Microsoft Testing iPadOS Multi-Window Support in Word and PowerPoint

[MacRumors]

Since iPadOS 13 was released last year, Apple has included native suppport for opening two or more windows in the same application to view them side by side.

Since then, more and more third-party apps have been building in multi-window support, and now Microsoft is beta testing its own versions for Word and PowerPoint on iPad.

The ability to display two documents next to each other is particularly useful for comparing two versions of the same document or keeping an eye on your reference notes while working. Similarly, PowerPoint support would let users cross-reference presentation slides on the same screen.

In a blog post, Microsoft details three ways to access multi-window support in Word and PowerPoint for iPad:

• Touch, hold, and drag a file from the Recent, Shared, and Open file list in the app to the iPad screen edge to open it side-by-side.
• In Word or PowerPoint, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and open the dock. Then touch and hold the same app's icon and drag it off the dock to the left or right edge of the screen. Then tap the document to open it.
• In Word or PowerPoint, access the Recent, Shared, and Open views in the app start screen, tap the "..." menu for a file in the list, then tap Open in New Window.

Microsoft hasn't said when the multi-window support will be available to all users, but it surely can't be long now, given that the same feature was demoed at WWDC 2019 for Microsoft Word.

Anyone interested in trying out the new feature will need to join the Office Insider program and download beta versions of Word and PowerPoint through Testflight.

Article Link: Microsoft Testing iPadOS Multi-Window Support in Word and PowerPoint

 

[MakeAppleAwesomeAgain]

As I'm writing this I have windows opened of Safari, Slack, Telegram, VSCode, Firefox, Terminal and Finder. I can't see how I'm ever gonna migrate my workflow to iPadOS. This week I tried watching a tutorial and making notes at the same time on an iPad Air. It took me 3 minutes to understand multitasking and it was totally unworkable. It has absolutely nothing to do with screen size, they can make a 17" iPad and it would still suck because iOS was never built for multitasking.

It's unbelievable how some features in their software are pure genius (both in macOS and iOS) but how they can't get multitasking right outside of macOS. I truly hope macOS stays around for a long time and gets the love it deserves, it by far the finest OS ever created.

 

[JackieTreehorn]

Took them long enough...

 

[iDento]

As I'm writing this I have windows opened of Safari, Slack, Telegram, VSCode, Firefox, Terminal and Finder. I can't see how I'm ever gonna migrate my workflow to iPadOS. This week I tried watching a tutorial and making notes at the same time on an iPad Air. It took me 3 minutes to understand multitasking and it was totally unworkable. It has absolutely nothing to do with screen size, they can make a 17" iPad and it would still suck because iOS was never built for multitasking.

It's unbelievable how some features in their software are pure genius (both in macOS and iOS) but how they can't get multitasking right outside of macOS. I truly hope macOS stays around for a long time and gets the love it deserves, it by far the finest OS ever created.

You had Terminal window opened, iPadOS isn’t for you.

 

[The Game 161]

God knows what took them so long...

 

[Unami]

unfortunately, multitasking on the ipad sucks pretty hard.

 

[Geardo_Ranger]

Can they also add the REFERENCES tab in Word too? I mean it’s 2020 and I can’t even build citations in word on the iPad. They are way behind on features.

 

[dockedFile]

FFS, please make a full-fledged excel. The iPad is a very capable device to have a full excel experience and with the new mouse support, it's a no-brainer at this point.

 

[Aluminum213]

With the release of the magic keyboard, there is now no reason for there not to be an exact version of the desktop office on iPadOS

 

[chucker23n1]

You had Terminal window opened, iPadOS isn’t for you.

This. "I have a very specific workflow that works well on macOS but doesn't on iPadOS; therefore, iPadOS multitasking is bad" is a weird leap. iPadOS multitasking has problems, but it not being exactly the same thing as macOS ain't one of them.

 

[yurc]

You had Terminal window opened, iPadOS isn’t for you.

This is pretty sum it up. It’s impossible managing bunch of my essential brew packages without it…

 

[Mobileadam]

Because of the delay with this I‘ve cancelled my Office subscription until changes happen. Like why can’t they offer direct integration to G Drive!!! I’m finding the Google apps through Safari to be very capable for word processing and presentations.

So even with this file handling makes it a pain to use Office apps.

 

[zhenya]

As I'm writing this I have windows opened of Safari, Slack, Telegram, VSCode, Firefox, Terminal and Finder. I can't see how I'm ever gonna migrate my workflow to iPadOS. This week I tried watching a tutorial and making notes at the same time on an iPad Air. It took me 3 minutes to understand multitasking and it was totally unworkable. It has absolutely nothing to do with screen size, they can make a 17" iPad and it would still suck because iOS was never built for multitasking.

It's unbelievable how some features in their software are pure genius (both in macOS and iOS) but how they can't get multitasking right outside of macOS. I truly hope macOS stays around for a long time and gets the love it deserves, it by far the finest OS ever created.

While I agree that multi-tasking on iPadOS still leaves a lot to be desired, I also don’t really think Apple intends for people to use an iPad for typical complex, multi-windowed workflows. Years ago I went down the path of trying to use the Surface Pro as my main device, and quickly realized that having a single device that was supposed to both be my main work machine, AND my companion reference and note-taking device, wasn’t really practical. I went back to the iPad, and Apple has continued to really improve it in exactly the way it complements my workflow.

My iPad is now my full-time companion device - at my desk it’s kept just to the side of my iMac I do my work on. With Sidecar it functions as an extra Mac display, but seamlessly transitions back to iPad mode for taking notes, acting as a touch-based reference, etc. The new Magic Keyboard has extended this capability further as when magnetically docked, it’s at the right angle for a second display, but it quickly transitions to an angle better suited for taking notes and making sketches. With the power cord plugged into the dock, rather than the device, I can quickly pick up the iPad if I need to move around.

When I’m away from my work it’s my casual use device, fully replacing any need for a laptop day to day. With the Magic Keyboard I can potentially configure remote desktop access to my Mac that is actually functional, although I have not thus far seen the need.

 

[moabal]

I hope they also bring native trackpad support soon!

 

[CarpalMac]

As I'm writing this I have windows opened of Safari, Slack, Telegram, VSCode, Firefox, Terminal and Finder. I can't see how I'm ever gonna migrate my workflow to iPadOS. This week I tried watching a tutorial and making notes at the same time on an iPad Air. It took me 3 minutes to understand multitasking and it was totally unworkable. It has absolutely nothing to do with screen size, they can make a 17" iPad and it would still suck because iOS was never built for multitasking.

It's unbelievable how some features in their software are pure genius (both in macOS and iOS) but how they can't get multitasking right outside of macOS. I truly hope macOS stays around for a long time and gets the love it deserves, it by far the finest OS ever created.

Try as people might to convince others, unless you are doing particularly undemanding tasks, an iPad is not (at least in the forseeable future) going to be the right tool for the job. It would need them to morph it into a device that would be the equivalent of a Touchscreen MacBook Pro, and as so many commentators on here keep telling us, we don't need or want that. Apparently.

 

[Ubuntu]

This. "I have a very specific workflow that works well on macOS but doesn't on iPadOS; therefore, iPadOS multitasking is bad" is a weird leap. iPadOS multitasking has problems, but it not being exactly the same thing as macOS ain't one of them.

I don’t think the two are connected. iPadOS multitasking is not intuitive imo, even if you don’t approach it as a macOS user. I don’t think iPadOS should just ape macOS but I do think it’s a mess when it comes to multitasking, mainly as it’s heavily gesture based with very little feedback as to what’s possible and what isn’t.

 

[PlayUltimate]

iPadOS multitasking is not intuitive imo, even if you don’t approach it as a macOS user. I don’t think iPadOS should just ape macOS but I do think it’s a mess when it comes to multitasking, mainly as it’s heavily gesture based with very little feedback as to what’s possible and what isn’t.

I agree that it is not intuitive. I tried that. Then I decided to read the trifold instruction sheet that came with my iPP and everything was explained in 2 minutes.
re: multitasking - The other day I was able to use split screen to watch a webinar while taking notes on it using Penultimate. Absolute joy.

 

[jlc1978]

FFS, please make a full-fledged excel. The iPad is a very capable device to have a full excel experience and with the new mouse support, it's a no-brainer at this point.

It'd be nice if MS actually made Office the same across OS X iPadOS and OS X, instead of iPadOS and OS X to be subsets of the Win version. Now that the iPad is powerful enough it's time to bring its software up to the desktop versions' capabilities.

While they are at it, how about PowerBI for OS X instead of a cut down cloud version?

 

[Optheduim]

So glad they are working on this, but I would much prefer excel and word gaining the feature first.

 

[jlc1978]

I don’t think the two are connected. iPadOS multitasking is not intuitive imo, even if you don’t approach it as a macOS user. I don’t think iPadOS should just ape macOS but I do think it’s a mess when it comes to multitasking, mainly as it’s heavily gesture based with very little feedback as to what’s possible and what isn’t.

I agree that iPadOS is frustrating when it comes to intuitive use; especially if you have an iPhone where the button does some things for you and thus you have to remember the iPad gesture equivalent. It's one reason I think gesture based controls are not necessarily good human engineering and now with mouse support iPadOS would do well with developing a popup menu to allow mouse selection of controls, along with customizable keyboard shortcuts.

 

[xraydoc]

Finally. This will be great for me. When in work meetings (remember in-person meetings?), I would often have current meeting agendas and prior meeting minutes open at same time. Since Word didn't do multiple windows, I'd either have to open one in Pages or have to convert one to a PDF and view side by side with different apps.

Being able to reference two PPT files at same time will also be helpful to me.

Yes, I'm someone who can actually use my iPad in a productivity role. Quite successfully, I might add. But I'm not a coder or IT professional, so my needs are different than some others here.

 

[BuffaloTF]

As I'm writing this I have windows opened of Safari, Slack, Telegram, VSCode, Firefox, Terminal and Finder. I can't see how I'm ever gonna migrate my workflow to iPadOS. This week I tried watching a tutorial and making notes at the same time on an iPad Air. It took me 3 minutes to understand multitasking and it was totally unworkable. It has absolutely nothing to do with screen size, they can make a 17" iPad and it would still suck because iOS was never built for multitasking.

It's unbelievable how some features in their software are pure genius (both in macOS and iOS) but how they can't get multitasking right outside of macOS. I truly hope macOS stays around for a long time and gets the love it deserves, it by far the finest OS ever created.

I'm not a window maximizer myself and situate things constantly to have as many things visible across 2 screens...

Except I can manage just fine when I'm using just the laptop. Alt+Tab or Cmd+Tab is a wonderful thing, and iPad supports it.

 

[fbr$]

Since iPadOS 13 was released last year, Apple has included native suppport for opening two or more windows in the same application to view them side by side.

I'd like to be able to open two or more tabs in the same application, for example two or more tabs in Files, this feature already exists in iOS/iPadOS Safari, just need to add a + button in the upper right corner of the screen on Files etc!

 

[throAU]

About time. Not being able to open 2 spreadsheets side by side is pretty ridiculous.

 

[naturalstar]

Still not good enough for my uses, but nice for those where it fits.