After announcing that they will buy Nokia, Microsoft updated the Office version for iPad just after 33 days of officially launching the Office app. The new updated version includes the much-awaited and requeste printing support, which didn’t exist before.
Microsoft Office for iPad was released on Tuesday and the key additions include the printing feature which you can use directly from the app. This function has been omitted when Microsoft first launched their software suite and we still cannot figure why, since it’s an essential tool, but it’s a good thing they reevaluated and updated it on the new version.
Microsoft said in a blog post that the printer support option was the most requested by the users and so they had to speed the release date of the new feature. iPad users can now read and print documents using the Office app. Before the new update only users who were subscribed to Office 365 could create and edit Word, PowerPoint or Excel documents.
Users can now print Office documents using the AirPrint feature from Apple. Users can also print documents with or without markups in Word. As with the desktop version of Office, users can print the whole document, a single page from it or a range of different pages. Excel lets you do the same thing while PowerPoint lets you print single slides.
PowerPoint’s new feature SmartGuides helps you line up pictures, textboxes and shapes. Other features include AutoFit for Excel- this one lets you adjust the height and the width of multiple rows and columns. Microsoft also promises bug fixes with the new Microsoft Office for iPad and also stability improvements.
Microsoft Office was well received by both critics and users and more than 12 million downloads were generated in its first week after the release.
Initially many were a bit startled because of the lack of printer support, but since printer sales have declined these past years, it seemed like it was the normal thing to do.
Microsoft Office for iPad – a printer option added
Microsoft announced their new Office 365 Personal which costs $6.99 per month and support one tablet and one PC or Mac.
What are your thoughts with the Microsoft Office for iPad news? Are you using Microsoft Office on any of your mobile devices? Do you consider that the new printer option was something that was essential and was missing from the first version of Office? You can comment in the section below.