Microsoft has been hitting its stride when it comes to creating mobile apps that are useful and convenient. Now, three of their most-used apps are being brought together under just one app. The Office mobile app is still under public preview for Android and you’ll be able to see Word, Excel, and PowerPoint all together in the app instead of having to download individual apps. Plus, they’re bringing a lot of features that optimize mobile needs, incorporates “unique ways” we capture data, and captures users’ expectations on what Office solutions should be able to bring.
The Office app should be able to give you a simple and integrated experience with all the three apps under just one mobile roof and all your files saved in just one location, whether it’s on your device or in the cloud or both or even across your organization if you’re using a work account. There’s also a new Action Pane that brings you all the common tasks that you usually do when on your mobile device.
For example, when you open the Office app, you can open your Sticky Notes so you can jot down reminders and ideas on the fly. You can also scan a document that you need to digitize and then turn it into a Word file that you can edit if needed. If you take a picture of a table, you can then transform it into an Excel file so you don’t need to manually encode graphs and tables and other Excel-able kinds of documents.
You can also create a PowerPoint presentation by choosing the photos in your gallery that you want to add to it. Creating PDFs is also pretty easy as you can use your camera, the photos in your device, or even from other Office documents. And if you need to sign one of those PDF documents, you can just use your finger or a stylus. Office Lens is also now integrated into the app so you can create enhanced digital images of whiteboards and documents.
You will also be able to scan QR codes and transfer files between your phone and your computer as well as share documents with nearby mobile devices. The Office app is now available in public preview for smartphones but not tablets. Unlike with iOS, there isn’t any limit to the number of people that can try out the preview. Just join the preview group and use it for free. You can use it even when you don’t sign in but to access your files in the cloud, you have to log in to your Microsoft account.
