Bill Doll (opens in new tab) from Microsoft states “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 the iPad.”
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Some of the major updates will affect Word, Excel, and PowerPoint apps and allow them to take full advantage of trackpad support in iPadOS. This gives iPad users using a mouse or Apple’s new Magic Keyboard easy cursor control, fluid navigation, and precise adjustments. There will be a new start screen across the board and a new ribbon of feature menus. Microsoft claims the changes will provide a cleaner, more modern experience that is easier to navigate. These updates reflect improvements made using Microsoft’s Fluent Ui (opens in new tab) and that will be incorporated throughout the 365 ecosystems. These updates are currently being rolled out in multiple phased roll-outs which all Office users will be receiving in the upcoming weeks. Other major improvements will be made that will take advantage of the iPad’s unique capabilities, versatile accessories and the ability to open and use multiple documents in Word and PowerPoint. Microsoft also adds there will be more upcoming updates during summer 2021 that will take advantage of keyboard shortcuts. All in all, Microsoft seems very busy trying to enhance and optimize its Office 365 products, especially for iPad.
