14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has recently released a new build of the Office productivity suite for iOS users, this time shipping a bunch of major new features, including support for exporting to PDF.
The Office Insider program runs on all platforms where Microsoft’s productivity suite is available, including Apple’s own iOS, and the software giant releases new builds every once in a while with improvements for both iPhones and iPads.
This time, Microsoft Office version 2.2.17053002 comes with options to save files as PDF, which means that iPhone users can easily export Word documents or Excel spreadsheets to PDF by simply going to File > Export. The PDF document is then saved in the cloud for easy access, as iPhones can only store photos and videos locally.
Improved Apple Pencil support
Additionally, the new build also includes new options to select whether the Apple Pencil is used for selection or ink, but also with support for files that contain binary templates. And last but not least, iOS Document Provider can be used to view Visio files wherever they are saved.
As far as the PDF support goes, it’s important to know that this feature is already available in the Windows 10 Mobile version of the Office productivity suite. Users can open a document in Word and then, in the hamburger menu, tap the Print option to eventually export it to PDF.
This means that although in most of the cases Windows 10 Mobile is getting features a lot more slowly, typically after Android and iOS, Microsoft’s own smartphone platform was the first to provide PDF exporting to its users, probably because of the Apple restrictions that forced Microsoft to hold the feature back a little longer on iPhones.
Keep in mind that these features are only available for insiders in the Fast ring for the time being, but depending on how testing goes, they should be released for everyone as soon as possible.
