Office 365 has provided its users with the broadest and deepest toolkit for collaboration between individuals, teams as well as the entire organization. This month’s update goes on to make the experience better than before with co-authoring in Excel, the general availability of Microsoft Teams and more. The company has also gone on to announce the latest roadmap for SharePoint and OneDrive at the
SharePoint Virtual Summit, which will be held on May 16, 2017.
Co-authoring now available on Excel
Microsoft is now enabling co-authoring in Excel on Windows desktops for Office Insiders Fast. This will allow you to know who is working alongside with you in the spreadsheet, and also see where they are working and also view the changes automatically within few seconds.
Microsoft states that they will go on to continue using feedback from Insiders so as to improve the experience before making it available more broadly. The feature of co-authoring has already been available in Excel Online, Excel on Android, Windows Mobile and iOS (for Office Insiders).
The company is also working on co-authoring in Excel for Mac.
The company is also bringing AutoSave to Word, Excel and PowerPoint and PowerPoint on Windows desktops, for files stored in SharePoint Online, OneDrive and OneDrive for Business. With the AutoSave, you will no longer have to worry about using the Save button, whether you are working alone or with other people.
“Co-authoring in Excel on Windows desktops is rolling out for Office 365 subscribers in Office Insider Fast. Co-authoring in Excel on iOS is currently available for Office Insiders, as well as for all customers in Excel Mobile on Windows, Excel on Android and Excel Online. AutoSave is rolling out to Word, Excel and PowerPoint on Windows desktops, for Office 365 subscribers in Office Insider Fast.”
Image Source: blogs.office.com
Microsoft Teams now generally available
Earlier this month, the company has gone on to announce Microsoft Teams – the chat – based workspace in Office 365, and now it is generally available in 181 markets and in 19 languages. In addition, the company has gone on to make Teams available in Office 365 Education, which is free for faculty, staff and students. More than 100 features have been introduced and they have gone on to address top requests from over 50,000 organizations, which has started using Teams since the preview was launched last November.
The updates span all four of the core Team promises – ‘a hub for teamwork, customizable for every team and security that teams trust.’
It is really worth taking notice that over 150 integrations with other apps, services and bots are either available or it will soon be made available.
The company states,
“Microsoft Teams is now generally available for commercial and education customers on Windows desktops, Macs, Windows Mobile, iOS and Android, as well as the web.”
Microsoft Bookings is rolling out worldwide
It was just last week that Microsoft has announced the worldwide rollout of Microsoft Bookings to Office 365 Business Premium subscribers.
Microsoft has gone on to introduce several new capabilities which has been based on feedback from last year’s initial release to users in U.S and Canada. Now you will be able to easily connect your Office 365 calendar to Bookings, add buffer time between appointments, and customize your Bookings page and also stay connected while on the go with iOS and Android apps.
OneNote inking and accessibility updates
Microsoft has gone on to make numerous improvements to OneNote, making the inking more powerful and available in the browser, along with helping you to create more accessible notes.
The following are the new features, as per the official blog:
Image Source: blogs.office.com
- Ink math assistant improvements—OneNote can now graph handwritten equations and even let you manipulate variables to see the visual effect of changes. It can also teach you the steps to solve systems of equations. This expanded built-in intelligence within OneNote makes it an even more powerful math coach to help you learn in context.
- Accessibility Checker now in OneNote—The Accessibility Checker, now available in OneNote for Windows 10, helps ensure your notes can be consumed without barriers by people with visual impairments. It analyzes your material and provides recommendations alongside your notes, which helps you understand how to fix errors and create more accessible notes over time. Simply select Check Accessibility under the View tab to get started.
- Inking in OneNote Online—Microsoft brings inking and the Draw tab to OneNote Online, so you can make your mark with ink or highlighter while taking, reviewing, or editing your notes in the browser.
Visio integrates with Excel and PowerPoint
Visio, Excel and PowerPoint now working better together than ever, before helping you perfectly generate flowcharts automatically from data then share them effortlessly as presentations.
In order to create a flowchart directly from Excel, all you need to do is click on the new Data Visualizer templates, after that use the new Slide Snippets pane so as to select specific diagrams or snippets, title them and then export as slides in a new PowerPoint presentation.
The Morph transition is also applied automatically so as to create cinematic transitions between overlapping snippets on different slides.
The company stated,
“The new Data Visualizer templates for Excel data are now available in Visio on Windows desktops, for Office 365 subscribers in Office Insiders Slow. The Slide Snippets pane is currently available in Visio on Windows desktops, for all Office 365 subscribers.”