More than 1.2 billion people worldwide use Microsoft Office. With the full launch of the newest version of the program (Microsoft Office 2016) a little over three months ago on September 22, 2015, users now have access to even more tools and options than ever before. Discover some of the changes and upgrades that have been made in Office 2016 so you can decide if upgrading to the new version is the right choice for you.
- Collaboration & Group Abilities – Probably the biggest, and most talked-about changes in the newest version of Office are the improvements made to collaboration. With more and more products taking advantage of the cloud and making collaboration around the globe easier than ever, it was time for Microsoft to step up to the plate and make collaboration a priority. Microsoft did. A few of the features that have been implemented or improved upon for 2016 include:
- Co-Authoring – Offering the ability to work with others on documents, no matter the device used for access.
- Easy Sharing – You can now share and change permissions directly from the ribbon. Plus, it is easier than before to see who has access to what document and to what extent.
- Notebooks – OneNote now allows for sharing notebooks between a group—making it easier for links, images, clippings and notes to be passed between all users.
- Real-Time Typing – In Microsoft Word, changes are made in real time, so there is no falling behind or constant reloading of the document.
- Skype Support – Connect over Skype for voice and chat.
- Touchscreen Support – With more and more users accessing Office from touchscreen devices, making the program overall more touch-friendly was a priority. However, one feature that stands out is the new handwriting support for equations. Those accessing Office on a tablet can write out an equation in “long hand” and see it formatted on screen.
- Research – Powered by Bing, “Smart Lookup” is the new research tool built directly into Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook). This tool makes it easy to search online for information without leaving the Office workspace.
- Styles – Like every edition of Microsoft Office, 2016 offers new styles and formatting tools to make it simple to create attractive modern documents.
- More Charts – In the past, Excel users had to use add-ons for access to many popular chart styles. Now you can access Treemap, waterfall and histogram charts (among others) directly in Excel as well as export them into Word and PowerPoint docs.
- Organization within Outlook – Keeping an organized email box is never easy. Luckily, with the “mail triage” system, Outlook users will find that they can easily mark the most important messages for immediate access and hide inbox “clutter.”
- Mobile-Friendliness – In the past, the mobile apps for iOS and Android were not as user-friendly as the desktop version of Office. Now, nearly all features are just as easy to access on your smartphone or tablet as they are on your desktop or laptop computer. Users who access on multiple devices will find that it is a breeze to switch from one device to another.
- Improved Help with Tell Me – The intuitive new in-app help feature is called “Tell Me.” With this, you simply type what you want to know how to do in real words; Tell Me does the rest and helps you figure it out.
While these are some of the most significant changes in Office 2016, there are certainly other small changes that may have a big impact on how you do business in the program. If you would like more information regarding how Office 2016 will impact how you do business, please call 877.423.8260 to speak to a Cetan Corp team member. As a certified Microsoft Silver Partner, Cetan Corp helps businesses reach their full potential with powerful Microsoft Solutions.
