March Updates for Office 365 Include Excel Co-Authoring, Microsoft Teams, More
- Paul Thurrott
- Mar 28, 2017
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Microsoft today detailed the new features and improvements that it delivered to Office 365 users this month. Key among them are new Excel co-authoring capabilities, Microsoft Teams, and new OneNote inking and accessibility updates.
“Office 365 provides the broadest and deepest toolkit for collaboration between individuals, teams and entire organizations,” Microsoft corporate vice president Kirk Koenigsbauer explains.
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Here’s what’s new in March.
Co-authoring in Excel 2016 for Windows
Following similar functionality in Word and PowerPoint, Microsoft has enabled co-authoring capabilities in Excel for the Windows desktop (Excel 2016). (This feature is also available in Excel Online and Excel Mobile on Android, iOS, and Windows 10; Excel for Mac support is coming soon.)
“This allows you to know who else is working with you in a spreadsheet, see where they’re working and view changes automatically within seconds,” Mr. Koenigsbauer says.
Co-authoring in Excel 2016 for Windows is rolling out for Office 365 subscribers in Office Insider Fast, Microsoft says. Co-authoring in Excel for iOS is currently available for Office Insider. The feature is generally available in Excel Mobile for Android and Windows, and in Excel Online.
AutoSave
Microsoft is working to expand the availability of AutoSave beyond mobile versions of Office: Office 365 subscribers in Office Insider Fast now have access to AutoSave in Word, Excel and PowerPoint on Windows desktop, for files stored in SharePoint Online, OneDrive and OneDrive for Business.
“With AutoSave, you can stop worrying about hitting the Save button, whether you’re working alone or with others,” Mr. Koenigsbauer explains.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft delivered its long-awaited Slack alternative, called Microsoft Teams, earlier this month to all Office 365 commercial customers. And last week, it shipped Microsoft Teams to all Office 365 Education subscribers as well.
“We are thrilled by the enthusiasm for Teams and look forward to seeing how customers build Teams into the way they collaborate every day,” Koenigsbauer says. “We’ll also continue updating Teams along with our other Office 365 apps and services.”
Microsoft Bookings
Microsoft announced the availability of its new Microsoft Bookings service last week as well, making it easy for small businesses to schedule and manage appointments with their customers. Microsoft Bookings is now available to all Office 365 Business Premium subscribers.
OneNote updates
Microsoft made a variety of inking and accessibility updates to various OneNote versions this month.
OneNote for Windows 10 received improvements to the Ink math that helps graph handwritten equations and solve systems of equations. It’s available to all Office 365 subscribers.
OneNote for Windows 10 was also updated with a new Accessibility Checker that analyzes your notes to ensure that they can be consumed by people with visual impairments. This feature is available to all users of OneNote for Windows 10, and is also shipping in various Office applications for Windows desktop, Mac, and Online.
OneNote Online users can now access the new Draw tab, which provides access to more inking tools. It’s available to all customers.
Visio integration with Excel and PowerPoint
Visio users on Windows deesktop can now create an Excel flowchart using new Data Visualizer templates. And a new Slide Snippets pane will help Visio users export diagrams and snippets as slides in a PowerPoint presentation.
Data Visualizer is available to users of Visio for Windows desktops for Office 365 subscribers in Office Insiders Slow. Slide Snippets is available to all Office 365 subscribers.
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