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Microsoft Excel for iPad Now Supports Split View, Word Gains Full Trackpad Support, and PowerPoint Offers Presenter Coaching

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Microsoft today released updates to its suite of Office apps for iPad, including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Notably, Excel for ‌iPad‌ now supports Split View, which allows you to open two spreadsheets simultaneously side-by-side to view and edit. Word and PowerPoint received support for Split View in May 2020.

word-excel-powerpoint-ipad.jpg

Split View can be accessed by touching and holding on a spreadsheet document in any file view and then dragging it to the left or right side of the screen. To exit Split View, grab the slider in the middle of the screen and drag it to either the left or right to close one of the spreadsheet documents and take the remaining one full-screen.

Meanwhile in PowerPoint, users can now rehearse their presentations with the new Presenter Coach feature, which offers feedback on the things that keep an audience engaged, such as pacing, pitch, filler words, sensitive phrases, and more.

ipadpromagickeyboardtrackpad.jpg

Microsoft has also been working to implement full support for the iPadOS trackpad controls that were introduced in iPadOS 13.4, and the latest version of Word (2.45) does just that. Following the update, users can connect a trackpad and mouse to their iPad to interact with documents. Keyboards with trackpads include Apple's Magic Keyboard and Brydge's Pro+ for the iPad Pro and Logitech's Combo for the 10.2-inch iPad and the 10.5-inch iPad Air.

Article Link: Microsoft Excel for iPad Now Supports Split View, Word Gains Full Trackpad Support, and PowerPoint Offers Presenter Coaching
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/01/12/microsoft-excel-ipad-split-view-word-trackpad/
trackpad on the ipad is so stupid. doesn't belong on a touch first device.

i knew arm MacBooks were coming out (redesigned ones are coming soon that will be far lighter and thinner than an iPad Pro with magic keyboard attached) and have said it before it even came out: you don't need a cursor on an iPad.
 
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Reactions: Farsider, Big Ron, Nuvi and 12 others
NO MORE OUTLOOK for MAC or Windows!
the future is a web based outlook for both Mac and Windows.
Keep your 2019 Mac Office and treasure it!

Web APPs the future as 5G internet gets more widely used
And more Software as a service. You don't own it.


9to5mac.com

Microsoft Outlook switching from native Mac app to web app - 9to5Mac

Over the next two years, Microsoft Outlook will be transitioning away from Mac and Windows app to web-based apps that will work on any device.
9to5mac.com 9to5mac.com
 
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I just hope MSFT finally managed to put the basic editing features in PowerPoint (like editing paragraph spacing and line spacing and such). I REALLY want to use Powerpoint on the iPad, but without those basic features, it's just impossible.

Edit: yeah, still missing the basic editing features from the Mac or the Windows versions. FFS Microsoft it's 2021.
 
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Awesome. With the M1 and optimized apps, expect to see a lot more ”Pro” features and apps come to the iPad
 
Regarding Word and trackpad: anyone notice a difference in capabilities or handling compared to 2.44? I don't see any at first glance, trackpad integration was already offered with 2.44 ....
 
farewelwilliams said:
trackpad on the ipad is so stupid. doesn't belong on a touch first device.

i knew arm MacBooks were coming out (redesigned ones are coming soon that will be far lighter and thinner than an iPad Pro with magic keyboard attached) and have said it before it even came out: you don't need a cursor on an iPad.
Click to expand...
I guess nobody needs a cursor on an iPad, but it is nice to have the option.
 
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farewelwilliams said:
trackpad on the ipad is so stupid. doesn't belong on a touch first device.

i knew arm MacBooks were coming out (redesigned ones are coming soon that will be far lighter and thinner than an iPad Pro with magic keyboard attached) and have said it before it even came out: you don't need a cursor on an iPad.
Click to expand...

Totally disagree. I use my iPad 12.9 Pro with Magic Keyboard for almost everything for work and home. Barely use my work laptop. Have trackpad and touch is awesome. I am sure you are in the minority here, but that is why we have choices. :)
 
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GDF said:
Totally disagree. I use my iPad 12.9 Pro with Magic Keyboard for almost everything for work and home. Barely use my work laptop. Have trackpad and touch is awesome. I am sure you are in the minority here, but that is why we have choices. :)
Click to expand...
I agree - a touchscreen is fine for many applications, and probably better for some; but a mouse/trackpad and cursor make using the iPad much more viable as a laptop replacement for many use cases.
 
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farewelwilliams said:
trackpad on the ipad is so stupid. doesn't belong on a touch first device.

i knew arm MacBooks were coming out (redesigned ones are coming soon that will be far lighter and thinner than an iPad Pro with magic keyboard attached) and have said it before it even came out: you don't need a cursor on an iPad.
Click to expand...

Luckily the trackpad isn't fused to the iPad!

The ability to use a trackpad/mouse is entirely optional, and it allows iPads to be a bit more versatile.
 
kyeblue said:
excel still cannot handle date before 1900? shame on microsoft!
Click to expand...
TheMacDaddy1 said:
Is this a joke?
Click to expand...
No. if you are doing analysis or work that includes dates prior to 1900 you cannot easily calculate durations, sort, etc. Granted it is a bit of an edge case but still highlights how decisions made in development (computers are a new phenomena so if develop a date code structure that starts in 1900 we'll be fine) impact software usability.

The problem is edge cases are often written off as low probability events and thus not worth addressing; I has a situation where emergency parameter logging software was not programmed to allow for daylight savings time switches, so when we has an emergency and the computer automatically adjusted for DST, the logging software went haywire. When we asked the developers about this, they said we figured the chance a serious event would occur at that exact time was too small to worry about; well guess what?
 
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farewelwilliams said:
trackpad on the ipad is so stupid. doesn't belong on a touch first device.

i knew arm MacBooks were coming out (redesigned ones are coming soon that will be far lighter and thinner than an iPad Pro with magic keyboard attached) and have said it before it even came out: you don't need a cursor on an iPad.
Click to expand...
Everyone has different ideas about what stupid is.
 
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Can Microsoft please work on enhancing Pivot Table functionality on iOS to make it more like the ”real” versions?
 
Ybersetzer said:
Regarding Word and trackpad: anyone notice a difference in capabilities or handling compared to 2.44? I don't see any at first glance, trackpad integration was already offered with 2.44 ....
Click to expand...
I don’t think this is a new feature to 2.45. I think MS just repeats the same recently added major features for a few updates for those who don’t update as often.
 
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Mouse/Trackpad support in Word is better than two version ago but still seems oddly clunky compared to any other app with a proper iPadOS cursor implementation. For example, you can double click on a word to select the whole word, which it will do after a delay, but it seems to be missing the ability to double click to select a whole word and drag it to expand the selection a word at a time, like any other iPadOS app with cursor support.

Word also still doesn’t support fonts added with the new iPadOS 13 native font management API, such as through Adobe Creative Cloud or similar apps; it still only supports fonts added through management profiles.
 
One feature I'm certain hasn't been added: ability to reliably save files that might get synced anywhere off the local iPad.
 
Freeangel1 said:
NO MORE OUTLOOK for MAC or Windows!
the future is a web based outlook for both Mac and Windows.
Keep your 2019 Mac Office and treasure it!

Web APPs the future as 5G internet gets more widely used
And more Software as a service. You don't own it.


9to5mac.com

Microsoft Outlook switching from native Mac app to web app - 9to5Mac

Over the next two years, Microsoft Outlook will be transitioning away from Mac and Windows app to web-based apps that will work on any device.
9to5mac.com 9to5mac.com
Click to expand...

You never owned the software you bought in physical media or downloaded either - read the EULA - you're buying the right to use the software - no different in a subscription model, they just found a way to get you to keep paying for the upgrades :)
 
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