Thursday, software maker Microsoft announced immediate availability of Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps for the iPhone following the release of Office for iPad applications back in March 2014.
Moreover, the company has refreshed the entire iOS Office suite with Dropbox integration and adding other new features to “ensure a consistently beautiful and productive Office experience on every device”.
In addition to the new Office for iPhone and update iPad apps, Word, Excel and PowerPoint are coming to Android tablets with the start of Microsoft’s Office for Android tablet Preview program. Finally, brand new, touch-optimized Office apps for Windows 10 are in the works and “we’ll have more to share soon”.
Universal Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps are free in the App Store.
Basic editing features are now provided at no cost.
“Starting today, people can create and edit Office content on iPhones, iPads, and soon, Android tablets using Office apps without an Office 365 subscription,” notes Microsoft.
Office 365 subscribers (in-app subscriptions in Office for iPad start at eight bucks per month) gain additional features like advanced editing and collaboration capabilities, unlimited OneDrive storage, Dropbox integration and more.
According to the Redmond-based Windows giant, since its March 2014 release customers have downloaded Office for their iPads more than forty million times.
Just last week, the company pushed a redesigned version of Outlook for OS X and said that the next-generation Office for Mac beta is scheduled for the first half of 2015, with the final release slated for the second half of 2015.
And lastly, Dropbox users will soon be able to link their account directly to the Word, Excel and PowerPoint mobile apps giving them the ability to edit Office documents right from their Dropbox mobile app, and access their Dropbox from within their mobile Office apps.
Here’s what’s new in the freshly updated Office apps.
Word 1.2 changelog
- Create and edit documents for FREE: all you need to do is sign in with a free Microsoft account.
- Dropbox support: open, edit, and save documents from Dropbox.
- Universal app: Word now also runs beautifully on your iPhone and iPod touch, and is designed especially for a smaller screen.
- Reflow view: on your phone, choose between the real document layout or an easy-to-read layout.
- Chart elements: customize charts by adding or removing chart elements such as titles, legends, axis titles and more.
Excel 1.2 changelog
- Create and edit spreadsheets for FREE: all you need to do is sign in with a free Microsoft account.
- Dropbox support: open, edit, and save spreadsheets from Dropbox.
- Universal app: Excel now also runs beautifully on your iPhone and iPod touch, and is designed especially for a smaller screen.
- Chart elements: customize charts by adding or removing chart elements such as titles, legends, axis titles and more.
PowerPoint 1.2 changelog
- Create and edit presentations for FREE: all you need to do is sign in with a free Microsoft account.
- Dropbox support: open, edit, and save presentations from Dropbox.
- Universal app: PowerPoint now also runs beautifully on your iPhone and iPod touch, and is designed especially for a smaller screen.
- Chart elements: customize charts by adding or removing chart elements such as titles, legends, axis titles and more.
- Animations: add animations such as entrance, emphasis and exit effects.
- Themes: create a presentation and choose from a gallery of beautifully designed themes.
- Switch to widescreen: easily switch between normal and widescreen layouts.
- Background formatting: change the color or add a picture to the background of your slides.
- Zoom in: Pinch to zoom in and see more detail while presenting.
Now available as universal apps, Word, Excel and PowerPoint for the iPhone and iPad are available free of charge in the App Store in 29 languages and 136 countries.