14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has released a new update for the Windows version of the Office productivity suite as part of the Office Insider program.
Available for Fast ring insiders, the Office update lands as version 1904 and build number 11514.20004.
The most notable change in this release is the addition of new icons for the built-in productivity apps, including here Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. The new icons were announced several months ago, and now Microsoft is getting ready to make them broadly available for all users worldwide.
What’s important to know, however, is that this update also comes with a known issue hitting the icons, with Microsoft saying that pinned Start tiles may not update and still show the old product icons. Also, the software giant emphasizes that it hasn’t updated all the icons in Office just yet.
“Only product icons have been updated. The core file type icons (e.g., icons for .docx, ,xlsx, .pptx files) will be updated soon and will rollout when available,” the firm says.
Exclusive Word changes
Microsoft Word also comes with an exclusive improvement, as Microsoft is adding support for basic co-authoring in Word documents that contain macros.
“Tired of being locked out of your documents that contain macros? We heard you! You can now simultaneously view and edit .docm files that are stored on OneDrive,” the feature description reads.
At the same time, Microsoft Word comes with three different known bugs, and users should check them out before installing the update.
First, Microsoft explains that co-authoring only supports the latest builds where the feature is available, and then AutoSave and real time-typing do not work for the time being. And last but not least, users can only coauthor on the main document, the company says.
All these improvements should become available for Office users in the coming weeks when the testing phase is complete.