Microsoft has introduced the first visual update for Office.com, adding new features that are supposed to help users find and open their documents more easily.
Office 365 users connecting to the updated website will see the most frequently used apps displayed “more prominently,” as Microsoft explains, so they’ll be able to launch Word, Excel, OneNote, or Outlook with fewer clicks.
For the moment, the software giant isn’t offering options to reorder app tiles, but it says that it’s “evaluating additional options to make app navigation even quicker.”
Additionally, customers will be allowed to pin documents to the list of recent documents, with new filters now providing instant access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote files. This feature should come in handy when trying to resume work on a previously-created document, without having to search in a long list of files in your account.
More features already planned
Microsoft is also making it easier to see the upcoming events, but also to create, view, and complete tasks on Office.com and then have them synchronized on all devices connected with the same Office 365 account.
“We made it easier to see what’s coming up at a glance. Get an in-depth view of the day’s meetings and quickly respond to or join Skype for Business calls with one click. Enhanced people pictures help you build stronger connections with coworkers and help you keep track of your different teams and projects,” the company explains.
For the moment, you can’t turn off online documents, upcoming or task sections, but you can collapse the card containers and thus hide the content that you don’t want to see when logging in with your Office 365 account. Such features, however, could be released at a later time, the company explains.
The firm adds that this is just the beginning of a longer series of updates and more improvements would be rolled out very soon. Today’s enhancements have already started being shipped to users worldwide, but the rollout would also continue in the coming months.