Excel
Latest
Microsoft details Office for Windows RT: shipping on devices as a preview release, upgrade coming later
For all the explaining that Microsoft has done, there's still a fair bit that's not clear about what Windows RT will actually look like when it ships next month. The company has filled in one of those gaps today, though, detailing what it hopes will be one of the operating system's big selling points: Office for Windows RT. Perhaps the biggest news is Microsoft's confirmation of earlier reports that the productivity suite will actually ship as a preview release on Windows RT devices, with a free upgrade to the final version promised between early November and January depending on the language. What's more, Microsoft has also confirmed that Office for Windows RT will unsurprisingly be a bit stripped down compared to its standard Windows 8 counterpart -- there's no macros, for starters, and you'll have to make do without add-ins and some other features like the ability to record narrations in PowerPoint. It's also only going to be available as a pre-installed component of Windows RT -- no standalone release is planned. You can find a full breakdown of the differences at the link below.
Office Web Apps integrate touch support on iPad and Windows 8, brace us for an Office 2013 world
Touch-friendliness is a centerpiece for the upcoming Office 2013, but don't fret if you prefer to live in the world of Office Web Apps ahead of time. As of new preview versions of both OWA and Office 365, those using at least an iPad or Windows 8 will see larger, more finger-ready controls by default. The switch also tweaks the text selection, contextual menus and numerous other elements to work properly with the fleshier input, even going so far as to support multi-touch gestures like pinching to zoom. Windows users get a Touch Mode toggle if they'd rather flip back to traditional control methods. While the web support is still experimental and doesn't have a completion date on the horizon, those willing to live ever so slightly on the edge can stay hooked on Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote and Word without having to use anything so archaic as a mouse and keyboard. [Thanks, Suraj]
Stop-motion music video relies on OpenOffice and Excel, finds formula for success (video)
It's already considered a grind to produce stop-motion video -- imagine creating a clip using the spreadsheet app that many dread seeing at work every morning. Joe Penna, better known to the internet as Mystery Guitar Man, isn't afraid. He and his team recorded a performance against a greenscreen, gave the video a mosaic look in After Effects and proceeded to recreate 730 of the frames in OpenOffice (and occasionally Excel)... by hand. We don't want to know how long it took Penna and crew to wrap up their work, but the result is probably the liveliest you'll ever get out of an app meant for invoices and corporate expenses. The fully produced video is above; click past the story break if you want to smash illusions and see how the pixelated rumba came to be.
Microsoft patent app wants SMSs in your spreadsheet, so you can Excel while you excel
If you're too busy racking up commissions to submit your expense report, a Microsoft patent application might let you text that steak-dinner-schmoozefest straight to a spreadsheet in accounting. That's one use that pops to mind for the proposed invention, which which could permit text and multimedia messages to interact with Redmond's Office suite. It could then process that info and redirect the message or send you a reply, confirming your shenanigans. Now, how to justify that $1,500 bottle of cognac? [Image Credit: Shutterstock]
Leaked video promises Office 15 on a crane, on a train, in a boat, potentially with a goat
What's this, then? It's purportedly a leaked promotional video for Office 15, the upcoming version of Microsoft's perennial favorite software suite. Not surprisingly, the animated short, which was "pulled from beta software," talks up the software's cloud functionality. "It's your Office," says the chipper voice. "It goes wherever you go." That includes a number of motor vehicles and electronic devices, all the while being stored safely online. Hop in after the break for one of the happiest office suite promotional videos ever made.
iPad workspace app CloudOn goes 2.0, adds Adobe Reader, Box storage support
There are several perspectives on the iPad as a productivity tool. Some knowledge workers thrive on a suite of native apps; others can't really get comfortable within a text or code-based workflow without a legitimate keyboard and mouse. The "third way" of iPad productivity provides a hybrid environment: familiar Office apps or remote access to existing computers, with varying degrees of customization to incorporate the touch UI atop the traditional desktop. We've previously talked about Onlive Desktop, one of the major players in the remote gaming and desktop SaaS space (which seems to have struck a conciliatory tone on Windows licensing by moving from Win7 to Windows Server for the underlying tech). Today, the first major version update of CloudOn, one of the primary alternatives to Onlive and other "full Windows" tools, is hitting the App Store. The original free iPad app from CloudOn provided users in the US, UK and Canada with a straightforward way to create and edit Microsoft Office documents without Office, and without their own PC. The back end CloudOn servers plug into your Dropbox account to give you near-immediate access to your files for touchups or extended editing sessions. What you see on the screen is a remote session, optimized for quick transmission across the Internet to you. It works great on WiFi, acceptably on 3G and shows snappy response on a new 4G iPad as well. In the new 2.0 version of the app, the cloud storage options have been extended to include Box.com for personal or enterprise users. CloudOn 2.0 also adds Adobe Reader to the app suite, permitting iPad users to view 3D content or fill-in PDF forms on the fly. A universal image viewer and full outbound email support round out the new feature list. Instead of making the iPad into a virtual Windows desktop, CloudOn masks the filesystem and other apps to deliver an Office-only experience. You want Word, you get Word -- and nothing else. This no-distractions, one app at a time model can track closer to the native iPad experience of "app immersion." While the lack of native copy/paste and autocorrect does slow things down a bit, I found that I could be pretty effective while typing into CloudOn's apps, especially with a Bluetooth external keyboard. Since you're using "real" Office, albeit remotely, some of the key features normally absent from iPad productivity apps are there for you. Ryan Faas keyed in on one of those features: Track Changes and comment support in Word, which has made CloudOn very popular with members of the legal profession. Last week I met with Milind Gadekar, the CEO and founder of CloudOn, and got to hear a bit of his company's vision for the future of distributed work. He told me that his team forsees a continuing fragmentation of the computing landscape, with multiple OS platforms and devices talking to multiple storage providers. The way to enable productivity, he suggested, is to provide a functional nexus of three key components: your files, your apps and your collaborators. While some successful companies are building the infrastructure for files and collaborators and then laying the applications over that with third party integrations (like Box.com), Gadekar and his team decided to go at the problem from the applications vertex first. Given that there are a lot of very capable and popular storage solutions in the market, this seems like a good play. In developing CloudOn, Gadekar and his programmers are keenly aware that the iPad is being positioned as a productivity tool even though it doesn't have the major productivity app suite that most people use everyday: Microsoft Office. While native app vendors have the freedom to create novel interfaces that leverage iOS's touchscreen UI directly, CloudOn's emphasis is on making the subtle adjustments and accommodations that let Office apps (and eventually more mouse-based apps) work smoothly without a mouse and keyboard. Hiding the Windows desktop from the user was the first step in drastically simplifying that legacy UI. As CloudOn expands its suite of available applications (and perhaps makes a move to other access approaches from its current iPad-only incarnation), we can expect to see some revenue models evolve. For now, though, it's a free service and a great way to get your feet wet with remote productivity apps on the iPad.
Microsoft brings Word, PowerPoint, Excel to Symbian Belle handsets
As promised, Nokia and Microsoft have made the mobile versions of Word, PowerPoint and Excel available to select Symbian Belle handsets. Earlier this year, the duo heralded the release of OneNote, Document Connection, Lync and PowerPoint Broadcast. With this latest software add, the Office suite for Symbian is (seemingly) complete. Those of you rocking an E7, C7, C6-01, X7, Oro, 700, 701 or 603 can acquire the fresh bits by launching the Nokia Software Update utility. Not bad for a dead mobile operating system.
Microsoft Office 15 revealed, simpler UI with touch-friendly features
Microsoft started seeding its Office 15 technical preview to a select few partners earlier this year to get it ready for public consumption, and The Verge managed to get a sneak peek at some of the software's new features. As you would expect, the newest Office version got a dose of Metro style, and now has a cleaner interface and touch mode to make browsing documents and presentations as easy on a tablet as it is on a desktop PC. Word also received improvements, like double-click to zoom, smoother scrolling, video embeds and the ability to share documents online through a browser. Excel received some formatting controls and chart animations, among other improvements, while PowerPoint has made it easier to drop Excel charts into presentations without futzing with formatting. Outlook now has weather forecasts built in, in-line replies, and greater multiple email account support, and OneNote received improved tables support. So, it looks like the gang in Redmond is trying to stay a step ahead of its open-source competition, but we won't know for sure until Office 15 gets in the hands of the people this summer.
Onlive Desktop comes to Android tablets, brings Microsoft Office along for the ride
Good news today for Android tablet owners with OnLive Desktop envy: the cloud-based service, which recently hit the iPad, is coming to select tablets running Gingerbread and higher. The app uses the company's remote gaming technology to bring a number of desktop apps to the tablet, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Adobe Reader. It comes in a number flavor, including free, Desktop Plus ($4.99), Dekstop Pro (starting at $9.99) and an enterprise version. OnLive Desktop'll work with Acer Iconia Tab A500, ASUS Eee TF101, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and 10.1 and HTC Jetstream. More info after the jump.
Nokia Belle earns corporate street-cred with Microsoft Office apps
Looks like the corporate bromance between Microsoft and Nokia is stronger than ever. The Finnish handset maker has announced a suite of MS applications that is making its way to select Symbian handsets right this very moment. Users rocking a Belle device are being given access to a handful of apps from Redmond, which will include: OneNote, Document Connection, Lync and PowerPoint Broadcast. A second wave of Office-centric wares, including Word, PowerPoint and Excel, will be made available at an undisclosed date in the not-to-distant future. Nokia E7, C7, C6-01, X7, Oro, 700, 701 and 603 owners should see the goodies appear in Symbian's software update application; the phone maker has promised to add support for the N8, E6 and 500 "soon." For more information on the Microsoft software infiltration, check the press release after the break.
Microsoft launches ExcelMashup.com, looks to make spreadsheets both hip and exciting
Most of our day jobs aren't nearly as amusing as life at Wernham Hogg and Excel doesn't make things any more exciting. But, if you're looking to spice up your spreadsheets, Microsoft's ExcelMashup.com may be just what you've been waiting for. The site lets you create apps of your very own using Redmond's various products. For example, you can combine some Excel JavaScript, a workbook stored on SkyDrive and a little HTML to create apps that run in a browser. Add a dash of Bing Maps and you've got a Destination Explorer! For the uninitiated, there are tutorials and for the showoffs a shared code space. There's even nifty Interactive Code Snippets for trying out bits of script before adding them to your own project. Want to make the cute girl in reception notice you? Coding your own apps in Excel won't help, but it'll probably land you in less trouble than putting Gareth's stapler in Jello again.
Kodak's Document Print app means never visiting the girl from the Xerox place
Printing on the road usually leaves you at the mercy of your local Kinkos FedEx Office, but as long as you've got one of Kodak's cloud-print enabled Hero printers, you can avoid getting gouged. The company's just released an Android app that lets you print nearly everything, even webpages as long as they're accessed from the baked-in browser -- provided that you've left your home printer switched on. You can pull it down for free from the Android market from today and if you're interested, head on past the break for an unusually terse press release from the company.
Microsoft reveals Data Explorer tool, gets into the sorbet business (video)
Redmond houses quite a few little teams beavering away on quirky projects and one of those has just gone public with its latest creation. It's codenamed "Data Explorer", which perhaps isn't an ideal codename since it describes exactly what the enterprise-focused service does. Instead of manually searching and copying data into a report, Data Explorer pulls information from SQL databases, spreadsheets and other "random sources" that could be relevant, and then attempts to "clean it up, transform it, merge it together and then publish it out" as a coherent report. You can learn more and sign up for the beta at the source link, or click past the break to watch a Microsoft exec demo the tool using a real-world case study -- we found it a bit dense, but you'll be fine as long as you remember that kids love frozen yogurt.
OfficeTime for Mac update, new iOS version coming soon
OfficeTime for Mac has updated to version 1.6, adding over 100 new features and improvements. As we've posted before, this app is an excellent way to track time and billing for a freelance worker or a small business, and now it's even better. The biggest new feature is probably the addition of automatic backups, but there's a lot of new stuff, including decimal time entry (typing "1.5" automatically converts to "1 hour 30 minutes"), better support for exporting data out to Excel and Numbers, and plenty of other updates. This new version also includes support for sync to the iPhone and iPad versions, and developers OfficeTime.net say that those versions are due out very soon. OfficeTime for Mac is available as a free trial download, and the full version of the app is available for both Mac and Windows for US$47.
Adobe CreatePDF for Android does exactly what its name implies
Google's mobile OS is growing and maturing into a business-savvy adult before our very eyes. With the release of Adobe's CreatePDF in the Android Market, we're delighted to finally see a PDF-creation app on the mobile front. Not only does it let you build a PDF from the ground up, it can convert most popular filetypes -- Word, Excel, Powerpoint, OpenOffice, Photoshop, RTF, and Illustrator, just to name a few -- into PDF format. You can import any of these kinds of docs from your phone to app via the built-in file manager, or transfer an email attachment to it using Android's share function. Available for a one-time payment of $9.99, CreatePDF won't be for the light-walleted or the casual app enthusiast; don't be put off by the price, though, because the online version charges that much per month to do the exact same tasks on your computer. Anyone rocking Eclair or better can partake of the PDF love, so head to the source link to get straight to installing.
Preview app in Lion will act as Word, Excel, PowerPoint viewer
Mac OS X's Preview app has come a long way since its humble beginnings as a PDF viewer. AppleInsider reports that in the latest build of Lion, Preview has received a UI overhaul and added some pretty cool new features. For example, Preview will act as a Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint viewer. This is one of the smartest things Apple could have done. How many times have you sent a PowerPoint file to someone only to get an email back saying they didn't know how to open it (happens all the time with my friend's grandparents)? Now when anyone running Mac OS X 10.7 Lion receives an Excel or PowerPoint file, the file will automatically open in Preview if they don't have Office or iWork installed. Of course, they won't be able to edit the Microsoft docs in Preview, but they will be able to view them just like they can view PDFs. Word docs can open in Preview as a viewable file too, but by default they will still open in TextEdit as an editable document. Other additions to Preview include Full Screen mode; monochromatic, square toolbar buttons; a magnifier loupe tool (like the kind you find in Aperture); expanded PDF annotation tools (including filled text and speech and thought bubbles); and the ability to scan your signature in the Preview app so you can use it to digitally sign documents. I don't know about you, but I always look forward to OS X upgrades not so much for the big features, but for the continued refinements to the OS and its apps as a whole. Judging by the way Lion is shaping up, it won't disappoint.
Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite for iPad gets PowerPoint editing for Christmas
The Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite for iPad has gained some new features that make it even more useful to business people on the go. Quickoffice, Inc. announced today that its mobile office suite for the iPad now has an editor for Microsoft PowerPoint files in addition to the Excel and Word editors that were available earlier. You can manipulate font type, color, size and style, and you can add, delete or reorder slides in a PowerPoint deck. Graphical editing tools allow object layering changes, insertion and editing of text boxes, and insertion and rotation of common shapes, images and text boxes. Another feature of the PowerPoint editor is that it allows the insertion of images from inside the app or from the iPad's Photo Library. When presenting from Quickoffice, the app supports video output using the Apple Dock Connector to VGA Adapter and provides a built-in "laser pointer" for pointing out highlights on the slides. There's also a filmstrip preview of slides to assist in making presentations on external monitors. While Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite for iPad now allows round-tripping of animations and transitions between the desktop app and iPad, there is still no way to edit or show custom transitions or animations on the iPad. The Quickoffice developers have noted that this is in consideration for a future update. It's also worth mentioning that the PowerPoint editing feature only supports PPT (Office 2003 format) files; PPTX (Office 2007/2010/2011 native format) presentations can be viewed and shown, but not edited yet. The app now supports additional cloud storage services, including Box.net, Dropbox, Google Docs, Huddle, MobileMe and SugarSync. If you already own the suite, this is a free update for you. To kick off the new update, Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite for iPad is on sale on the App Store for US$14.99, 40% off of the usual $24.99 price. Thanks for Mike Rose for the gallery screenshots! %Gallery-111932%
Office 2011 gets hefty discounts for Black Friday
The official Office for Mac blog just posted a list of places interested buyers can get Office for Mac 2011 at reduced cost throughout the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. Here are the prices you'll get if you buy during the US Thanksgiving holiday weekend from these retailers (note the special savings from Amazon): Apple Stores (US & Canada): $20 off Home & Student Family Pack for $129 (regularly $149 ERP). Best Buy and MacMall (US): $20 off Home & Student 1-pack for $99 (regularly $119 ERP) and $20 off Home & Student Family Pack for $129 (regularly $149 ERP). Amazon (US): $40 off the Home & Student 1-pack, cost of $79 (regularly $119 ERP) and Home & Student Family Pack for $109 (regularly $149 ERP). OfficeforMac.com (US): $20 off Home & Student Family Pack for $129 (regularly $149 ERP). Office for Mac 2011 was released at the end of last month and has gotten generally favorable reviews, especially for its speed increases. If you're in the market for an Office upgrade, it looks like next weekend is the time to buy.
Office 2011 puts pedal to the metal with demonstrable speed bumps
As we've been diving into the Microsoft Office 2011 application suite, we've been focusing on the new features going from 2008 to 2011, and the relative value versus alternative tools like Apple's iWork suite. One thing we haven't really nailed down, though, is speed. Although it's easy to see in the first few moments of using it that Office 2011 is bringing a lot of performance optimizations to the table, exactly how much faster is it? Enter our friends over at MacTech magazine, who have polished their stopwatches and lined up a slew of test machines to get at the raw numbers and compare Office 2011 to both Office 2008 and 2004 across the entire suite. The whole article is worth a read, but the gist is that Office 2011 is quite a lot faster everywhere you care about speed: application launches, file open/save (noted as faster with the XML formats than with the legacy .doc, .xls etc. files), key operations, and more. In particular, Excel has gotten a serious turbo injection, with operations like fill range and charting timing out as "orders of magnitude" faster than in the previous version. MacTech suggests that Excel users who lean heavily on the charting capabilities "run, don't walk, to get the upgrade." On the Mac Mojo blog, Microsoft's own Erik Schwiebert posted an interesting look inside the development process and philosophy that drives the speed optimizations seen in Office 2011. From the user perspective, you might not think that squeezing a few milliseconds out of a particular function would lead to worthwhile improvements, but Schwiebert lays it out well and explains the cognitive science behind perceived application performance -- worth a read. His video demo of Excel's launch speed improvements is in the 2nd half of this post.
Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 now on sale, downloadable for upgraders
It's been percolating for ages, maturing like a fine wine and fermenting like a premium cheese: the latest edition of Microsoft Office for the Mac, Office 2011 (or Office 14, if you're counting version numbers) has finally made it to market. Enterprise and education customers have had access to the new version for a few weeks now, but as of late last night those users who had registered for free upgrades from Office 2008 (for purchases after August 1) were able to start downloading the software. Note that this version of Office is for Intel Macs only and does require Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later. The various editions are on sale & downloadable from Microsoft (US$150 for Home & Student, $280 for Home & Business which includes Outlook), or you can get the DVD versions. The boxed app suite is also for sale in both Apple and Microsoft retail stores. Education versions with lower pricing are also available. Home & Student allows you to install Office 2011 on up to three personal machines. The big-ticket new features in this edition are many and varied; we'll be digging deeper into them over the next few days. Click "Read More" for a quick rundown.
