Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday began the worldwide release of its Office 2016. The apps are the latest addition to Office 365, Microsoft’s cloud-based subscription service that helps people do their best work together. The company also announced new and enhanced Office 365 services built for team productivity.
“The way people work has changed dramatically, and that’s why Microsoft is focused on reinventing productivity and business processes for the mobile-first, cloud-first world,” said Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Satya Nadella. “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. By subscribing to Office 365, customers get always-up-to-date, fully installed apps for use across their devices, combined with a continually evolving set of consumer and commercial services, such as OneDrive online storage, Skype for Business, Delve, Yammer and enterprise-grade security features.
“The new Office was built by the new Microsoft with the clear understanding that it’s too hard to work together.
Collaborating, sharing ideas to make them bigger and better — it is the way of the new workplace. We designed the new Office to enable people to focus on progress, not process — it takes the work out of working together,” explained Sebuh Haileleul — GM, Microsoft East and Southern Africa.
Together, the new Office and Windows 10 are the most complete solution for doing. The Office 2016 apps run beautifully on the best Windows, including the new Sway for Windows 10 to create shareable, interactive stories that look great on any screen. Windows Hello logs into Windows and Office 365 in one simple step. Office Mobile apps on Windows 10 empower on-the-go productivity, and work with Continuum so a user can use a phone like a PC.
Cortana, a Windows’ personal assistant, connects with Office 365 to help with tasks such as meeting preparation, with Outlook integration coming in November.
“The new Office provides built-in intelligence to help you work faster and smarter. Office 365 with the new Office 2016 apps is the smartest productivity suite ever. Office connects you to your work no matter where you are,” Haileleul further added.
Built for teamwork
The Office 2016 apps simplify collaboration and remove barriers to team success.
Co-authoring 4 is now provided 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 rich client apps allows you to IM, screen share, talk or video chat right in your docs.
Office 365 Groups are now an integrated part of the Outlook 2016 client app and available on your favorite mobile device through the Outlook Groups app, delivering a consistent team experience across the suite.
In addition, new Office 365 solutions that combine the power of apps and services for better collaboration are coming soon.
Introduced today, Office365 Planner helps teams organize their work, with the ability to create new plans, organize and assign tasks, set due dates, and update status with visual dashboards and email notifications. Planner will be available in preview to Office 365 First release customers starting next quarter.
Significant new updates to OneDrive for business are coming later this month, including a new sync client for Windows and Mac, which will deliver selective sync and enhanced reliability. 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, GigJamis available Tuesday in private preview and will become part of Office 365 in 2016. Gig Jam is an unprecedented new way for teamsto accomplish tasks and transform business processes by breaking down the barriers between devices, apps and people.
Works for you
Office 2016 provides built-in intelligence to help you work faster and smarter.
Outlook 2016 provides the smartest inbox yet, with lightning-fast search and automatic removal of low-priority mail. Everyone on the to: line has the right access to documents with modern, cloud-based attachments.
Tell Me helps you quickly find the right Office feature or command and Smart Lookup brings insights from the Web right into your documents.
Excel 2016now includes integrated publishing to Power BI and new modern chart types to help a user make the most of his/her data.
The most recently used documents list allows users to pick up right where one left off, traveling with the user across his/her devices, whether one is working in Office Online, in the Office Mobile apps or in the Office 2016 desktop apps.
The most secured Office
Office 2016 apps with Office 365 deliver new capabilities for better enterprise security and protection.
Built-in Data Loss Prevention across Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook significantly reduces the risk of leaking sensitive data, giving IT administrators tools to manage content authoring and document sharing policies.
Multifactor authentication ensures secured access to content anywhere when you’re away from the corporate network.
Enterprise Data Protection will be available for the Office Mobile apps for Windows 10 later this year and for the desktop apps early next year, enabling secured content sharing within corporate boundaries.
