14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has released an update for its Office productivity suite that officially adds support for Apple’s new MacBook Pro Touch Bar feature, after the company previously introduced this functionality in preview form in early February.
Starting today, Office can make full use of the Touch Bar to display controls that come in handy to Mac users when working with documents, and the productivity suite supports Word and PowerPoint for the time being, while Excel and Outlook will be added at a later time.
Microsoft’s February updates for Office for Mac also includes a new object rotation slider that is displayed on the Touch Bar and which, according to the software giant, “provides a more intuitive and precise rotation experience.”
How Office takes advantage of the Touch Bar
Thanks to support for the Touch Bar, Microsoft Word can now enter the Focus Mode and focus entirely on the document, hiding all on-screen ribbons and commands and putting the emphasis on your content. You also get access to the essential controls right on the Touch Bar, such as style settings and commands to insert comments, photos, or links.
PowerPoint makes it possible to use the Touch Bar in order to work with graphic elements, with a Reorder Objects button displaying a graphical map of all the layers on a slide. There are also other controls on the Touch Bar, including a timer for your slideshow.
Excel will bring the most recently used functions in the Touch Bar, as well as formatting options, such as borders, cell colors, and recommended charts. And last but not least, Outlook benefits from a list of recent documents when composing a new mail, or quick access to calendar events and Skype for Business meeting options when composing a new mail.
Support for Excel and Outlook will be added at a later time, but there is no ETA for the time being, so today’s update is all about Word and PowerPoint.