Category: Microsoft Office

On the official Tech Community Forums, Microsoft announced a bunch of new features and quality-of-life improvements for Excel for Web. Users can now open huge spreadsheets, work with password-protected files, and edit legacy art objects. Here is what is new.

Microsoft Office, probably one of the most pirated pieces of software, steadily increases the number of its users year over year. Relatively affordable and flexible prices paired with a steady flow of new features attract new consumers and keep existing ones on the hook. It appears that Microsoft now tries additional tricks to lure even more people to the Microsoft 365 subscription.

Microsoft today announced that now more users can enjoy the new design of Office apps, made in the style of Windows 11. The long awaited visual update for the Office suite was announced this Summer.

Earlier this week, Microsoft started rolling out redesigned Office apps in the stable channel, offering users a much-improved Windows 11-like UI. The company announced a fresh coat of paint for the Office apps alongside the Windows 11 reveal, and both are now publicly available. Still, one part of the promised Office redesign is missing in the stable channel: the Mica effect. Microsoft is currently testing the new "material" in the Office Insiders program.

Microsoft posted an update on the official Microsoft 365 feature roadmap—a place where the company describes new capabilities coming soon—notifying users about an exciting feature for Word and, presumably, other Office apps as well.

A couple of weeks ago, Microsoft announced Office 2021, the next version of the standalone Office apps suite that does not require users to pay monthly or yearly for a recurring subscription. Office 2021 will come out on October 5, 2021, alongside the public release of Windows 11. Today, Microsoft revealed pricing and new features in Office 2021.

In less than three weeks, on October 5, 2021, Microsoft is launching its next generation of Windows, but that is not the only product the Software giant is about to ship. Alongside Windows 11, Microsoft will launch Office 2021 - the next perpetual version of the Office apps that does not require a Microsoft 365 subscription.

Google's Chrome OS is capable of running Android apps natively, which makes inexpensive Chromebooks appealing to many users. Although many users consider Android apps support is one of the best features of Chrome OS, Microsoft, in a somewhat surprising move, decided to stop supporting some of its popular apps on Chrome OS.

On the Tech Community forums, Microsoft announced an update for the unified Office app on Android that combines Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Microsoft Lens, and Sticky Notes in a single app. The main highlight of that update is a new cards view called "File Cards."

Microsoft continues shipping regular preview updates not just for Windows 11 but for Office as well. If you are testing early versions of Microsoft Office on Windows in the Beta Channel, there is a bunch of neat new features for Excel and several fixes for other apps. The most notable changes include smooth scrolling and a navigation pane in Excel.