8.2 or newer)

Excel 1.14 for iOS changelog

New in this update:

  • Add and edit comments: You’ve got something to say. Now that’s easier to do, because you can create and edit comments in Excel on iPad.
  • All comments in one place: Seeing is believing. View everyone’s comments in the new Comments task pane on iPad.
  • Rename a file: Everyone likes a do-over! Now you can name an Excel spreadsheet directly from the Open or Recent tab.

Other recent improvements are:

  • Bi-directional and complex script languages: now supports bi-directional text editing and complex script for Arabic, Hebrew and Thai.
  • View protected documents: open and view documents that have access permissions applied to them.
  • Easier sharing: invite people to edit a document and grant them permissions, all from within the app.
  • Integration with Outlook: edit a spreadsheet attached to an Outlook email message. When you’ve finished, the updated spreadsheet will be attached to a new email message, ready to send.
  • New storage options: open, edit and save your work to iCloud and other online storage services. (requires iOS 8)
  • Excel Add-ins: add functionality to Excel that enhance your spreadsheets and helps increase your productivity. (only on iPad, requires iOS 8.2 or newer)

PowerPoint 1.14 for iOS changelog

New in this update:

  • Fonts when you need them: Are you missing fonts in a document? PowerPoint automatically downloads them when you need them.
  • Rename a file: Everyone likes a do-over! Now you can name a PowerPoint presentation directly from the Open or Recent tab.

Other recent improvements are:

  • Bi-directional and complex script languages: now supports bi-directional text editing and complex script for Arabic, Hebrew and Thai.
  • View protected documents: open and view documents that have access permissions applied to them.
  • Easier sharing: invite people to edit a document and grant them permissions, all from within the app.
  • Integration with Outlook: edit a presentation attached to an Outlook email message. When you’ve finished, the updated presentation will be attached to a new email message, ready to send.
  • New storage options: open, edit and save your work to iCloud and other online storage services. (requires iOS 8)
  • Change Slide layout: make your content pop by changing the layout of your slide.
  • Insert from camera: insert pictures and videos from the camera right into your presentation.

Word, Excel and PowerPoint currently lack matching apps for the Apple Watch, don’t support 3D Touch on the new iPhones and are not yet optimized for the App Thinning feature for reduced download sizes.

Availability

Microsoft’s mobile Office apps requires iOS 8.0 or later and are localized in English, Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese.

Download Word, Excel and PowerPoint for free in the App Store.