Microsoft beefs up Office Online
Microsoft beefs up Office Online
The browser-based versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and
OneNote are being updated
By Juan Carlos Perez
April 14, 2014 03:52 PM ET
IDG News Service - Microsoft is updating its Web-based
Office Online suite, narrowing the features gap with the main Office 365 and
Office 2013 suites installed on users' devices.
"We know you want features that allow you to move as
seamlessly as possible between Office Online and the desktop," wrote
Kaberi Chowdhury, an Office Online technical product manager, in a blog post
Monday.
Improvements to Excel Online include the ability to
insert new comments, edit and delete existing comments, and properly open and
edit spreadsheets that contain Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code.
Meanwhile, Word Online has a new "pane" where
users can see all comments in a document, and reply to them or mark them as completed.
It also has a refined lists feature that is better able to recognize whether
users are continuing a list or starting one. In addition, footnotes and
endnotes can now be added more conveniently inline.
PowerPoint Online has a revamped text editor that offers
a layout view that more closely resembles the look of finished slides,
according to Microsoft. It also has improved performance and video
functionality, including the ability to play back embedded YouTube videos.
For users of OneNote Online, Microsoft is now adding the
ability to print out the notes they've created with the application.
Microsoft is also making Word Online, PowerPoint Online
and OneNote Online available via Google's Chrome Web Store so that Chrome
browser users can add them to their Chrome App launcher. Excel Online will be
added later.
The improvements in Office Online will be rolled out to
users this week, starting Monday.
Office Online, which used to be called Office Web Apps,
competes directly against Google Docs and other browser-based office
productivity suites. It's meant to offer users a free, lightweight, Web-based
version of these four applications if they don't have the desktop editions on
the device they're using at that moment.
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