14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has quietly rolled out a new app for Android devices which was previously available only for Windows Phone. The piece of software is called Office Remote and allows users to control PowerPoint presentations on their PCs with their mobile devices over Bluetooth.
The app is available for download for free from the Google Play store, and after you install it on your Android device, you’ll be able to control PowerPoint presentations and navigate through slides, play and pause embedded video or audio content, switch to slide thumbnail view, check out speaker notes, and keep an eye on the presentation timer.
What’s more, Office Remote works with Excel and Word as well, making it a neat tool to have around, especially at the office, if you often have to present spreadsheets and documents in front of a crowd of people.
The app works with most of the Office suite
In Excel, one can scroll, zoom and switch between worksheets, but also use filters and slicers and jump to any named objects in the file running.
In Word, you’re given pretty much the same options, with the addition of being able to jump to certain headings and comments quickly.
In order to be able to take advantage of the setup, you will need to have Microsoft Office 2013 installed on your computer, as the app does not work with Office 2013 RT or earlier versions of Office. You’ll also need to have Bluetooth enabled on your PC.
The desktop add-in for Office Remote must be installed on your PC before you can get started, and you can download it form here.
Presumably, at some point, Mac users will be given the chance to try out these features too, perhaps with the release of Office 2016 on that platform.
Microsoft is seemingly getting more and more comfortable with platform in-breeding, as the recent host of Office-related Android releases attests. Back in January, the Redmond tech giant finally made its Office Apps for Android tablets available for download for everyone interested.
In November 2014, Microsoft had revealed the closed Office preview version for Android tablets.
