Microsoft this week launched its Office all-in-one app for iPad, allowing users to access the company’s productivity software package on the Apple tablet. Microsoft previously launched a unified Office application for iOS and Android early last year.
The unified Office application brings together the most popular Microsoft applications (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) into one application. For students and business customers, it offers more convenient access to Microsoft productivity tools. The experience also includes the ability to create PDFs quickly, sign documents and more.
Microsoft explained earlier that the Office application was designed to provide users with a “simple, integrated experience that puts the tools you need to work on a mobile device at the forefront of the experience”.
“We started by combining the existing Word, Excel and PowerPoint mobile applications into a single application,” said Microsoft when it launched unified Office on the iPhone. “Doing this brings all of your Office documents together in one place, reduces the need to switch between multiple applications and significantly reduces the amount of space on your phone compared to multiple installed applications.”
Making the unified Office app compatible with the iPad took a long time. With the Apple tablet evolving to a more legitimate computer alternative, having access to the experience makes it even more powerful. And with enhanced mouse and trackpad support, you get an experience very close to that of a traditional desktop.
Here is the full description directly from Microsoft for the Office iPad app:
Office is now available on the iPad: we are combining the Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications you know into a single application optimized for iPadOS. In addition, you’ll see additional tools to keep you more productive than ever. For example, you will be able to create and sign PDFs quickly and turn images into documents.
Promptly access image-based workflows: Tap ‘Share’ in the phone gallery outside the Office app, for various actions like Create PPT, Create PDF and more. In addition, if there are recent screenshots when you open the Office application, they appear as a suggestion to convert to PDF or PPT.
Insert date, shape, image and notes in PDF: Now you can easily insert date, shape, image and notes in PDFs using new features.
You will need a Microsoft 365 subscription to access the Office app on the iPad. If you are not a subscriber, you can sign up for $ 6.99 per month for one person or $ 9.99 per month for a family.
Ernest Ojeh’s photo at Unsplash