14 DAY TRIAL // Today Microsoft has just released a major Office update that includes new tools for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook, all available for Office 365 customers.
First and foremost, there’s the new Researcher tool that makes it super simple to write a research paper in Microsoft Word.
As you can guess by simply reading its name, Researcher was designed to let you easily access content that comes from reputable sources to help you with your essay. This feature is based on Bing Knowledge Graph and automatically pulls content from the web depending on the topic you cover and even includes citation to make sure everything is legit
Researcher is available starting today for Office 365 subscribers with Word 2016 on Windows computers, but mobile devices will get it very soon as well, according to Microsoft itself.
Improving your writing
Word users are also getting a new Editor, which is some sort of very advanced spellcheck solution that helps you improve your writing. Editor scans your text and makes suggestions where it detects that you can improve, offering to simplify the text, highlighting unclear phrases or complex words, and similar things.
Microsoft says that more updates for Editor will be released in the coming months, and this fall, the company is promising a major upgrade.
“It will expand upon Word’s current spelling and grammar tools to inform you why words or phrases may not be accurate - teaching at the same time it is correcting. In the same release, Editor will overhaul Word’s visual proofing cues so you can distinguish at a glance between edits for spelling (red squiggle), grammar (blue double underline) or writing style (gold dotted line),” Microsoft explains.
Outlook is getting the Focused Inbox from mobile devices but also @mentions for contacts right in the text body. This feature will be available for Windows and Mac for Office 365 subscriptions, and Outlook for iOS, Android, and Windows 10 Mobile will get them soon.
PowerPoint is being updated with Zoom, a feature that allows users to create summary slides and lets the audience know how much is left from your presentation.
Microsoft says that this is just the beginning of more updates and promises further improvements in the coming months, not only for desktop users but also for mobile devices.
