New Office updates make working on iPad even easier
Published Oct 26 2020 09:05 AM 54.2K Views
Microsoft

At Microsoft we are committed to making sure Microsoft 365 users have the best experience possible on any technology platform they use. For us this means not only finding general innovation that spans across all Microsoft 365 solutions, but also adapting the experience for the new and powerful capabilities of each platform and device.

 

We know the Office experience on iPad is an important tool for the many people who use it to work, learn and create. The latest iPad Pro, iPad Air and iPad models have introduced powerful new features and capabilities to enable people to be productive in more ways. Accordingly, we have made several updates to the Office apps to take advantage of these enhancements and make it even easier to work on iPad.

 

Trackpad and Mouse Support

The Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps are now receiving updates to take full advantage of trackpad support in iPadOS to give iPad users using a mouse or Apple’s new Magic Keyboard easy cursor control, fluid navigation, and precise adjustments. When moving a finger across the built-in trackpad of Magic Keyboard, the cursor transforms into the tool you need depending on the content you’re pointing to. And using a mouse or trackpad with iPad for common tasks like highlighting a passage of text in Word, selecting a range of cells in Excel, and moving and resizing graphics in PowerPoint are as simple and intuitive as ever. This experience will be immediately familiar to anyone who has ever used Office on a Mac or a PC and helps make iPad even more versatile and capable for getting more work done.  

 

Using the trackpad with PowerPoint on the new iPad Air.Using the trackpad with PowerPoint on the new iPad Air.

 

Updated Start Screens and Ribbon

We are updating the overall user experience in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint with new start screens and a new ribbon of feature menus. These enhancements provide a cleaner and more modern user experience which has proven to help people more easily find what they need and focus on the task at hand. These updates reflect the recent design enhancements we’ve been making with our Fluent UI which you’ll see across the Microsoft 365 experience.

 

Microsoft Word start screen on the new iPad Air.Microsoft Word start screen on the new iPad Air.

 

Many users have already started receiving these updates through a phased roll-out, which should reach all users within a couple weeks. These updates are just the latest in a series of improvements we continue to make to the Office experience designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of iPad, such as its large Multi-Touch display, and versatile accessories, including the ability to open multiple documents in Word and PowerPoint, the new keyboard shortcuts which were released this summer and fall, and additional updates which you will see over the next few months such as multiple document support in Excel, powerful contextual menus, and offline file support for cloud files. 

36 Comments
Copper Contributor

Really hope Microsoft will get Office on iPad to have feature parity with the Windows desktop version. iPad has more than enough compute power, infact probably more than most entry level windows laptops and with keyboard,. mouse and external monitor support is begging for a full desktop class Office experience

Copper Contributor

"Many users have already started receiving these updates through a phased roll-out, which should reach all users within a couple weeks"

To the best of my knowledge, there is no such thing as a phased roll-out in the iOS/iPadOS App Store.

I believe this article to be incorrect.

 

The new version of Word, PowerPoint and Excel are not yet available in the US App Store.

I'd love to be proven wrong though.

 

Have a great day,

Jérôme.

Copper Contributor

With iPadOS 14 and Magic Keyboard, the iPad Pro is a fantastic computer. 

 

This (laptop) is absolutely begging for a Desktop grade Office365 experience. The day this happens, I’ll be the proudest user! 

Copper Contributor

Hi @Bill Doll, how is Microsoft ensuring phased rollout in Apple App Store? I am not aware of such a capability. 

Looking forward to getting the update. 

Thank for great work. 

Vladimir

Copper Contributor

You know what would be a powerful capability? The ability for OneDrive links to other Excel files to work. Google has had that capability between their apps and Google Drive for years. How powerful is that???

Copper Contributor

Anyone got the update yet? 
nothing for me yet

Copper Contributor

The update has not yet been posted to the App Store. 7 days after the announcement that "Many users have already started receiving these updates through a phased roll-out, which should reach all users within a couple weeks"

 

This is utter BS.

 

The released Word version for example is Word 2.42, 3 weeks old, and no support for trackpad on iPad.

 

There is indeed a phased roll-out mechanism in the iOS App Store, but:

- only automatic updates are phased - manual update is always available to everyone

- it only lasts 7 days in total.

Here: https://help.apple.com/app-store-connect/#/dev3d65fcee1 - thanks @AzionHzmilton

Copper Contributor

Where is the update? Had waiting for weeks?

Copper Contributor

Friendly reminder that there isn’t any update out yet.

we would like an update on the matter

Thanks

Copper Contributor

I just got an update to excel but this version 2.43 has no mouse support better than before. No new start screen or ribbon either.

Copper Contributor

Friendly reminder. There is only a small update available. Not the next version with the new features.

 

Thx

Copper Contributor

Oh wow, those updates looks gorgeous!! Just got the update for the excel for iPad, to be able to have multiple window opened, great!!

Copper Contributor

@STEVEcKONG what’s the update version?

haven’t got any yet.

Copper Contributor

@STEVEcKONG please do elaborate! What version number is it? Still nothing for me :sad:

Copper Contributor

Full support of Word, Excel AND Other apps on iPad with Magic Keyboard World be Mucha appreciated!!!:facepalm:

Copper Contributor

@khaledm87 I do see cursor support in powerpoint v2.43, but not in word v2.43. Using 2020 12.9 iPad Pro with magic keyboard

Copper Contributor

It's more than two weeks since this announcement. Unfortunately, I've only seen trackpad support in Powerpoint and Excel. Nothing in Word, much less OneNote. Development of iPadOS-compatible apps has truly languished.

Copper Contributor

I have version 2.43 of Word, PowerPoint and Excel on my iPad Pro 12.9 2020 running iPadOS 14.2, with an Apple Magic Keyboard.

It appears that all 3 do have trackpad support.

 

I do not know if this is enabled on a user by user basis or cam with version 2.43, but it definitely works !

I specifically tried "highlighting a passage of text in Word, selecting a range of cells in Excel, and moving and resizing graphics in PowerPoint" as mentioned in the blog post.

 

:)

Copper Contributor

I have versions 2.43 also and I can see absolutely no difference. Can anyone say exactly with which version the new trackpad support takes effect?

 

Thanks 

Copper Contributor

@MKWorldWide I have cursor support in PP and excel v2.43 not in word v2.43

Copper Contributor

Here is a link to videos showing trackpad support on my iPad Pro with 2.43 versions of Word, PowerPoint and Excel.

 

Trackpad support videos.

Copper Contributor

@Jeromec71 thx. But the App shows not the new UI, as shown in the original article.

Copper Contributor

@MartinCostaSantos you're right.

It's a shame that Microsoft publishes utterly false information, relayed without any verification by tech publications such as Engadget, and does not even corrects it.

Good that trackpad support works now though.

Copper Contributor

@Jeromec71 There is a difference in the cursor when hovering over text in PowerPoint and word in the video, isn’t it? When in PowerPoint when you hover over text you get a straight cursor and in word you still have a round cursor. Are you able to put the cursor right where you want to in word? 

 

“This is track pad support for word” : in this sentence can you put the cursor between “w” and “o” of word?

Copper Contributor

What about Outlook?

Copper Contributor

@ebehot @Yes it’s working in outlook for me. I am on v4.63.0. I have had problem with cursor when I am in split screen mode. 

Copper Contributor

Ruckin felease it!

Copper Contributor

Received cursor support in word today. Version remain the same v2.43.

Copper Contributor

I have the new start screens and trackpad support, but am looking forward to the redesigned ribbon.

Subscribed to the beta on TestFlight, although this seems to be a server-based rollout. 

Copper Contributor

Unfortunately no update here for Word yet. Is that possible after more than four weeks since the announcement

Copper Contributor

Trackpad support for Word came today (server based). No new GUIs yet.

Copper Contributor

Its the end of November! Has anybody got the new Microsoft rollout for ipad yet?  I have the iPad Pro and magic keyboard and am being so hamstrung with not being able to edit docs saved on One Drive.

 

Copper Contributor

December 3 and this still isn’t available in Word - I have to assume there were some significant issues with the rollout. With this in place, iPad will take over an increasingly large share of my work.

Copper Contributor

Bill, I reached out to you via LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. all to no avail regarding this issue of Microsoft heralding rollouts of updated apps that do not exist. Especially when many businesses are making purchasing decision regarding iPads and need to know if Office is actually going to work on them.

 

This trivial botched announcement / rollout of iPad trackpad support for Office damages Microsoft's overall credibility regarding larger issues like native M1 support on the new Macs, etc. 

 

I'm going to have too pass this story along to my friends in the tech press, including columnists at the WFJ, NYT, etc. It's worth a story at some point during this pandemic when more workers at home than ever are relying on their hardboard and software like Office.

 

It's not so much the botched rollout, Bill, but the chest-beating about this phantom "rollout" and then deafening silence when customers' legitimate questions in this forum and social media and elsewhere are ignored. Do you not check in?  Does Microsoft PR or legal muzzle you?

 

Microsoft customers deserve better -- and, trust me, soon enough they will get better, even if it's not from Microsoft.

 

 

Copper Contributor

I received the trackpad support last sunday but no new start screen and no new ribbons yet. Are those seperate updates? It is very confusing how Microsoft handels this announced update, especially with no further comments or information on custommer comments and questions. 

Copper Contributor

Ich nutze ein iPad Pro 9,7“ mit Logitech Tastatur, eine Microsoft optische Notebook Mouse 3000 und Office 365. Meine IOS-Version ist 13.4. Leider sind die Neuerungen in Office 365 wie z.B. Maussupport bei mir nicht angekommen. Alles was ich habe ist ein Cursor als runden Kreis (Apple). Eine Auswahl von einzelnen Wörter, Sätzen bzw. exaktes positionieren funktioniert nicht, kontextabhängige Cursor auch nicht. Alles was ich unter YouTube als Neuerungen gesehen habe, fehl am Platze. Muss Office neu installiert werden um die Features zu nutzen?

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