Microsoft Office has long been the go-to for documents, decks and spreadsheets.
Now, the company is introducing new partnerships, apps and tools to make its offerings even more useful.
Here are three of our faves that will boost your productivity and your tech genius reputation.
First, Office released a free Android app this month which allows you to control and quickly edit your PowerPoint decks and presentations from your mobile device over Bluetooth. Today, they announced an app for the Apple Watch that will do the same thing.
Why it’s great: No more hovering around your laptop when you’re giving presentations. Everyone likes to pace, and with your phone or watch as a remote controller, you can wander through the seats or rows and flip sides effortlessly.
Most people already load their documents into Dropbox for easy cloud storage and sharing; with a new partnership between Dropbox and Office, you’ll be able to edit those stored documents without leaving Dropbox. In November, the companies announced their initial partnership which allowed go-between editing access within the Dropbox or Office apps. Now, all you have to do is open an Office file in Dropbox on the web or in the app, and you’ll be able to make basic changes (like text updates and small changes) to Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
Why it’s great: You don’t need to have Office on your computer to use these features. If you’re working remotely from a tablet or phone, you can easily open your Dropbox app and correct a typo before sharing the link with your co-workers. The integration feels like using Google Drive apps but with the Office tools you’re already used to.
The newest tool in WinBeta preview, Sway is a responsive, design-forward presentation software. It incorporates multi-media elements like images, videos, and online media like tweets and Facebook posts with simple-to-implement modern design. These presentations work on all devices in full, readjusting design for responsiveness depending on screen size. They can easily be shared or directly embedded into webpages.
Why it’s great: No more saving PowerPoints as PDFs, emailing them to others, uploading them to hosts so that you can embed — Sway is built to share. It lives online and on mobile (just like us!), comes with smart and simple designs, and makes creating decks and presentations a breeze. It’s in preview now, so go sign up to try it out!
Which of these tools have you tried and loved?