Published on the 23/09/2015 | Written by Newsdesk
The worldwide release of Microsoft’s Office 2016 productivity software is underway…
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the company is focused on reinventing productivity and business processes for the mobile-first, cloud-first world. “These latest innovations take another big step forward in transforming Office from a familiar set of individual productivity apps to a connected set of apps and services designed for modern working, collaboration and teamwork.”
Office 2016 delivers new versions of the Office desktop apps for Windows, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Project, Visio and Access.
Maria Martinez Torres, director for Office and Office 365 at Microsoft New Zealand, said the new Office offers kiwi businesses new ways to collaborate and work smarter.
“The new Office was designed with the clear understanding that people currently find working together harder than it should be,” she said.
“By helping to share ideas and collaborate more easily – for example, by being able to IM, screen share, talk or video chat right from their documents – the new Office empowers people and their teams to do and achieve more,” Martinez Torres added.
New features include co-authoring is in Word, PowerPoint and OneNote desktop software, including real-time typing in Word that lets you see others’ edits as they make them; Skype in-app integration across the Office apps to IM, screen share, talk or video chat from within documents; while Office 365 Groups are now an integrated part of the Outlook 2016 client app and available on mobile devices through the Outlook Groups app.
A new Office 365 solution is Planner which facilitates planning, organising and assigning tasks with visual dashboards and email notifications (available in preview to Office 365 First Release customers starting next quarter).
Microsoft said ‘significant’ new updates are coming later this month for OneDrive for Business are coming later this month, including a new sync client for Windows and Mac. Updates also include increased file size and volume limits per user, a new user interface in the browser, mobile enhancements, and new IT and developer features.
Unveiled earlier this year, Gigjam is available in private preview and will become part of Office 365 in 2016. GigJam is a new way for teams to accomplish tasks and transform business processes by breaking down the barriers between devices, apps and people.
More information about Office 2016 available here.
