Microsoft

Office Lens converts scanned paper documents to editable Word files

For those of you that still use hard copies for all your important documents, or have physical business cards, photographs, whiteboards, and other important information that are looking for a way to digitize it and even modify it after the fact, Microsoft's Office Lens app will be your best friend.

Office Lens, which is a free download from the App Store, allows you to scan these kinds of information and media and can create software versions of them to make sharing and editing easier so you can get rid of the filing cabinet taking up space in your home or office.

In this tutorial, we'll give you some background on the app and show you how you can use it to scan and then edit documents in Word.

SwiftKey acquired by Microsoft for $250 million

SwiftKey keyboard themes on iPhone

Microsoft is buying out software keyboard maker SwiftKey, according to a report from The Financial Times. The deal is said to be worth $250 million, and the two companies are expected to officially announce the acquisition later this week.

While Microsoft has shown interest in the mobile keyboard space, the report claims that the purchase is all about AI. SwiftKey uses artificial intelligence to predict the next word a user is going to type based on an analysis of their writing style.

Microsoft launches ‘News Pro’ app for iOS

Microsoft on Tuesday released a new app for iOS called News Pro. The company describes the app as "your work news brief," and says it will help you search for news around your work every day, and fuel your unique interests with over a million topics.

The app comes from Microsoft's experimental project group Microsoft Garage, and it looks pretty much like Flipboard and the slew of other news aggregating apps out there. You login using Facebook or LinkedIn, and pick which topics you want to follow.

Microsoft’s incoming iOS keyboard to feature special one-handed mode

The Windows Phone keyboard Microsoft is bringing to iOS will feature a special one-handed mode, reports The Verge. Speaking with sources familiar with the company's plans, the site says that an early version of the keyboard is currently in internal beta, and it will soon be available to public testers.

One of the more interesting things the beta has revealed thus far is that the iOS version of Microsoft's Flow keyboard will feature a special one-handed mode. Yes, the Windows version also has a one-handed mode, but those who have tried the iPhone version say that there are a few noticeable differences.

Microsoft updates Office for iOS with 3D Touch features, Apple Pencil support and more

Microsoft today rolled out updates to its mobile Office suite in the App Store: Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Across the board these apps have gained support for 3D Touch shortcuts on the iPhone 6s/Plus.

In addition, the new 'Annotate with Ink' feature puts a set of cool tools on the new Draw tab for drawing, writing and highlighting things using touch, pen or Apple Pencil on the iPad Pro.

Microsoft’s Word Flow keyboard is coming to iOS

Windows giant Microsoft is porting its excellent predictive text keyboard for Windows Phone, dubbed Word Flow, over to the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

In an email to some Windows Insider testers, obtained by The Verge's Tom Warren, Microsoft invited iPhone users to participate in a trial of the Word Flow keyboard for iOS.

On Windows Phone, the Word Flow keyboard includes a number of advanced features such as autocorrect, suggestions, gestures, multi-language support, emoticons, the ability to swipe letters like in Swype's keyboard, and more.

Outlook for iOS gains Skype integration, Mac app updated with Split View and full-screen support

Microsoft Outlook is an excellent email client, not just for mobile devices but on desktop platforms, too. And now, it's about to get a lot better. According to Microsoft, Outlook for Mac now now officially supports Full Screen view for OS X Yosemite and up and OS X's native full-screen view.

On the mobile front, Outlook for iOS has received a nice little update which brings Skype integration for calendar events so users can now make any meeting a Skype call that can be launched from the calendar event in Outlook.

Free group video calling is coming to Skype’s iPhone and iPad application

Skype is celebrating its tenth anniversary so the Microsoft-owned company yesterday announced that users of its mobile application will soon be able to take advantage of a free group video calling feature.

According to Gurdeep Pall, Skype CVP, group video calling on mobile devices will be coming to Skype's iPhone and iPad app “soon,” and to Windows 10 and Android devices.

Microsoft said to be considering smaller Xbox to compete with Apple TV

Microsoft is said to be once again looking to create a device that would go head-to-head with the Apple TV and similar products. Citing internal sources, veteran blogger Brad Sams reports (via Business Insider) that the company is considering plans for a "lightweight Xbox One."

The smaller console would feature access to a variety of streaming services, and be capable of playing games from Microsoft's Windows store. Sams believes the device, if it materializes, will launch in the second half of 2016 with a much lower price point than existing Xbox models.

How to fix ‘Outlook can’t upgrade your database’ errors when launching Microsoft Outlook on Mac

Last night, I decided that I would give the desktop version of Outlook a chance. Unfortunately, I ran into a problem when first launching the app. After doing a bit of troubleshooting, and lurking around the app's bundle, I was finally able to fix the issue.

If you've ever ran into the "can't upgrade your database error" when launching Outlook, then you may want to give this fix a try.

Bing for iPhone gains barcode scanner for comparison shopping, Uber and GIF support

Microsoft today pushed a nice update to Bing for iPhone, just in time for your holiday shopping spree. The refreshed app brings some welcome enhancements to iPhone users of the app, including a barcode scanning feature for in-store price comparison, Uber integration with real-time data, support for animated GIFs and other user experience changes and optimizations. Bing 6.1 for iPhone is available free in the App Store.

How to keep your free OneDrive space before Microsoft’s storage reductions take place

Has Microsoft's unilateral decision to reduce free OneDrive accounts from fifteen to just five gigabytes of cloud storage left you totally flabbergasted? If so, you're not alone. An online petition at the OneDrive feedback website has received more than 70,000 votes already. Feeling the heat, the Windows maker today announced an opt-in offer that will permit all affected OneDrive customers to keep their fifteen gigabytes of free storage space, as well as their fifteen-gigabyte camera roll bonus.